An H{\alpha} Transit of HD 189733b to Assess Stellar Activity Across the Transit Chord Close to JWST Observations

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution spectroscopy to analyze stellar activity during the transit of HD 189733b, highlighting how stellar spots can bias atmospheric measurements from JWST data.

Contribution

It demonstrates the importance of monitoring stellar activity indicators concurrently with JWST observations to accurately interpret exoplanet atmospheric spectra.

Findings

Detected active region crossing during transit via Hα line analysis

Estimated a stellar spot of about 3.5 Earth radii occulted during transit

Stellar activity could bias atmospheric feature measurements by ~17 ppm

Abstract

Transmission spectroscopy allows us to detect molecules in planetary atmospheres, but is subject to contamination from inhomogeneities on the stellar surface. Quantifying the extent of this contamination is essential for accurate measurements of atmospheric composition, as stellar activity can manifest as false atmospheric signals in planetary transmission spectra. We present a study of hot Jupiter HD 189733b, which has over 50 hours of JWST observations scheduled or taken, to measure the activity level of the host star at the current epoch. We utilize high-resolution spectra of the H${\alpha}$ line from the MEGARA spectrograph on the 10-m GTC to examine the activity level of HD 189733 during a transit. We measure H${\alpha}$ becoming shallower mid-transit by an H${\alpha}$ index of ${\delta}$ = 0.00156 ${\pm}$ 0.00026, which suggests that HD 189733b crosses an active region as it transits. We posit this deviation is likely caused by a spot along the transit chord with an approximate radius of $R_{spot}$ = 3.47 ${\pm}$ 0.30R${\oplus}$ becoming occulted during transit. Including an approximation for unocculted spots, we estimate that this spot could result in transit depth variations of ${\sim}$17 ppm at the 4.3 micron CO2 feature. Since this is comparable to JWST NIRCam Grism mode's noise floor of ${\sim}$20 ppm, it could bias atmospheric studies by altering the inferred depths of the planet's features. Thus, we suggest ground-based high-resolution monitoring of activity indicator species concurrently taken with JWST data when feasible to disentangle stellar activity signals from planetary atmospheric signals during transit.