A Population Analysis of 20 Exoplanets Observed from the Optical to the Near-infrared Wavelengths with HST: Evidence for Widespread Stellar Contamination

TL;DR

This study analyzes 20 exoplanets observed with HST, revealing that stellar contamination significantly affects atmospheric measurements and emphasizing the need to account for stellar activity in exoplanet studies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive population analysis showing widespread stellar contamination in exoplanet atmospheres and demonstrates its impact on derived atmospheric parameters.

Findings

Stellar activity contaminates up to half of the studied exoplanet atmospheres.

Accounting for stellar activity can change molecular abundance estimates by up to 6 orders of magnitude.

Stellar contamination effects vary across observations and are more detectable in optical/UV data.

Abstract

We present a population study of 20 exoplanets, ranging from Neptune-like to inflated hot-Jupiter planets, observed during transit with the STIS and WFC3 instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. To obtain spectral information from the near-UV to the near-infrared, we reanalysed sixteen WFC3 and over fifty STIS archival data sets with our dedicated HST pipeline. We also include twenty-four WFC3 data sets previously reduced with the same software. Across our target sample we observe significant divergence among multiple observations conducted with the same STIS grating at various epochs, whilst we do not detect variations in the WFC3 data sets. These results are suggestive of stellar contamination, which we have investigated further using known Bayesian tools and other tailored metrics, facilitating a more objective assessment of stellar activity intensity within each system. Our findings reveal that stellar activity contaminates up to half of the studied exoplanet atmospheres, albeit at varying extents. Accounting for stellar activity can significantly alter planetary atmospheric parameters like molecular abundances (up to 6 orders of magnitude) and temperature (up to 145 %), contrasting with the results of analyses that neglect activity. Our results emphasise the importance of considering the effects of stellar contamination in exoplanet transit studies; this issue is particularly true for data sets obtained with facilities that do not cover the optical and/or UV spectral range where the activity is expected to be more impactful but also more easily detectable. Our results also provide a catalogue of potentially active stars for further investigation and monitoring.