LRG-BEASTS: sodium absorption and Rayleigh slope in the atmosphere of WASP-94Ab using NTT/EFOSC2 -- Eva-Maria Ahrer
We present the first spectroscopic study of an exoplanet atmosphere using the EFOSC2 instrument on the New Technology Telescope (NTT). The obtained transmission spectrum of the hot Jupiter WASP-94Ab in the optical wavelength range (3800 - 7140 A) suggests a sodium absorption in the atmosphere of WASP-94Ab, implying a fairly clear atmosphere. In addition, we observe a slope in the blue end of the transmission spectrum, indicating the presence of Rayleigh scattering.
The WASP-94 system is a binary system, with both bright (Vmag ~ 10) F type stars hosting one confirmed hot Jupiter, where one of them, WASP-94Ab, is transiting. WASP-94Ab orbits its host star in a 4 day misaligned, retrograde orbit at a distance of 0.055 AU. It is an optimal target for transmission spectroscopy as it is reported to have an inflated radius of 1.7 Jupiter radii, a mass of 0.5 Jupiter masses and an equilibrium temperature of 1500 K. However, no atmospheric studies have been published to date.
These results demonstrate that the NTT/EFOSC2 is able to characterise exoplanet atmospheres, achieving the necessary precisions with errors of less than one atmospheric scale height.