Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter Exoplanets

Thursday, 24 September 2020, 14:35   (virtual room D)

Probing the atmosphere of HD189733b with the alkali lines

E. Keles (1), D. Kitzmann (2), M. Mallonn (1) et al.
(1) Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, (2) Center for Space and Habitability

High spectral resolution transmission spectroscopy is a powerful tool to characterize exoplanet atmospheres and especially hot Jupiters due to their high altitude absorption e.g. from resonant sodium (Na-I) and potassium (K-I) lines. We resolve the atmospheric K-I-absorption on HD189733b and compare this in addition to previously obtained high resolution Na-I-D-line observations with synthetic transmission spectra. The investigation shows much stronger broadening of the Na-I-D-lines compared to the K-I- line, hinting that either the atmosphere of HD189733b lacks a significant amount of K or the alkali lines probe different atmospheric regions with different temperature.