High-resolution emission spectroscopy retrievals of MASCARA-1b with CRIRES+: Strong detections of CO, H$_2$O and Fe emission lines and a C$/$O consistent with solar

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution spectroscopy with CRIRES+ to detect and analyze molecules and atoms in the atmosphere of exoplanet MASCARA-1b, revealing its composition, thermal structure, and possible atmospheric dynamics.

Contribution

First detection of Fe emission lines in MASCARA-1b's atmosphere using CRIRES+ and a comprehensive retrieval of atmospheric properties including C/O ratio and metallicity.

Findings

Detection of Fe, CO, and H2O in MASCARA-1b's atmosphere

Retrieval of atmospheric composition and thermal structure

Indications of atmospheric dynamics from Fe feature offset

Abstract

The characterization of exoplanet atmospheres has proven to be successful using high-resolution spectroscopy. Phase curve observations of hot/ultra-hot Jupiters can reveal their compositions and thermal structures, thereby allowing the detection of molecules and atoms in the planetary atmosphere using the cross-correlation technique. We present pre-eclipse observations of the ultra-hot Jupiter, MASCARA-1b, observed with the recently upgraded CRIRES+ high-resolution infrared spectrograph at the VLT. We report a detection of $\rm Fe$ ($\approx$8.3$\sigma$) in the K-band and confirm previous detections of $\rm CO$ (>15$\sigma$) and $\rm H_2O$ (>10$\sigma$) in the day-side atmosphere of MASCARA-1b. Using a Bayesian inference framework, we retrieve the abundances of the detected species and constrain planetary orbital velocities, $T$-$P$ profiles, and the carbon-to-oxygen ratio ($\rm C/O$). A free retrieval results in an elevated $\rm CO$ abundance ($\log_{10}$($\chi_{\rm{{}^{12}CO}}$) = $-2.85^{+0.57}_{-0.69}$), leading to a super-solar $\rm C/O$ ratio. More realistically, allowing for vertically-varying chemistry in the atmosphere by incorporating a chemical-equilibrium model results in a $\rm C/O$ of $0.68^{+0.12}_{-0.22}$ and a metallicity of $[\rm M/H] = 0.62^{+0.28}_{-0.55}$, both consistent with solar values. Finally, we also report a slight offset of the $\rm Fe$ feature in both K$_{\rm p}$ and v$_{\rm sys}$ that could be a signature of atmospheric dynamics. Due to the 3D structure of exoplanet atmospheres and the exclusion of time/phase dependence in our 1D forward models, further follow-up observations and analysis are required to confirm or refute this result.