English

Phase-Dependent Properties of Extrasolar Planet Atmospheres

Astrophysics 2009-11-13 v2

Abstract

Recently the Spitzer Space Telescope observed the transiting extrasolar planets, TrES-1 and HD209458b. These observations have provided the first estimates of the day side thermal flux from two extrasolar planets orbiting Sun-like stars. In this paper, synthetic spectra from atmospheric models are compared to these observations. The day-night temperature difference is explored and phase-dependent flux densities are predicted for both planets. For HD209458b and TrES-1, models with significant day-to-night energy redistribution are required to reproduce the observations. However, the observational error bars are large and a range of models remains viable.

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0507136,
  title  = {Phase-Dependent Properties of Extrasolar Planet Atmospheres},
  author = {Travis S. Barman and Peter H. Hauschildt and France Allard},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0507136},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

8 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal