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At least 1,441 records · Page 80
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DOE OSTI2015

T-REx. II. Retrieval of emission spectra

T-REx (Tau Retrieval of Exoplanets) is a novel, fully Bayesian atmospheric retrieval code custom built for extrasolar atmospheres. In Waldmann et al., the transmission spectroscopic case was introduced, and here we present the emission spectroscopy spectral retrieval for the T-REx framework. Compared to transmission spectroscopy, the emission case is often significantly more degenerate due to the need to retrieve the full atmospheric temperature–pressure (TP) profile. This is particularly true in the case of current measurements of exoplanetary atmospheres, which are either of low signal-to-noise, low spectral resolution, or both. We present a new way of combining two existing approaches to the modeling of the said TP profile: (1) the parametric profile, where the atmospheric TP structure is analytically approximated by a few model parameters, (2) the layer-by-layer approach, where individual atmospheric layers are modeled. Both of these approaches have distinct advantages and disadvantages in terms of convergence properties and potential model biases. The T-REx hybrid model presented here is a new two-stage TP profile retrieval, which combines the robustness of the analytic solution with the accuracy of the layer-by-layer approach. The retrieval process is demonstrated using simulations of the hot-Jupiter WASP-76b and the hot-super-Earth 55 Cnc e as well as the secondary eclipse measurements of HD 189733b.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

AUTOCLASSIFICATION OF THE VARIABLE 3XMM SOURCES USING THE RANDOM FOREST MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHM

In the current era of large surveys and massive data sets, autoclassification of astrophysical sources using intelligent algorithms is becoming increasingly important. In this paper we present the catalog of variable sources in the Third XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source catalog (3XMM) autoclassified using the Random Forest machine learning algorithm. We used a sample of manually classified variable sources from the second data release of the XMM-Newton catalogs (2XMMi-DR2) to train the classifier, obtaining an accuracy of ∼92%. We also evaluated the effectiveness of identifying spurious detections using a sample of spurious sources, achieving an accuracy of ∼95%. Manual investigation of a random sample of classified sources confirmed these accuracy levels and showed that the Random Forest machine learning algorithm is highly effective at automatically classifying 3XMM sources. Here we present the catalog of classified 3XMM variable sources. We also present three previously unidentified unusual sources that were flagged as outlier sources by the algorithm: a new candidate supergiant fast X-ray transient, a 400 s X-ray pulsar, and an eclipsing 5 hr binary system coincident with a known Cepheid.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

EVOLUTION OF TRANSIENT LOW-MASS X-RAY BINARIES TO REDBACK MILLISECOND PULSARS

Redback millisecond pulsars (MSPs; hereafter redbacks) are a subpopulation of eclipsing MSPs in close binaries. The formation processes of these systems are not clear. The three pulsars showing transitions between rotation- and accretion-powered states belong to both redbacks and transient low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), suggesting a possible evolutionary link between them. Through binary evolution calculations, we show that the accretion disks in almost all LMXBs are subject to the thermal-viscous instability during certain evolutionary stages, and the parameter space for the disk instability covers the distribution of known redbacks in the orbital period—companion mass plane. We accordingly suggest that the abrupt reduction of the mass accretion rate during quiescence of transient LMXBs provides a plausible way to switch on the pulsar activity, leading to the formation of redbacks, if the neutron star has been spun up to be an energetic MSP. We investigate the evolution of redbacks, taking into account the evaporation feedback, and discuss its possible influence on the formation of black widow MSPs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

X-RAY EMISSION FROM J1446–4701, J1311–3430, AND OTHER BLACK WIDOW PULSARS

We present the results of detailed X-ray analysis of two black-widow pulsars (BWPs), J1446–4701 and J1311–3430. PSR J1446–4701 is a BWP with orbital parameters near the median values of the sample of known BWPs. Its X-ray emission that was detected by XMM-Newton is well characterized by a soft power-law (PL) spectrum (photon index Γ ≈ 3), and it shows no significant orbital modulations. In view of a lack of radio eclipses and an optical non-detection, the system most likely has a low orbital inclination. PSR J1311–3430 is an extreme BWP with a very compact orbit and the lowest minimum mass companion. Our Chandra data confirm the hard Γ ≈ 1.3 emission seen in previous observations. Through phase-restricted spectral analysis, we found a hint (∼2.6σ) of spectral hardening around pulsar inferior conjunction. We also provide a uniform analysis of the 12 BWPs observed with Chandra and compare their X-ray properties. Pulsars with soft, Γ > 2.5 emission seem to have lower than average X-ray and γ-ray luminosities. We do not, however, see any other prominent correlation between the pulsar’s X-ray emission characteristics and any of its other properties. The contribution of the intra-binary shock to the total X-ray emission, if any, is not discernible in this sample of pulsars with shallow observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

BI VULPECULAE: A SIAMESE TWIN WITH TWO VERY SIMILAR COOL STARS IN SHALLOW CONTACT

BI Vul is a cool eclipsing binary star (Sp. = K3 V) with a short period of 0.2518 days. The first charge-coupled device (CCD) light curves of the binary in the BVRI obtained on 2012 August 21 are presented and are analyzed using the Wilson-Devinney code. It is discovered that BI Vul is a marginal contact binary system (f = 8.7%) that contains two very similar cool components (q = 1.037). Both the marginal contact configuration and the extremely high mass ratio suggest that it is presently evolving into contact with little mass transfer between the components and it is at the beginning stage of contact evolution. By using all available times of minimum light, the variations in the orbital period are investigated for the first time. We find that the observed – calculated (O – C) curve of BI Vul shows a cyclic change with a period of 10.8 yr and an amplitude of 0.0057 days, while it undergoes a downward parabolic variation. The cyclic oscillation is analyzed for the light-travel time effect that arises from the gravitational influence of a possible third stellar object. The mass and orbital separation of the third body are estimated as M {sub 3} ∼ 0.30 M {sub ☉} and ∼4.9 AU, respectively. The downward parabolic change reveals a long-term period decrease at a rate of P-dot = -9.5 x 10{sup -8} days yr{sup –1}. The period decrease may be caused by angular momentum loss via magnetic stellar wind and/or it is only a part of a long-period (longer than 32 yr) cyclic variation, which may reveal the presence of another stellar companion in a wider orbit. These observational properties indicate that the formation of the Siamese twin is driven by magnetic braking and the third stellar companion should play an important role by removing angular momentum from the central binary.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

PERIODIC AND APERIODIC VARIABILITY IN THE MOLECULAR CLOUD ρ OPHIUCHUS

Presented are the results of a near-IR photometric survey of 1678 stars in the direction of the ρ Ophiuchus (ρ Oph) star forming region using data from the 2MASS Calibration Database. For each target in this sample, up to 1584 individual J-, H-, and K{sub s} -band photometric measurements with a cadence of ∼1 day are obtained over three observing seasons spanning ∼2.5 yr; it is the most intensive survey of stars in this region to date. This survey identifies 101 variable stars with ΔK{sub s} -band amplitudes from 0.044 to 2.31 mag and Δ(J – K{sub s} ) color amplitudes ranging from 0.053 to 1.47 mag. Of the 72 young ρ Oph star cluster members included in this survey, 79% are variable; in addition, 22 variable stars are identified as candidate members. Based on the temporal behavior of the K{sub s} time-series, the variability is distinguished as either periodic, long time-scale or irregular. This temporal behavior coupled with the behavior of stellar colors is used to assign a dominant variability mechanism. A new period-searching algorithm finds periodic signals in 32 variable stars with periods between 0.49 to 92 days. The chief mechanism driving the periodic variability for 18 stars is rotational modulation of cool starspots while 3 periodically vary due to accretion-induced hot spots. The time-series for six variable stars contains discrete periodic ''eclipse-like'' features with periods ranging from 3 to 8 days. These features may be asymmetries in the circumstellar disk, potentially sustained or driven by a proto-planet at or near the co-rotation radius. Aperiodic, long time-scale variations in stellar flux are identified in the time-series for 31 variable stars with time-scales ranging from 64 to 790 days. The chief mechanism driving long time-scale variability is variable extinction or mass accretion rates. The majority of the variable stars (40) exhibit sporadic, aperiodic variability over no discernable time-scale. No chief variability mechanism could be identified for these variable stars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

DETECTION OF POTENTIAL TRANSIT SIGNALS IN 16 QUARTERS OF KEPLER MISSION DATA

We present the results of a search for potential transit signals in 4 yr of photometry data acquired by the Kepler mission. The targets of the search include 111,800 stars which were observed for the entire interval and 85,522 stars which were observed for a subset of the interval. We found that 9743 targets contained at least one signal consistent with the signature of a transiting or eclipsing object where the criteria for detection are periodicity of the detected transits, adequate signal-to-noise ratio, and acceptance by a number of tests which reject false positive detections. When targets that had produced a signal were searched repeatedly, an additional 6542 signals were detected on 3223 target stars, for a total of 16,285 potential detections. Comparison of the set of detected signals with a set of known and vetted transit events in the Kepler field of view shows that the recovery rate for these signals is 96.9%. The ensemble properties of the detected signals are reviewed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

ROTATION PERIODS OF 34,030 KEPLER MAIN-SEQUENCE STARS: THE FULL AUTOCORRELATION SAMPLE

We analyzed three years of data from the Kepler space mission to derive rotation periods of main-sequence stars below 6500 K. Our automated autocorrelation-based method detected rotation periods between 0.2 and 70 days for 34,030 (25.6%) of the 133,030 main-sequence Kepler targets (excluding known eclipsing binaries and Kepler Objects of Interest), making this the largest sample of stellar rotation periods to date. In this paper we consider the detailed features of the now well-populated period-temperature distribution and demonstrate that the period bimodality, first seen by McQuillan et al. in the M-dwarf sample, persists to higher masses, becoming less visible above 0.6 M {sub ☉}. We show that these results are globally consistent with the existing ground-based rotation-period data and find that the upper envelope of the period distribution is broadly consistent with a gyrochronological age of 4.5 Gyr, based on the isochrones of Barnes, Mamajek, and Hillenbrand and Meibom et al. We also performed a detailed comparison of our results to those of Reinhold et al. and Nielsen et al., who measured rotation periods of field stars observed by Kepler. We examined the amplitude of periodic variability for the stars with detection rotation periods, and found a typical range between ∼950 ppm (5th percentile) and ∼22,700 ppm (95th percentile), with a median of ∼5600 ppm. We found typically higher amplitudes for shorter periods and lower effective temperatures, with an excess of low-amplitude stars above ∼5400 K.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

ANALYTICAL MODELS OF EXOPLANETARY ATMOSPHERES. I. ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS VIA THE SHALLOW WATER SYSTEM

Within the context of exoplanetary atmospheres, we present a comprehensive linear analysis of forced, damped, magnetized shallow water systems, exploring the effects of dimensionality, geometry (Cartesian, pseudo-spherical, and spherical), rotation, magnetic tension, and hydrodynamic and magnetic sources of friction. Across a broad range of conditions, we find that the key governing equation for atmospheres and quantum harmonic oscillators are identical, even when forcing (stellar irradiation), sources of friction (molecular viscosity, Rayleigh drag, and magnetic drag), and magnetic tension are included. The global atmospheric structure is largely controlled by a single key parameter that involves the Rossby and Prandtl numbers. This near-universality breaks down when either molecular viscosity or magnetic drag acts non-uniformly across latitude or a poloidal magnetic field is present, suggesting that these effects will introduce qualitative changes to the familiar chevron-shaped feature witnessed in simulations of atmospheric circulation. We also find that hydrodynamic and magnetic sources of friction have dissimilar phase signatures and affect the flow in fundamentally different ways, implying that using Rayleigh drag to mimic magnetic drag is inaccurate. We exhaustively lay down the theoretical formalism (dispersion relations, governing equations, and time-dependent wave solutions) for a broad suite of models. In all situations, we derive the steady state of an atmosphere, which is relevant to interpreting infrared phase and eclipse maps of exoplanetary atmospheres. We elucidate a pinching effect that confines the atmospheric structure to be near the equator. Our suite of analytical models may be used to develop decisively physical intuition and as a reference point for three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of atmospheric circulation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

VARIABILITY OF OPTICAL COUNTERPARTS IN THE CHANDRA GALACTIC BULGE SURVEY

We present optical light curves of variable stars consistent with the positions of X-ray sources identified with the Chandra X-ray Observatory for the Chandra Galactic Bulge Survey (GBS). Using data from the Mosaic-II instrument on the Blanco 4 m Telescope at CTIO, we gathered time-resolved photometric data on timescales from ∼2 hr to 8 days over the 3/4 of the X-ray survey containing sources from the initial GBS catalog. Among the light curve morphologies we identify are flickering in interacting binaries, eclipsing sources, dwarf nova outbursts, ellipsoidal variations, long period variables, spotted stars, and flare stars. Eighty-seven percent of X-ray sources have at least one potential optical counterpart. Twenty-seven percent of these candidate counterparts are detectably variable; a much greater fraction than expected for randomly selected field stars, which suggests that most of these variables are real counterparts. We discuss individual sources of interest, provide variability information on candidate counterparts, and discuss the characteristics of the variable population.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

SOUTHERN MASSIVE STARS AT HIGH ANGULAR RESOLUTION: OBSERVATIONAL CAMPAIGN AND COMPANION DETECTION

Multiplicity is one of the most fundamental observable properties of massive O-type stars and offers a promising way to discriminate between massive star formation theories. Nevertheless, companions at separations between 1 and 100 milliarcsec (mas) remain mostly unknown due to intrinsic observational limitations. At a typical distance of 2 kpc, this corresponds to projected physical separations of 2-200 AU. The Southern MAssive Stars at High angular resolution survey (SMaSH+) was designed to fill this gap by providing the first systematic interferometric survey of Galactic massive stars. We observed 117 O-type stars with VLTI/PIONIER and 162 O-type stars with NACO/Sparse Aperture Masking (SAM), probing the separation ranges 1-45 and 30-250 mas and brightness contrasts of ΔH < 4 and ΔH < 5, respectively. Taking advantage of NACO's field of view, we further uniformly searched for visual companions in an 8'' radius down to ΔH = 8. This paper describes observations and data analysis, reports the discovery of almost 200 new companions in the separation range from 1 mas to 8'' and presents a catalog of detections, including the first resolved measurements of over a dozen known long-period spectroscopic binaries. Excluding known runaway stars for which no companions are detected, 96 objects in our main sample (δ < 0°; H < 7.5) were observed both with PIONIER and NACO/SAM. The fraction of these stars with at least one resolved companion within 200 mas is 0.53. Accounting for known but unresolved spectroscopic or eclipsing companions, the multiplicity fraction at separation ρ < 8'' increases to f {sub m} = 0.91 ± 0.03. The fraction of luminosity class V stars that have a bound companion reaches 100% at 30 mas while their average number of physically connected companions within 8'' is f {sub c} = 2.2 ± 0.3. This demonstrates that massive stars form nearly exclusively in multiple systems. The nine non-thermal radio emitters observed by SMaSH+ are all resolved, including the newly discovered pairs HD 168112 and CPD–47°2963. This lends strong support to the universality of the wind-wind collision scenario to explain the non-thermal emission from O-type stars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

DISCOVERY OF A 7 mHz X-RAY QUASI-PERIODIC OSCILLATION FROM THE MOST MASSIVE STELLAR-MASS BLACK HOLE IC 10 X-1

We report the discovery with XMM-Newton of an Almost-Equal-To 7 mHz X-ray (0.3-10.0 keV) quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) from the eclipsing, high-inclination black hole binary IC 10 X-1. The QPO is significant at >4.33{sigma} confidence level and has a fractional amplitude (% rms) and a quality factor, Q {identical_to} {nu}/{Delta}{nu}, of Almost-Equal-To 11 and 4, respectively. The overall X-ray (0.3-10.0 keV) power spectrum in the frequency range 0.0001-0.1 Hz can be described by a power-law with an index of Almost-Equal-To - 2, and a QPO at 7 mHz. At frequencies {approx}>0.02 Hz there is no evidence for significant variability. The fractional amplitude (rms) of the QPO is roughly energy-independent in the energy range of 0.3-1.5 keV. Above 1.5 keV the low signal-to-noise ratio of the data does not allow us to detect the QPO. By directly comparing these properties with the wide range of QPOs currently known from accreting black hole and neutron stars, we suggest that the 7 mHz QPO of IC 10 X-1 may be linked to one of the following three categories of QPOs: (1) the 'heartbeat' mHz QPOs of the black hole sources GRS 1915+105 and IGR J17091-3624, or (2) the 0.6-2.4 Hz 'dipper QPOs' of high-inclination neutron star systems, or (3) the mHz QPOs of Cygnus X-3.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

THE DEEP BLUE COLOR OF HD 189733b: ALBEDO MEASUREMENTS WITH HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE/SPACE TELESCOPE IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH AT VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS

We present a secondary eclipse observation for the hot Jupiter HD 189733b across the wavelength range 290-570 nm made using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. We measure geometric albedos of A{sub g} = 0.40 {+-} 0.12 across 290-450 nm and A{sub g} < 0.12 across 450-570 nm at 1{sigma} confidence. The albedo decrease toward longer wavelengths is also apparent when using six wavelength bins over the same wavelength range. This can be interpreted as evidence for optically thick reflective clouds on the dayside hemisphere with sodium absorption suppressing the scattered light signal beyond {approx}450 nm. Our best-fit albedo values imply that HD 189733b would appear a deep blue color at visible wavelengths.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

IS WX CEN A POSSIBLE TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA PROGENITOR WITH WIND-DRIVEN MASS TRANSFER?

WX Cen is one of a few compact binary supersoft X-ray sources (CBSS) in the Galaxy that is a possible Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) progenitor. The supersoft X-ray radiation is explained as hydrostatic nuclear burning on the surface of the white dwarf component that is accreting hydrogen from a stellar companion at a high rate. If the mass donor in this system has a low mass, as has been suggested in the literature, one would expect a high wind-driven mass transfer rate. In that case, the orbital period of the system should increase. To test this theoretical prediction, we have monitored the system photometrically since 2010. By using four newly determined eclipse timings together with those collected from the literature, we discovered that the orbital period is decreasing at a rate of dP/dt = -5.15 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -7} days yr{sup -1}. The long-term decrease in the orbital period is contrary to the prediction that the system is powered by wind-driven accretion. It therefore seems plausible that the mass donor could be more massive than the white dwarf, and that the mass transfer is driven by the thermal instability of the donor star. This finding suggests that WX Cen is a key object to check the physical mechanisms of mass accretion in CBSS. The corresponding timescale of the period change is about P/P-dot {approx} 0.81 x 10{sup 6} yr, indicating that WX Cen may evolve into an SNe Ia within one million years in the Galaxy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

TRANSMISSION SPECTRUM OF EARTH AS A TRANSITING EXOPLANET FROM THE ULTRAVIOLET TO THE NEAR-INFRARED

Transmission spectroscopy of exoplanets is a tool to characterize rocky planets and explore their habitability. Using the Earth itself as a proxy, we model the atmospheric cross section as a function of wavelength, and show the effect of each atmospheric species, Rayleigh scattering, and refraction from 115 to 1000 nm. Clouds do not significantly affect this picture because refraction prevents the lowest 12.75 km of the atmosphere, in a transiting geometry for an Earth-Sun analog, to be sampled by a distant observer. We calculate the effective planetary radius for the primary eclipse spectrum of an Earth-like exoplanet around a Sun-like star. Below 200 nm, ultraviolet (UV) O{sub 2} absorption increases the effective planetary radius by about 180 km, versus 27 km at 760.3 nm, and 14 km in the near-infrared (NIR) due predominantly to refraction. This translates into a 2.6% change in effective planetary radius over the UV-NIR wavelength range, showing that the UV is an interesting wavelength range for future space missions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

EXPLORING THE X-RAY AND γ-RAY PROPERTIES OF THE REDBACK MILLISECOND PULSAR PSR J1723–2837

We have investigated the X-ray and γ-ray properties of the redback millisecond pulsar PSR J1723–2837 with XMM-Newton, Chandra, and Fermi. We have discovered the X-ray orbital modulation of this binary system with a minimum that coincides with the phases of radio eclipse. The X-ray emission is clearly non-thermal in nature, which can be described well by a simple power law with a photon index of ∼1.2. The phase-averaged luminosity is ∼9 × 10{sup 31} erg s{sup –1} in 0.3-10 keV, which consumes ∼0.2% of the spin-down power. We have detected the γ-ray emission in 0.1-300 GeV from this system at a significance of ∼6σ for the first time. The γ-rays in this energy range consume ∼2% of the spin-down power and can be modeled by a power law with a photon index of ∼2.6. We discuss the high energy properties of the new redback in the context of an intrabinary shock model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

UNDERSTANDING THE EVOLUTION OF CLOSE BINARY SYSTEMS WITH RADIO PULSARS

We calculate the evolution of close binary systems (CBSs) formed by a neutron star (behaving as a radio pulsar) and a normal donor star, which evolve either to a helium white dwarf (HeWD) or to ultra-short orbital period systems. We consider X-ray irradiation feedback and evaporation due to radio pulsar irradiation. We show that irradiation feedback leads to cyclic mass transfer episodes, allowing CBSs to be observed in between episodes as binary radio pulsars under conditions in which standard, non-irradiated models predict the occurrence of a low-mass X-ray binary. This behavior accounts for the existence of a family of eclipsing binary systems known as redbacks. We predict that redback companions should almost fill their Roche lobe, as observed in PSR J1723-2837. This state is also possible for systems evolving with larger orbital periods. Therefore, binary radio pulsars with companion star masses usually interpreted as larger than expected to produce HeWDs may also result in such quasi-Roche lobe overflow states, rather than hosting a carbon-oxygen WD. We found that CBSs with initial orbital periods of P{sub i} < 1 day evolve into redbacks. Some of them produce low-mass HeWDs, and a subgroup with shorter P{sub i} becomes black widows (BWs). Thus, BWs descend from redbacks, although not all redbacks evolve into BWs. There is mounting observational evidence favoring BW pulsars to be very massive (≳ 2 M {sub ☉}). As they should be redback descendants, redback pulsars should also be very massive, since most of the mass is transferred before this stage.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

HOW TO DETERMINE AN EXOMOON'S SENSE OF ORBITAL MOTION

We present two methods to determine an exomoon's sense of orbital motion (SOM), one with respect to the planet's circumstellar orbit and one with respect to the planetary rotation. Our simulations show that the required measurements will be possible with the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). The first method relies on mutual planet-moon events during stellar transits. Eclipses with the moon passing behind (in front of) the planet will be late (early) with regard to the moon's mean orbital period due to the finite speed of light. This ''transit timing dichotomy'' (TTD) determines an exomoon's SOM with respect to the circumstellar motion. For the 10 largest moons in the solar system, TTDs range between 2 and 12 s. The E-ELT will enable such measurements for Earth-sized moons around nearby Sun-like stars. The second method measures distortions in the IR spectrum of the rotating giant planet when it is transited by its moon. This Rossiter-McLaughlin effect (RME) in the planetary spectrum reveals the angle between the planetary equator and the moon's circumplanetary orbital plane, and therefore unveils the moon's SOM with respect to the planet's rotation. A reasonably large moon transiting a directly imaged planet like β Pic b causes an RME amplitude of almost 100 m s{sup –1}, about twice the stellar RME amplitude of the transiting exoplanet HD209458 b. Both new methods can be used to probe the origin of exomoons, that is, whether they are regular or irregular in nature.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗