Bibcode
DOI
Charbonneau, David; Allen, Lori E.; Megeath, S. Thomas; Torres, Guillermo; Alonso, Roi; Brown, Timothy M.; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Latham, David W.; Mandushev, Georgi; O'Donovan, Francis T.; Sozzetti, Alessandro
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 626, Issue 1, pp. 523-529.
Advertised on:
6
2005
Journal
Citations
581
Refereed citations
486
Description
We present Spitzer Space Telescope infrared photometric time series of
the transiting extrasolar planet system TrES-1. The data span a
predicted time of secondary eclipse, corresponding to the passage of the
planet behind the star. In both bands of our observations, we detect a
flux decrement with a timing, amplitude, and duration as predicted by
published parameters of the system. This signal represents the first
direct detection of (i.e., the observation of photons emitted by) a
planet orbiting another star. The observed eclipse depths (in units of
relative flux) are 0.00066+/-0.00013 at 4.5 μm and 0.00225+/-0.00036
at 8.0 μm. These estimates provide the first observational
constraints on models of the thermal emission of hot Jupiters. Assuming
that the planet emits as a blackbody, we estimate an effective
temperature of Tp=1060+/-50 K. Under the additional
assumptions that the planet is in thermal equilibrium with the radiation
from the star and emits isotropically, we find a Bond albedo of
A=0.31+/-0.14. This would imply that the planet absorbs the majority of
stellar radiation incident upon it, a conclusion of significant impact
to atmospheric models of these objects. We also compare our data to a
previously published model of the planetary thermal emission, which
predicts prominent spectral features in our observational bands due to
water and carbon monoxide. This model adequately reproduces the observed
planet-to-star flux ratio at 8.0 μm however, it significantly
overpredicts the ratio at 4.5 μm. We also present an estimate of the
timing of the secondary eclipse, which we use to place a strong
constraint on the expression ecosω, where e is the orbital
eccentricity and ω is the longitude of periastron. The resulting
upper limit on e is sufficiently small that we conclude that tidal
dissipation is unlikely to provide a significant source of energy
interior to the planet.