The GAPS programme at TNG

Abstract

Context. Exoplanets orbiting very close to their parent star are strongly irradiated. This can lead the upper atmospheric layers to expand and evaporate into space. The metastable helium (He I) triplet at 1083.3 nm has recently been shown to be a powerful diagnostic to probe extended and escaping exoplanetary atmospheres. Aims. We perform high-resolution transmission spectroscopy of the transiting hot Jupiter HD 189733 b with the GIARPS (GIANO-B + HARPS-N) observing mode of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, taking advantage of the simultaneous optical+near infrared spectral coverage to detect He I in the planet’s extended atmosphere and to gauge the impact of stellar magnetic activity on the planetary absorption signal. Methods. Observations were performed during five transit events of HD 189733 b. By comparison of the in-transit and out-of-transit GIANO-B observations, we computed high-resolution transmission spectra. We then used them to perform equivalent width measurements and carry out light-curves analyses in order to consistently gauge the excess in-transit absorption in correspondence with the He I triplet. Results. We spectrally resolve the He I triplet and detect an absorption signal during all five transits. The mean in-transit absorption depth amounts to 0.75 ± 0.03% (25σ) in the core of the strongest helium triplet component. We detect night-to-night variations in the He I absorption signal likely due to the transit events occurring in the presence of stellar surface inhomogeneities. We evaluate the impact of stellar-activity pseudo-signals on the true planetary absorption using a comparative analysis of the He I 1083.3 nm (in the near-infrared) and the Hα (in the visible) lines. Using a 3D atmospheric code, we interpret the time series of the He I absorption lines in the three nights not affected by stellar contamination, which exhibit a mean in-transit absorption depth of 0.77 ± 0.04% (19σ) in full agreement with the one derived from the full dataset. In agreement with previous results, our simulations suggest that the helium layers only fill part of the Roche lobe. Observations can be explained with a thermosphere heated to ~12 000 K, expanding up to ~1.2 planetary radii, and losing ~1 g s−1 of metastable helium. Conclusions. Our results reinforce the importance of simultaneous optical plus near infrared monitoring when performing high-resolution transmission spectroscopy of the extended and escaping atmospheres of hot planets in the presence of stellar activity.