Secondary radio eclipse of the transiting planet HD 189733 b: an upper limit at 307–347 MHz |
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| Authors: | A. M. S. Smith A. Collier Cameron J. Greaves M. Jardine G. Langston D. Backer |
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| Affiliation: | SUPA (Scottish Universities Physics Alliance), School of Physics &Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS;National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, WV 24944, USA;Astronomy Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA |
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| Abstract: | We report the first attempt to observe the secondary eclipse of a transiting extra-solar planet at radio wavelengths. We observed HD 189733 b with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) over about 5.5 h before, during and after secondary eclipse, at frequencies of 307–347 MHz. In this frequency range, we determine the 3σ upper limit to the flux density to be 81 mJy. The data are consistent with no eclipse or a marginal reduction in flux at the time of secondary eclipse in all subsets of our bandwidth; the strongest signal is an apparent eclipse at the 2σ level in the 335.2–339.3 MHz region. Our observed upper limit is close to theoretical predictions of the flux density of cyclotron-maser radiation from the planet. |
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| Keywords: | masers stars: magnetic fields planetary systems radio continuum: stars |
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