Probing the haze in the atmosphere of HD 189733b with HST/WFC3 transmission spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study uses HST/WFC3 transmission spectroscopy to investigate whether haze in HD 189733b's atmosphere persists into the near-infrared, finding no clear evidence of transparency and suggesting haze dominance across wavelengths.

Contribution

First near-infrared transmission spectra of HD 189733b obtained with HST/WFC3, testing haze transparency beyond optical wavelengths.

Findings

No significant change in planetary radius ratio between optical and near-infrared.

Haze likely dominates the transmission spectrum into near-infrared wavelengths.

Results suggest haze does not become transparent in the near-infrared.

Abstract

We present Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared transmission spectroscopy of the transiting exoplanet HD 189733b, using Wide Field Camera 3. This consists of time-series spectra of two transits, used to measure the wavelength dependence of the planetary radius. These observations aim to test whether the Rayleigh scattering haze detected at optical wavelengths extends into the near-infrared, or if it becomes transparent leaving molecular features to dominate the transmission spectrum. Due to saturation and non-linearity affecting the brightest (central) pixels of the spectrum, light curves were extracted from the blue and red ends of the spectra only, corresponding to wavelength ranges of 1.099-1.168 um and 1.521-1.693 um, respectively, for the first visit, and 1.082-1.128 um and 1.514-1.671 um for the second. The light curves were fitted using a Gaussian process model to account for instrumental systematics whilst simultaneously fitting for the transit parameters. This gives values of the planet-to-star radius ratio for the blue and red light curves of 0.15650\pm0.00048 and 0.15634\pm0.00032, respectively, for visit one and 0.15716\pm0.00078 and 0.15630\pm0.00037 for visit 2 (using a quadratic limb darkening law). The planet-to-star radius ratios measured in both visits are consistent, and we see no evidence for the drop in absorption expected if the haze that is observed in the optical becomes transparent in the infrared. This tentatively suggests that the haze dominates the transmission spectrum of HD 189733b into near-infrared wavelengths, although more robust observations are required to provide conclusive evidence.