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Context. Gas giants orbiting close to hot and massive early-type stars can reach dayside temperatures that are comparable to those of the coldest stars. These ‘ultra-hot Jupiters’ have atmospheres made of ions and atomic species from molecular dissociation and feature strong day-to-night temperature gradients. Photometric observations at different orbital phases provide insights on the planet’s atmospheric properties. Aims. We aim to analyse the photometric observations of WASP-189 acquired with the Characterising Exoplanet Satellite (CHEOPS) to derive constraints on the system architecture and the planetary atmosphere. Methods. We implemented a light-curve model suited for an asymmetric transit shape caused by the gravity-darkened photosphere of the fast-rotating host star. We also modelled the reflective and thermal components of the planetary flux, the effect of stellar oblateness and light-travel time on transit-eclipse timings, the stellar activity, and CHEOPS systematics. Results. From the asymmetric transit, we measure the size of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-189 b, Rp = 1.600−0.016+0.017 RJ, with a precision of 1%, and the true orbital obliquity of the planetary system, Ψp = 89.6 ± 1.2deg (polar orbit). We detect no significant hotspot offset from the phase curve and obtain an eclipse depth of δecl = 96.5−5.0+4.5 ppm, from which we derive an upper limit on the geometric albedo: Ag < 0.48. We also find that the eclipse depth can only be explained by thermal emission alone in the case of extremely inefficient energy redistribution. Finally, we attribute the photometric variability to the stellar rotation, either through superficial inhomogeneities or resonance couplings between the convective core and the radiative envelope. Conclusions. Based on the derived system architecture, we predict the eclipse depth in the upcoming Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) observations to be up to ~165 ppm. High-precision detection of the eclipse in both CHEOPS and TESS passbands might help disentangle reflective and thermal contributions. We also expect the right ascension of the ascending node of the orbit to precess due to the perturbations induced by the stellar quadrupole moment J2 (oblateness)., Astronomy & Astrophysics, 659, ISSN:0004-6361, ISSN:1432-0746

S. C. C. Barros et al., [Context] Ultra-short period planets undergo strong tidal interactions with their host star which lead to planet deformation and orbital tidal decay., [Aims] WASP-103b is the exoplanet with the highest expected deformation signature in its transit light curve and one of the shortest expected spiral-in times. Measuring the tidal deformation of the planet would allow us to estimate the second degree fluid Love number and gain insight into the planet’s internal structure. Moreover, measuring the tidal decay timescale would allow us to estimate the stellar tidal quality factor, which is key to constraining stellar physics., [Methods] We obtained 12 transit light curves of WASP-103b with the CHaracterising ExOplanet Satellite (CHEOPS) to estimate the tidal deformation and tidal decay of this extreme system. We modelled the high-precision CHEOPS transit light curves together with systematic instrumental noise using multi-dimensional Gaussian process regression informed by a set of instrumental parameters. To model the tidal deformation, we used a parametrisation model which allowed us to determine the second degree fluid Love number of the planet. We combined our light curves with previously observed transits of WASP-103b with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Spitzer to increase the signal-to-noise of the light curve and better distinguish the minute signal expected from the planetary deformation., [Results] We estimate the radial Love number of WASP-103b to be hf = 1.59−0.53+0.45. This is the first time that the tidal deformation is directly detected (at 3 σ) from the transit light curve of an exoplanet. Combining the transit times derived from CHEOPS, HST, and Spitzer light curves with the other transit times available in the literature, we find no significant orbital period variation for WASP-103b. However, the data show a hint of an orbital period increase instead of a decrease, as is expected for tidal decay. This could be either due to a visual companion star if this star is bound, the Applegate effect, or a statistical artefact., [Conclusions] The estimated Love number of WASP-103b is similar to Jupiter’s. This will allow us to constrain the internal structure and composition of WASP-103b, which could provide clues on the inflation of hot Jupiters. Future observations with James Webb Space Telescope can better constrain the radial Love number of WASP-103b due to their high signal-to-noise and the smaller signature of limb darkening in the infrared. A longer time baseline is needed to constrain the tidal decay in this system., CHEOPS is an ESA mission in partnership with Switzerland with important contributions to the payload and the ground segment from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The CHEOPS Consortium would like to gratefully acknowledge the support received by all the agencies, offices, universities, and industries involved. Their flexibility and willingness to explore new approaches were essential to the success of this mission. This work was supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through national funds and by FEDER through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacão by these grants: UID/FIS/04434/2019, UIDB/04434/2020, UIDP/04434/2020, PTDC/FIS-AST/32113/2017 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 032113, PTDC/FIS-AST/28953/2017 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028953, PTDC/FIS-AST/28987/2017 and POCI-01- 0145-FEDER-028987, UIDB/04564/2020 UIDP/04564/2020, PTDC/FIS-AST/7002/2020, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022217, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029932. O.D.S.D. is supported in the form of work contract (DL 57/2016/CP1364/CT0004) funded by national funds through FCT. S.G.S. acknowledges support from FCT through FCT contract nr. CEECIND/00826/2018 and POPH/FSE (EC). M.J.H. and Y.A. acknowledge the support of the Swiss National Fund under grant 200020_172746. S.H. gratefully acknowledges CNES funding through the grant 837319. D.K. acknowledges partial financial support from the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH), the PlanetS National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR), and the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss-based MERAC Foundation. A.C.C. and T.G.W. acknowledge support from STFC consolidated grant number ST/M001296/1. P.M. acknowledges support from STFC research grant number ST/M001040/1. This work was also partially supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation (PI Queloz, grant number 327127). B.-O.D. acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (PP00P2-190080). ABr was supported by the SNSA. We acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund through grants ESP2016-80435-C2-1-R, ESP2016-80435-C2-2-R, PGC2018-098153-B-C33, PGC2018-098153-B-C31, ESP2017-87676-C5-1-R, MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia Maria de Maeztu-Centro de Astrobiologí a (INTA-CSIC), as well as the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme. The MOC activities have been supported by the ESA contract no. 4000124370. X.B., S.C., D.G., M.F., and J.L. acknowledge their roles as ESA-appointed CHEOPS science team members. This project was supported by the CNES. The Belgian participation to CHEOPS has been supported by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) in the framework of the PRODEX programme, and by the University of Liège through an ARC grant for Concerted Research Actions financed by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (project FOUR ACESgrant agreement no. 724427). C.M.P. and M.F. gratefully acknowledge the support of the Swedish National Space Agency (DNR 65/19, 174/18). DG gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Cassa di Risparmio di Torino (CRT) foundation under Grant No. 2018.2323 “Gaseous or rocky? Unveiling the nature of small worlds”. M.G. is an F.R.S.-FNRS Senior Research Associate. KGI is the ESA CHEOPS Project Scientist and is responsible for the ESA CHEOPS Guest Observers Programme. She does not participate in, or contribute to, the definition of the Guaranteed Time Programme of the CHEOPS mission through which observations described in this paper have been taken, nor to any aspect of target selection for the programme. She acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund through grant PGC2018-098153-B-C33, as well as the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme. This project has been supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH) grants GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00003, K-119517, K-125015, and the City of Szombathely under Agreement No. 67.177-21/2016. V.V.G. is an F.R.S.-FNRS Research Associate. J.L.-B. acknowledges financial support received from “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 847648, with fellowship code LCF/BQ/PI20/11760023. Based on observationscollected at Centro Astronómico Hispano en Andalucía (CAHA) at Calar Alto, operated jointly by Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC) and Junta de Andalucía. G.B. acknowledges support from CHEOPS ASI-INAF agreement no. 2019-29-HH.0. M.L. acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation under Grant No. PCEFP2 194576. A.De. acknowledges the financial support of the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (project FOUR ACES; grant agreement no. 724427). A.De. also acknowledges financial support of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) through the National Centre for Competence in Research “PlanetS”. L.D. is an F.R.S.-FNRS Postdoctoral Researcher.

Photochemistry is a fundamental process of planetary atmospheres that is integral to habitability, atmospheric composition and stability, and aerosol formation. However, no unambiguous photochemical products have been detected in exoplanet atmospheres to date. Here we show that photochemically produced sulphur dioxide (SO2) is present in the atmosphere of the hot, giant exoplanet WASP-39b, as constrained by data from the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Early Release Science Program and informed by a suite of photochemical models. We find that SO2 is produced by successive oxidation of sulphur radicals freed when hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is destroyed. The SO2 distribution computed by the photochemical models robustly explains the 4.05 μm spectral feature seen in JWST transmission spectra [Rustamkulov et al.(submitted), Alderson et al.(submitted)] and leads to observable features at ultraviolet and thermal infrared wavelengths not available from the current observations. The sensitivity of the SO2 feature to the enrichment of heavy elements in the atmosphere ("metallicity") suggests that it can be used as a powerful tracer of atmospheric properties, with our results implying a metallicity of ∼10× solar for WASP-39b. Through providing improved constraints on bulk metallicity and sulphur abundance, the detection of SO2 opens a new avenue for the investigation of giant-planet formation. Our work demonstrates that sulphur photochemistry may be readily observable for exoplanets with super-solar metallicity and equilibrium temperatures ≳750 K. The confirmation of photochemistry through the agreement between theoretical predictions and observational data is pivotal for further atmospheric characterisation studies.

Laplacian resonant chains — where astronomical bodies are in mean motion resonance with two or more other bodies — are rare phenomena observed in systems such as the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets and the Galilean moons of Jupiter. Laplacian chains are an important tool to study the history of planetary systems occupying this configuration, as the fragility of the chain significantly constrains the possible pathways through which the planets can form and evolve. Whilst initial TESS observations suggested that TOI-178 — a nearby system of exoplanets orbiting a relatively cool K-dwarf — hosted the first known planets occupying a horseshoe-coorbital configuration, follow-up observations by CHEOPS, NGTS and SPECULOOS revealed a compact system of six transiting exoplanets all smaller than Neptune: five of which form a chain of Laplacian resonance. Precise measurements of the host's radial velocity using the ESPRESSO spectrograph revealed uncommon planet-to-planet density variations: a stark departure from the monotonic decrease in density with orbital separation common to most systems. JWST time awarded in Cycle 1 to acquire transmission spectroscopy of planets b, d and g promises to make the evolution of the TOI-178 planets amongst the best-understood of any planetary system for the foreseeable future.

Full list of authors: Wilson, Thomas G.; Goffo, Elisa; Alibert, Yann; Gandolfi, Davide; Bonfanti, Andrea; Persson, Carina M.; Collier Cameron, Andrew; Fridlund, Malcolm; Fossati, Luca; Korth, Judith; Benz, Willy; Deline, Adrien; Florén, Hans-Gustav; Guterman, Pascal; Adibekyan, Vardan; Hooton, Matthew J.; Hoyer, Sergio; Leleu, Adrien; Mustill, Alexander James; Salmon, Sébastien; Sousa, Sérgio G.; Suarez, Olga; Abe, Lyu; Agabi, Abdelkrim; Alonso, Roi; Anglada, Guillem; Asquier, Joel; Bárczy, Tamas; Barrado Navascues, David; Barros, Susana C. C.; Baumjohann, Wolfgang; Beck, Mathias; Beck, Thomas; Billot, Nicolas; Bonfils, Xavier; Brandeker, Alexis; Broeg, Christopher; Bryant, Edward M.; Burleigh, Matthew R.; Buttu, Marco; Cabrera, Juan; Charnoz, Sébastien; Ciardi, David R.; Cloutier, Ryan; Cochran, William D.; Collins, Karen A.; Colón, Knicole D.; Crouzet, Nicolas; Csizmadia, Szilard; Davies, Melvyn B.; Deleuil, Magali; Delrez, Laetitia; Demangeon, Olivier; Demory, Brice-Olivier; Dragomir, Diana; Dransfield, Georgina; Ehrenreich, David; Erikson, Anders; Fortier, Andrea; Gan, Tianjun; Gill, Samuel; Gillon, Michaël; Gnilka, Crystal L.; Grieves, Nolan; Grziwa, Sascha; Güdel, Manuel; Guillot, Tristan; Haldemann, Jonas; Heng, Kevin; Horne, Keith; Howell, Steve B.; Isaak, Kate G.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Jensen, Eric L. N.; Kiss, Laszlo; Lacedelli, Gaia; Lam, Kristine; Laskar, Jacques; Latham, David W.; Lecavelier des Etangs, Alain; Lendl, Monika; Lester, Kathryn V.; Levine, Alan M.; Livingston, John; Lovis, Christophe; Luque, Rafael; Magrin, Demetrio; Marie-Sainte, Wenceslas; Maxted, Pierre F. L.; Mayo, Andrew W.; McLean, Brian; Mecina, Marko; Mékarnia, Djamel; Nascimbeni, Valerio; Nielsen, Louise D.; Olofsson, Göran; Osborn, Hugh P.; Osborne, Hannah L. M.; Ottensamer, Roland; Pagano, Isabella; Pallé, Enric; Peter, Gisbert; Piotto, Giampaolo; Pollacco, Don; Queloz, Didier; Ragazzoni, Roberto; Rando, Nicola; Rauer, Heike; Redfield, Seth; Ribas, Ignasi; Ricker, George R.; Rieder, Martin; Santos, Nuno C.; Scandariato, Gaetano; Schmider, François-Xavier; Schwarz, Richard P.; Scott, Nicholas J.; Seager, Sara; Ségransan, Damien; Serrano, Luisa Maria; Simon, Attila E.; Smith, Alexis M. S.; Steller, Manfred; Stockdale, Chris; Szabó, Gyula; Thomas, Nicolas; Ting, Eric B.; Triaud, Amaury H. M. J.; Udry, Stéphane; Van Eylen, Vincent; Van Grootel, Valérie; Vanderspek, Roland K.; Viotto, Valentina; Walton, Nicholas; Winn, Joshua N., We report the discovery and characterization of a pair of sub-Neptunes transiting the bright K-dwarf TOI-1064 (TIC 79748331), initially detected in the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) photometry. To characterize the system, we performed and retrieved the CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS), TESS, and ground-based photometry, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) high-resolution spectroscopy, and Gemini speckle imaging. We characterize the host star and determine Teff,⋆=4734±67K⁠, R⋆=0.726±0.007R⊙⁠, and M⋆=0.748±0.032M⊙⁠. We present a novel detrending method based on point spread function shape-change modelling and demonstrate its suitability to correct flux variations in CHEOPS data. We confirm the planetary nature of both bodies and find that TOI-1064 b has an orbital period of Pb = 6.44387 ± 0.00003 d, a radius of Rb = 2.59 ± 0.04 R⊕, and a mass of Mb=13.5+1.7−1.8 M⊕, whilst TOI-1064 c has an orbital period of Pc=12.22657+0.00005−0.00004 d, a radius of Rc = 2.65 ± 0.04 R⊕, and a 3σ upper mass limit of 8.5 M⊕. From the high-precision photometry we obtain radius uncertainties of ∼1.6 per cent, allowing us to conduct internal structure and atmospheric escape modelling. TOI-1064 b is one of the densest, well-characterized sub-Neptunes, with a tenuous atmosphere that can be explained by the loss of a primordial envelope following migration through the protoplanetary disc. It is likely that TOI-1064 c has an extended atmosphere due to the tentative low density, however further radial velocities are needed to confirm this scenario and the similar radii, different masses nature of this system. The high-precision data and modelling of TOI-1064 b are important for planets in this region of mass–radius space, and it allow us to identify a trend in bulk density–stellar metallicity for massive sub-Neptunes that may hint at the formation of this population of planets. © The Author(s) 2022., This study is based on observations made with ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Observatory under program ID 1102.C-0923. CHEOPS is an ESA mission in partnership with Switzerland with important contributions to the payload and the ground segment from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. The CHEOPS Consortium would like to gratefully acknowledge the support received by all the agencies, offices, universities, and industries involved. Their flexibility and willingness to explore new approaches were essential to the success of this mission. Funding for the TESS mission is provided by NASA Science Mission Directorate. We acknowledge the use of public TESS data from pipelines at the TESS Science Office and at the TESS Science Processing Operations Center. This research has made use of the Exoplanet Follow-up Observation Program website, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center for the production of the SPOC data products. Part of this work was done using data taken by KESPRINT, an international consortium devoted to the characterization and research of exoplanets discovered with space-based missions (http://www.kesprint.science/). This work makes use of observations from the LCOGT network. Part of the LCOGT telescope time was granted by NOIRLab through the Mid-Scale Innovations Program (MSIP). MSIP is funded by NSF. This study is based on data collected under the NGTS project at the ESO La Silla Paranal Observatory. The NGTS facility is operated by the consortium institutes with support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) projects ST/M001962/1 and ST/S002642/1. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. This work makes use of observations from the ASTEP telescope. ASTEP benefited from the support of the French and Italian polar agencies IPEV and PNRA in the framework of the Concordia station program and from Idex UCAJEDI (ANR-15-IDEX-01). Some of the observations in the paper made use of the High-Resolution Imaging instrument Zorro. Zorro was funded by the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program and built at the NASA Ames Research Center by Steve B. Howell, Nic Scott, Elliott P. Horch, and Emmett Quigley. Zorro was mounted on the Gemini-South telescope of the international Gemini Observatory, a program of NSF’s OIR Lab, which is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (USA), National Research Council Canada (Canada), Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (Chile), Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Argentina), Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações e Comunicações (Brazil), and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (Republic of Korea). TGW, ACC, and KH acknowledge support from STFC consolidated grant numbers ST/R000824/1 and ST/V000861/1, and UKSA grant ST/R003203/1. YA and MJH acknowledge the support of the Swiss National Fund under grant 200020_172746. DG and LMS gratefully acknowledge financial support from the CRT Foundation under grant no. 2018.2323 ‘Gaseous or rocky? Unveiling the nature of small worlds’. DG, MF, XB, SC, and JL acknowledge their roles as ESA-appointed CHEOPS science team members. CMP, MF, JK, and AJM gratefully acknowledge the support of the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA; DNR 65/19, 174/18, 2020-00104, and Career grant 120/19C). ADe and DE acknowledge support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (project fOURaCES; grant agreement no. 724427). ADe, ALe, and HO acknowledge support from the Swiss National Centre for Competence in Research ‘PlanetS’ and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). SH gratefully acknowledges CNES funding through the grant 837319. SES have received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (grant agreement no. 833925, project STAREX). SGS acknowledges support from FCT through FCT contract no. CEECIND/00826/2018 and POPH/FSE (EC). We acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund through grants ESP2016-80435-C2-1-R, ESP2016-80435-C2-2-R, PGC2018-098153-B-C33, PGC2018-098153-B-C31, ESP2017-87676-C5-1-R, MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia Maria de Maeztu-Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), and the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme. The MOC activities have been supported by the ESA contract no. 4000124370. SCCB and VA acknowledge support from FCT through FCT contracts no. IF/01312/2014/CP1215/CT0004 and IF/00650/2015/CP1273/CT0001, respectively. ABr was supported by the SNSA. This project was supported by the CNES. LD is an F.R.S.-FNRS Postdoctoral Researcher. The Belgian participation to CHEOPS has been supported by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) in the framework of the PRODEX Program, and by the University of Liège through an ARC grant for Concerted Research Actions financed by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. This work was supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia – through national funds and by FEDER through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacão by these grants: UID/FIS/04434/2019, UIDB/04434/2020, UIDP/04434/2020, PTDC/FIS-AST/32113/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032113, PTDC/FIS-AST/28953/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028953, PTDC/FIS-AST/28987/2017, and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028987, ODSD is supported in the form of work contract (DL 57/2016/CP1364/CT0004) funded by national funds through FCT. B-OD acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (PP00P2-190080). DD acknowledges support from the TESS Guest Investigator Program grant 80NSSC19K1727 and NASA Exoplanet Research Program grant 18-2XRP18_2-0136. MG is an F.R.S.-FNRS Senior Research Associate. KGI is the ESA CHEOPS Project Scientist and is responsible for the ESA CHEOPS Guest Observers Programme. She does not participate in, or contribute to, the definition of the Guaranteed Time Programme of the CHEOPS mission through which observations described in this paper have been taken, nor to any aspect of target selection for the programme. GL acknowledges support by CARIPARO Foundation, according to the agreement CARIPARO-Universitá degli Studi di Padova (Pratica no. 2018/0098). This work was granted access to the HPC resources of MesoPSL financed by the Region Ile de France and the project Equip@Meso (reference ANR-10-EQPX-29-01) of the programme Investissements d’Avenir supervised by the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche. ML acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation under grant no. PCEFP2_194576. PFLM acknowledges support from STFC research grant number ST/M001040/1. LDN thanks the Swiss National Science Foundation for support under Early Postdoc. Mobility grant P2GEP2_200044. This work was also partially supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation (PI: Queloz, grant number 327127). IR acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund through grant PGC2018-098153-B-C33, as well as the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme. This project has been supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH) grant K-125015, the MTA-ELTE Lendület Milky Way Research Group, and the City of Szombathely under agreement no. 67.177-21/2016. This research received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (grant agreement no. 803193/BEBOP), and from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC; grant no. ST/S00193X/1). VVG is an F.R.S-FNRS Research Associate., With funding from the Spanish government through the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence accreditation SEV-2017-0709.

Context. Observations of the phase curves and secondary eclipses of extrasolar planets provide a window onto the composition and thermal structure of the planetary atmospheres. For example, the photometric observations of secondary eclipses lead to the measurement of the planetary geometric albedo, Ag, which is an indicator of the presence of clouds in the atmosphere. Aims. In this work, we aim to measure the Ag in the optical domain of WASP-43b, a moderately irradiated giant planet with an equilibrium temperature of ~1400 K. Methods. For this purpose, we analyzed the secondary eclipse light curves collected by CHEOPS together with TESS along with observations of the system and the publicly available photometry obtained with HST WFC3/UVIS. We also analyzed the archival infrared observations of the eclipses and retrieve the thermal emission spectrum of the planet. By extrapolating the thermal spectrum to the optical bands, we corrected for the optical eclipses for thermal emission and derived the optical Ag. Results. The fit of the optical data leads to a marginal detection of the phase-curve signal, characterized by an amplitude of 160 ± 60 ppm and 80a-? 50+60 ppm in the CHEOPS and TESS passbands, respectively, with an eastward phase shift of ~50 (1.5Ï ? detection). The analysis of the infrared data suggests a non-inverted thermal profile and solar-like metallicity. The combination of the optical and infrared analyses allows us to derive an upper limit for the optical albedo of Ag< 0.087, with a confidence of 99.9%. Conclusions. Our analysis of the atmosphere of WASP-43b places this planet in the sample of irradiated hot Jupiters, with monotonic temperature-pressure profile and no indication of condensation of reflective clouds on the planetary dayside., Astronomy & Astrophysics, 668, ISSN:0004-6361, ISSN:1432-0746

Ground-based, high-resolution spectrographs are providing us with an unprecedented view of the dynamics and chemistry of the atmospheres of planets outside the Solar System. While there are a large number of stable and precise high-resolution spectrographs on modest-size telescopes, it is the spectrographs at observatories with apertures larger than 3.5 m that dominate the atmospheric follow-up of exoplanets. In this work we explore the potential of characterising exoplanetary atmospheres with FIES, a high-resolution spectrograph at the 2.56 m Nordic Optical Telescope. We observed two transits of MASCARA-2 b (also known as KELT-20 b) and one transit of KELT-9 b to search for atomic iron, a species that has recently been discovered in both neutral and ionised forms in the atmospheres of these ultra-hot Jupiters using large telescopes. Using a cross-correlation method, we detect a signal of Fe II at the 4.5σ and 4.0σ level in the transits of MaSCARA-2 b. We also detect Fe II in the transit of KELT-9 b at the 8.5σ level. Although we do not find any significant Doppler shift in the signal of MASCARA-2 b, we do measure a moderate blueshift (3–6 km s−1) of the feature in KELT-9 b, which might be a manifestation of high-velocity winds transporting Fe II from the planetary dayside to the nightside. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of investigating exoplanet atmospheres with FIES, and it potentially unlocks a wealth of additional atmosphere detections with this and other high-resolution spectrographs mounted on similar-size telescopes.

Exoplanet science is one of the most thriving fields of modern astrophysics. A major goal is the atmospheric characterization of dozens of small, terrestrial exoplanets in order to search for signatures in their atmospheres that indicate biological activity, assess their ability to provide conditions for life as we know it, and investigate their expected atmospheric diversity. None of the currently adopted projects or missions, from ground or in space, can address these goals. In this White Paper, submitted to ESA in response to the Voyage 2050 Call, we argue that a large space-based mission designed to detect and investigate thermal emission spectra of terrestrial exoplanets in the mid-infrared wavelength range provides unique scientific potential to address these goals and surpasses the capabilities of other approaches. While NASA might be focusing on large missions that aim to detect terrestrial planets in reflected light, ESA has the opportunity to take leadership and spearhead the development of a large mid-infrared exoplanet mission within the scope of the “Voyage 2050” long-term plan establishing Europe at the forefront of exoplanet science for decades to come. Given the ambitious science goals of such a mission, additional international partners might be interested in participating and contributing to a roadmap that, in the long run, leads to a successful implementation. A new, dedicated development program funded by ESA to help reduce development and implementation cost and further push some of the required key technologies would be a first important step in this direction. Ultimately, a large mid-infrared exoplanet imaging mission will be needed to help answer one of humankind’s most fundamental questions: “How unique is our Earth?”, Experimental Astronomy, 54 (2-3), ISSN:0922-6435, ISSN:1572-9508

The continuous, long-baseline photometry provided by TESS has enabled detailed phase curve studies of planetary systems. Over the course of the two-year Primary Mission, we carried out a systematic light curve analysis of both known targets and newly discovered systems. By measuring the phase curve, we probed fundamental physical quantities, such as the planet’s dayside temperature, Bond albedo, and day-night heat recirculation efficiency, as well as the host star’s response to the mutual star-planet gravitational interaction. In this talk, I provide an overview of the main results from the Primary Mission. We detected phase curves for over 20 targets and combined TESS-band eclipse measurements with Spitzer secondary eclipse depths to obtain self-consistent dayside brightness temperatures and optical geometric albedos. These albedo measurements have revealed an intriguing apparent trend between increasing dayside temperature and increasing geometric albedo for hot Jupiters. With TESS now well into its Extended Mission, we consider possible avenues for follow-up intensive atmospheric characterization and discuss fruitful opportunities for future study as the telescope revisits these systems in the coming years., {"references":["Addison, B.C., Knudstrup, E., Wong, I., et al. 2021, AJ, in revision","Ahlers, J.P., Johnson, M.C., Stassun, K.G., et al. 2020, AJ, 160, 4","Cabot, S.H.C., Bello-Arufe, A., Mendonça, J.M., et al. 2021, AJ, in revision","Mansfield, M., Bean, J.L., Stevenson, K.B., et al. 2020, ApjL, 888, L15","Shporer, A. 2017, PASP, 129, 072001","Shporer, A., Wong, I., Huang, C.X., et al. 2019, AJ, 157, 178","Wong, I., Kitzmann, D., Shporer, A., et al. 2021a, AJ, in press","Wong, I., Shporer, A., Daylan, T. et al. 2020a, AJ, 160, 155","Wong, I., Shporer, A., Kitzmann, D., et al. 2020b, AJ, 160, 88","Wong, I., Shporer, A., Zhou, G., et al. 2021b, AJ, submitted","Zhou, G., Huang, C.X., Bakos, G.Á., et al. 2019, AJ, 158, 141"]}