File:Isolating a Planet's Spectrum.jpg

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DescriptionIsolating a Planet's Spectrum.jpg	English: This diagram illustrates how astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope can capture the elusive spectra of hot-Jupiter planets. Spectra are an object's light spread apart into its basic components, or wavelengths. By dissecting light in this way, scientists can sort through it and uncover clues about the composition of the object giving off the light. To obtain a spectrum for an object, one first needs to capture its light. Hot-Jupiter planets are so close to their stars that even the most powerful telescopes can't distinguish their light from the light of their much brighter stars. But, there are a few planetary systems that allow astronomers to measure the light from just the planet by using a clever technique. Such "transiting" systems are oriented in such a way that, from our vantage point, the planets' orbits are seen edge-on and cross directly in front of and behind their stars.
Date	23 July 2009, 11:43:09
Source	http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/image/58
Author	NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech)

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Image title	This diagram illustrates how astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope can capture the elusive spectra of hot-Jupiter planets. Spectra are an object's light spread apart into its basic components, or wavelengths. By dissecting light in this way, scientists can sort through it and uncover clues about the composition of the object giving off the light. To obtain a spectrum for an object, one first needs to capture its light. Hot-Jupiter planets are so close to their stars that even the most powerful telescopes can't distinguish their light from the light of their much brighter stars. But, there are a few planetary systems that allow astronomers to measure the light from just the planet by using a clever technique. Such "transiting" systems are oriented in such a way that, from our vantage point, the planets' orbits are seen edge-on and cross directly in front of and behind their stars. In this technique, known as the secondary eclipse method, changes in the total infrared light from a star system are measured as its planet transits behind the star, vanishing from our Earthly point of view. The dip in observed light can then be attributed to the planet alone. To capture a spectrum of the planet, Spitzer must observe the system twice. It takes a spectrum of the star together with the planet (first panel), then, as the planet disappears from view, a spectrum of just the star (second panel). By subtracting the star's spectrum from the combined spectrum of the star plus the planet, it is able to get the spectrum for just the planet (third panel). This ground-breaking technique was used by Spitzer to obtain the first-ever spectra of two planets beyond our solar system, HD 209458b and HD 189733b. The results suggest that the hot planets are socked in with dry clouds high up in the planet's stratospheres. In addition, HD 209458b showed hints of silicates, indicating those high clouds might be made of very fine sand-like particles.
Author	Spitzer Space Telescope
Copyright holder	http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/mediaimages/copyright.shtml
Short title	Isolating a Planet's Spectrum
Credit/Provider	NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech)
Headline	This diagram illustrates how astronomers can capture the elusive spectra of hot-Jupiter planets by comparing observations including light from both the star and planet to those containing just the star.
Source	Spitzer Space Telescope
Date and time of data generation	21 February 2007
Width	3,000 px
Height	2,400 px
Bits per component	8 8 8
Compression scheme	LZW
Pixel composition	RGB
Orientation	Normal
Number of components	3
Horizontal resolution	300 dpi
Vertical resolution	300 dpi
Data arrangement	chunky format
Software used	Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh
File change date and time	11:43, 23 July 2009
Color space	sRGB
Contact information	http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu 1200 E. California Blvd. Pasadena, CA, 91125 USA
IIM version	2

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