# Detection of Na, K and H$_2$O in the hazy atmosphere of WASP-6b

**Authors:** Aarynn L. Carter, Nikolay Nikolov, David K. Sing, Munazza K. Alam, Jayesh M. Goyal, Thomas Mikal-Evans, Hannah R. Wakeford, Gregory W. Henry, Sam Morrell, Mercedes López-Morales, Barry Smalley, Panayotis Lavvas, Joanna K. Barstow, Antonio García Muñoz, Paul A. Wilson, Neale P. Gibson  
**arXiv:** [1911.12628](https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.12628)  
**Date:** 2019-11-28  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/1911.12628v1/

## Key points

- A recent study presented new observations of the transmission spectrum of WASP-6b, a hot Jupiter exoplanet
- The team used ground-based and space telescopes including VLT, TESS, HST Wide Field Camera 3, HST Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), and Spitzer
- They reanalyzed archival data to explore the effects of stellar heterogeneity on their observations and its resulting implications towards determining the atmospheric characteristics of WASP-6b
- Despite the presence of haze in WASP-6b's atmosphere, it remains a favorable object for future atmospheric characterization with upcoming missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope
- Na I, K I, and H$_2$O absorption features were detected and the elemental oxygen abundance was constrained to a value of [O/H] $\simeq -0.9\pm0.3$ relative to solar
- The stellar heterogeneity correction can have significant effects on the retrieved distributions of [Na/H] and [K/H] abundances primarily through its degeneracy with scattering haze species' sloping optical opacity within the atmosphere

## Summary

In a recent study, Aarynn L. Carter and colleagues presented new observations of the transmission spectrum of WASP-6b, a hot Jupiter exoplanet, using ground-based and space telescopes. The team used the Very Large Telescope (VLT) FOcal Reducer and Spectrograph (FORS2) to observe from 0.45-0.83 $\mu$m, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) from 0.6-1.0 $\mu$m, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 from 1.12-1.65 $\mu$m. They also reanalyzed archival data from the HST Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and Spitzer on a common Gaussian process framework to explore the effects of stellar heterogeneity on their observations and its resulting implications towards determining the atmospheric characteristics of WASP-6b. Despite this presence of haze in WASP-6b's atmosphere, they found that it remains a favorable object for future atmospheric characterization with upcoming missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope. Independent of their assumptions for the level of stellar heterogeneity, they detected Na I, K I, and H$_2$O absorption features and constrained the elemental oxygen abundance to a value of [O/H] $\simeq -0.9\pm0.3$ relative to solar. However, they found that the stellar heterogeneity correction can have significant effects on the retrieved distributions of [Na/H] and [K/H] abundances primarily through its degeneracy with scattering haze species' sloping optical opacity within the atmosphere. Overall, these findings provide valuable insights into understanding exoplanetary atmospheres' complex nature while highlighting WASP-6b's potential for future studies with advanced instruments like James Webb Space Telescope.