2020ApJ...892..151L -
Astrophys. J., 892, 151-151 (2020/April-1)
Prospects for directly imaging young giant planets at optical wavelengths.
LACY B. and BURROWS A.
Abstract (from CDS):
In this work, we investigate the properties of young giant planet spectra in the optical and suggest that future space-based direct imaging missions should be considering young planets as a valuable and informative science case. While young planets are dimmer in the optical than in the infrared, they can still be brighter in the optical than a mature planet of similar mass. Therefore, an instrument designed to characterize mature planets should also be suitable for high-precision photometric imaging and spectroscopy of young self-luminous planets in a wavelength range and at a contrast ratio not currently attainable from the ground. We identify known young self-luminous companions that are feasible targets for coronagraphic instrument on the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST-CGI) and compute spectra for them, including a treatment of scattering and reflected light at optical wavelengths. Using these results, we highlight potentially diagnostic spectral features that will be present in the WFIRST-CGI wavelengths. Expanding to direct imaging missions beyond WFIRST-CGI, we also use evolutionary models across a grid of masses and planet-star separations as inputs to compute spectra of hypothetical objects, exploring when reflected light may contribute to a degree comparable to that of thermal emission from the residual heat of formation.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2020. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
Journal keyword(s):
Exoplanet atmospheres - Exoplanets - Extrasolar gas giants - Direct imaging - Substellar companion stars
Simbad objects:
23
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