2001/10/26 by A. Collier Cameron, K. Horne, A. Penny +3 · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Albedo (alchemy) #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Atmosphere (unit) #Binary number #Doppler effect #Geometric albedo #Meteorology #Orbital inclination #Photometry (optics) #Physics #Planet #RADIUS #Starlight #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05084.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 330 (2002) 187 · 20 pages, 20 Figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS
arxiv created 2001/10/26 · openalex publication_date 2002/02/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
In data from three clear nights of échelle spectroscopy in 2000 October/November, and using improved Doppler tomographic signal-analysis techniques, we have carried out a deep search for starlight reflected from the innermost of υ (upsilon) And's three planets. We place upper limits on the planet's radius Rp as functions of its projected orbital velocity Kp≈139 sin i km s−1 for various assumptions about the wavelength-dependent geometric albedo spectrum p(λ) of its atmosphere. For a grey albedo p we find , with 0.1 per cent false-alarm probability (4σ). For a Sudarsky, Burrows & Pinto Class V model atmosphere, the mean albedo in our 380–676 nm bandpass is 〈p〉∼0.42, requiring Rp<1.51RJ, whereas an (isolated) Class IV model with 〈p〉∼0.19 requires Rp<2.23RJ. The star's vrot sin i∼10 km s−1 and estimated rotation period Prot∼10 d suggest a high orbital inclination i∼70°–80°. We also develop methods for assessing the false-alarm probabilities of faint candidate detections, and for extracting information about the albedo spectrum and other planetary parameters from faint reflected-light signals.