Mercedes López-Morales and Sara Seager 2007 ApJ 667 L191 doi:10.1086/522118
Mercedes López-Morales1 and Sara Seager2
Show affiliationsVery hot Jupiters (VHJs) are defined as Jupiter-mass extrasolar planets with orbital periods shorter than 3 days. For low albedos the effective temperatures of irradiated VHJs can reach 2500-3000 K. Thermal emission from VHJs is therefore potentially strong at optical wavelengths. We explore the prospects of detecting optical-wavelength thermal emission during secondary eclipse with existing ground-based telescopes. We show that OGLE-TR-56b and OGLE-TR-132b are the best-suited candidates for detection and that the prospects are highest around z' band (~0.9 μm). We also speculate that any newly discovered VHJs with the right combination of orbital separation and host star parameters could be thermally detected in the optical. The lack of detections would still provide constraints on the planetary albedos and reradiation factors.
binaries: eclipsing; planetary systems; stars: individual (OGLE-TR-56, OGLE-TR-132); techniques: photometric
Issue 2 (2007 October 1)
Received 2007 May 31, accepted for publication 2007 August 6
Published 2007 September 14
Mercedes López-Morales and Sara Seager 2007 ApJ 667 L191
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