Ground-based Optical Transmission Spectroscopy of the Nearby Terrestrial Exoplanet LTT 1445Ab

TL;DR

This study presents the first ground-based optical transmission spectrum of the terrestrial exoplanet LTT 1445Ab, using M dwarf stars to remove telluric effects, and rules out a clear, solar composition atmosphere at certain pressures.

Contribution

First use of an M dwarf as a comparison star for transmission spectroscopy of another M dwarf exoplanet, demonstrating a novel method for telluric correction.

Findings

Achieved 49 ppm rms in broadband light curve

Ruled out clear, solar composition atmosphere at 1 and 10 bar pressures

Set the stage for JWST secondary eclipse observations

Abstract

Nearby M dwarf systems currently offer the most favorable opportunities for spectroscopic investigations of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres. The LTT~1445 system is a hierarchical triple of M dwarfs with two known planets orbiting the primary star, LTT~1445A. We observe four transits of the terrestrial world LTT~1445Ab ($R=1.3$ R$_\oplus$, $M=2.9$ M$_\oplus$) at low resolution with Magellan II/LDSS3C. We use the combined flux of the LTT~1445BC pair as a comparison star, marking the first time that an M dwarf is used to remove telluric variability from time-series observations of another M dwarf. We find H$\alpha$ in emission from both LTT~1445B and C, as well as a flare in one of the data sets from LTT~1445C. These contaminated data are removed from the analysis. We construct a broadband transit light curve of LTT~1445Ab from 620--1020 nm. Binned to 3-minute time bins we achieve an rms of 49 ppm for the combined broadband light curve. We construct a transmission spectrum with 20 spectrophotometric bins each spanning 20 nm and compare it to models of clear, 1$\times$ solar composition atmospheres. We rule out this atmospheric case with a surface pressure of 10 bars to $3.2 \sigma$ confidence, and with a surface pressure of 1 bar to $3.1 \sigma$ confidence. Upcoming secondary eclipse observations of LTT~1445Ab with JWST will further probe the cases of a high mean molecular weight atmosphere, a hazy or cloudy atmosphere, or no atmosphere at all on this terrestrial world.