Open AccessAn Upper Limit on the Reflected Light from the Planet Orbiting the Star τ Bootis
Author(s) -
David Charbonneau,
R. W. Noyes,
S. G. Korzennik,
P. Nisenson,
Saurabh W. Jha,
Steven S. Vogt,
Robert I. Kibrick
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the astrophysical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376
H-Index - 489
eISSN - 1538-4357
pISSN - 0004-637X
DOI - 10.1086/312234
Subject(s) - physics , planet , astrophysics , geometric albedo , radius , albedo (alchemy) , flux (metallurgy) , astronomy , planetary system , amplitude , jupiter (rocket family) , giant planet , limit (mathematics) , star (game theory) , stars , photometry (optics) , optics , art , materials science , computer security , space shuttle , performance art , computer science , metallurgy , art history , mathematical analysis , mathematics
The planet orbiting tau Boo at a separation of 0.046 AU could produce areflected light flux as bright as 1e-4 relative to that of the star. A spectrumof the system will contain a reflected light component which varies inamplitude and Doppler-shift as the planet orbits the star. Assuming thesecondary spectrum is primarily the reflected stellar spectrum, we can limitthe relative reflected light flux to be less than 5e-5. This implies an upperlimit of 0.3 for the planetary geometric albedo near 480 nm, assuming aplanetary radius of 1.2 R_Jup. This albedo is significantly less than that ofany of the giant planets of the solar system, and is not consistent withcertain published theoretical predictions.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, accepted by ApJ Letter
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