RESEARCH
<< back
The stable climate of KELT-9b

K. M. Jones, B. M. Morris, B.-O. Demory, K. Heng, M. J. Hooton, N. Billot, D. Ehrenreich, S. Hoyer, A. E. Simon, M. Lendl, O. Demangeon, S. G. Sousa, A. Bonfanti, T. G. Wilson, S. Salmon, Sz. Csizmadia, H. Parviainen, G. Bruno, Y. Alibert, R. Alonso, G. Anglada Escudé, T. Bárczy, D. Barrado, S. C. C. Barros, W. Baumjohann, M. Beck, T. Beck, W. Benz, X. Bonfils, A. Brandeker, C. Broeg, J. Cabrera, S. Charnoz, A. Collier Cameron, M. B. Davies, M. Deleuil, A. Deline, L. Delrez, A. Erikson, A. Fortier, L. Fossati, M. Fridlund, D. Gandolfi, M. Gillon, M. Güdel, K. G Isaak, L. L. Kiss, J. Laskar, A. Lecavelier Des Etangs, C. Lovis, D. Magrin, P. F. L. Maxted, V. Nascimbeni, G. Olofsson, R. Ottensamer, I. Pagano, E. Pallé, G. Peter, G. Piotto, D. Pollacco, D. Queloz, R. Ragazzoni, N. Rando, F. Ratti, H. Rauer, C. Reimers, I. Ribas, N. C. Santos, G. Scandariato, D. Ségransan, A. M. S. Smith, M. Steller, Gy. M. Szabó, N. Thomas, S. Udry, V. Van Grootel, I. Walter, N. A. Walton, W. Wang Jungo

Abstract
Even among the most irradiated gas giants, so-called ultra-hot Jupiters, KELT-9b stands out as the hottest planet thus far discovered with a dayside temperature of over 4500 K. At these extreme irradiation levels, we expect an increase in heat redistribution efficiency and a low Bond albedo owed to an extended atmosphere with molecular hydrogen dissociation occurring on the planetary dayside. We present new photometric observations of the KELT-9 system throughout 4 full orbits and 9 separate occultations obtained by the 30 cm space telescope CHEOPS. The CHEOPS bandpass, located at optical wavelengths, captures the peak of the thermal emission spectrum of KELT-9b. In this work we simultaneously analyse CHEOPS phase curves along with public phase curves from TESS and Spitzer to infer joint constraints on the phase curve variation, gravity-darkened transits, and occultation depth in three bandpasses, as well as derive 2D temperature maps of the atmosphere at three different depths. We find a day-night heat redistribution efficiency of ~0.3 which confirms expectations of enhanced energy transfer to the planetary nightside due to dissociation and recombination of molecular hydrogen. We also calculate a Bond albedo consistent with zero. We find no evidence of variability of the brightness temperature of the planet, excluding variability greater than 1%

Keywords
techniques: photometric / instrumentation: photometers / planets and satellites: atmospheres / planets and satellites: gaseous planets / eclipses / occultations

Notes
The photometric time series data are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/666/A118

★★ The CHEOPS program ID is CH_PR100036.

Astronomy & Astrophysics
Volume 666, Article Number A118, Number of pages 19
2022 October

>> ADS>> DOI

Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia COMPETE 2020 PORTUGAL 2020 União Europeia