PI: Paul Anthony Wilson, University of Exeter, firstname.lastname@example.org
Address: School of Physics, Stocker Road, Exeter, Devon EX4 4QL, United Kingdom
CoI: Tom Evans, University of Oxford
CoI: David K. Sing, University of Exeter
CoI: Suzanne Aigrain, University of Oxford
Title: Monitoring the Stellar Activity of Transit-Hosting Stars II: supporting HST exoplanet atmosphere observations
Abstract: We propose to use the CTIO 1.3m telescope with ANDICAM to monitor 5 bright stars that host transiting exoplanets in an effort to characterise their activity. These observations will provide critical ground-based support for our large HST program that has been granted 124 orbits to perform a survey of UV-optical atmospheric transmission spectra for 8 hot Jupiters using the STIS instrument (Cycle 19, Prog 12473, PI D Sing). They are required because active stellar regions inevitably contaminate measured planetary light curves by causing the apparent planet-to-star radius to vary in a wavelength dependent manner. Regular ground-based photometric monitoring performed using the CTIO 1.3m telescope will allow us to determine the spot activity at the time of the HST observations, so that the stellar baseline flux can be accurately normalised for every transit observed, enabling transmission spectra from multiple visits to be combined.
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