RESUMEN
Ultrahot giant exoplanets receive thousands of times Earth's insolation1,2. Their high-temperature atmospheres (greater than 2,000 kelvin) are ideal laboratories for studying extreme planetary climates and chemistry3-5. Daysides are predicted to be cloud-free, dominated by atomic species6 and much hotter than nightsides5,7,8. Atoms are expected to recombine into molecules over the nightside9, resulting in different day and night chemistries. Although metallic elements and a large temperature contrast have been observed10-14, no chemical gradient has been measured across the surface of such an exoplanet. Different atmospheric chemistry between the day-to-night ('evening') and night-to-day ('morning') terminators could, however, be revealed as an asymmetric absorption signature during transit4,7,15. Here we report the detection of an asymmetric atmospheric signature in the ultrahot exoplanet WASP-76b. We spectrally and temporally resolve this signature using a combination of high-dispersion spectroscopy with a large photon-collecting area. The absorption signal, attributed to neutral iron, is blueshifted by -11 ± 0.7 kilometres per second on the trailing limb, which can be explained by a combination of planetary rotation and wind blowing from the hot dayside16. In contrast, no signal arises from the nightside close to the morning terminator, showing that atomic iron is not absorbing starlight there. We conclude that iron must therefore condense during its journey across the nightside.
RESUMEN
To constrain the formation history of an exoplanet, we need to know its chemical composition1-3. With an equilibrium temperature of about 4,050 kelvin4, 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 forms5. 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 equilibrium5 and cloud-free6,7, and it has been predicted that spectral lines of iron should be detectable in the visible range of wavelengths5. Here we report observations of neutral and singly ionized atomic iron (Fe and Fe+) and singly ionized atomic titanium (Ti+) in the atmosphere of KELT-9b. We identify these species using cross-correlation analysis8 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.
RESUMEN
The angle between the spin of a star and the orbital planes of its planets traces the history of the planetary system. Exoplanets orbiting close to cool stars are expected to be on circular, aligned orbits because of strong tidal interactions with the stellar convective envelope. Spin-orbit alignment can be measured when the planet transits its star, but such ground-based spectroscopic measurements are challenging for cool, slowly rotating stars. Here we report the three-dimensional characterization of the trajectory of an exoplanet around an M dwarf star, derived by mapping the spectrum of the stellar photosphere along the chord transited by the planet. We find that the eccentric orbit of the Neptune-mass exoplanet GJ 436b is nearly perpendicular to the stellar equator. Both eccentricity and misalignment, surprising around a cool star, can result from dynamical interactions (via Kozai migration) with a yet-undetected outer companion. This inward migration of GJ 436b could have triggered the atmospheric escape that now sustains its giant exosphere.