Direct imaging of exoplanets is fundamentally limited by 2 important factors: angular separation and luminosity contrast between the planet and the host star. To overcome these challenges, the HiRISE instrument recently installed at the VLT combines the high-contrast capabilities of the SPHERE instrument with the very high spectral resolution of the CRIRES+ instrument (R = 140,000), offering a new approach to finely characterizing planetary atmospheres.
We present HiRISE spectroscopic observations of the exoplanets AF Lep b and 51 Eri b, and demonstrate the complementarity between high-resolution data, low-resolution spectroscopy and astrometry. This synergy provides a better constraint on their atmospheres, 3D orbits and phase curves, as well as on the possible presence of an inner planet at 51 Eri b.
HiRISE thus paves the way for the study of planets closer to their star and of lower mass, in preparation for future missions targeting reflected light and radial velocity tracking, which will notably provide important constraints on the possible presence of inner planets or exolunes in the systems studied.
| Subject : | : | Oral presentation |
| Topics | : | Planetary systems, architecture and dynamics |
| PDF version | : |  PDF version |
