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  1. OA@INAF
  2. PRODOTTI RICERCA INAF
  3. 1 CONTRIBUTI IN RIVISTE (Journal articles)
  4. 1.01 Articoli in rivista
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/27678
Title: Atomic iron and titanium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet KELT-9b
Authors: Hoeijmakers, H. Jens
Ehrenreich, David
Heng, Kevin
Kitzmann, Daniel
Grimm, Simon L.
Allart, Romain
Deitrick, Russell
Wyttenbach, Aurélien
Oreshenko, Maria
Pino, Lorenzo 
Rimmer, Paul B.
MOLINARI, Emilio Carlo 
DI FABRIZIO, LUCA 
Issue Date: 2018
Journal: NATURE 
Number: 560
Issue: 7719
First Page: 453
Abstract: To constrain the formation history of an exoplanet, we need to know its chemical composition<SUP>1-3</SUP>. With an equilibrium temperature of about 4,050 kelvin<SUP>4</SUP>, the exoplanet KELT-9b (also known as HD 195689b) is an archetype of the class of ultrahot Jupiters that straddle the transition between stars and gas-giant exoplanets and are therefore useful for studying atmospheric chemistry. At these high temperatures, iron and several other transition metals are not sequestered in molecules or cloud particles and exist solely in their atomic forms<SUP>5</SUP>. However, despite being the most abundant transition metal in nature, iron has not hitherto been detected directly in an exoplanet because it is highly refractory. The high temperatures of KELT-9b imply that its atmosphere is a tightly constrained chemical system that is expected to be nearly in chemical equilibrium<SUP>5</SUP> and cloud-free<SUP>6,7</SUP>, and it has been predicted that spectral lines of iron should be detectable in the visible range of wavelengths<SUP>5</SUP>. Here we report observations of neutral and singly ionized atomic iron (Fe and Fe<SUP>+</SUP>) and singly ionized atomic titanium (Ti<SUP>+</SUP>) in the atmosphere of KELT-9b. We identify these species using cross-correlation analysis<SUP>8</SUP> of high-resolution spectra obtained as the exoplanet passed in front of its host star. Similar detections of metals in other ultrahot Jupiters will provide constraints for planetary formation theories.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/27678
URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0401-y
ISSN: 0028-0836
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0401-y
Bibcode ADS: 2018Natur.560..453H
Fulltext: open
Appears in Collections:1.01 Articoli in rivista

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