Telluric Absorption Features Research Articles

A precise method unaffected by atmospheric reabsorption for ground-based retrieval of red and far-red sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence

Remote sensing employs solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) as a proxy for photosynthesis from field to airborne and satellite sensors. The investigation of SIF offers a unique way of studying vegetation functioning from the local to the global scale. However, the passive, optical retrieval of the SIF signal is still challenging. Common retrieval approaches extract the SIF infilling directly from atmospheric oxygen bands in down-welling and up-welling radiance. They often involve a complex signal correction to compensate for atmospheric reabsorption and require long computing time. In contrast, the exploitation of solar Fraunhofer lines is devoid of atmospheric disturbances. We propose a new retrieval method for red and far-red SIF directly from up-welling radiance spectra in the spectral range between 650 nm and 810 nm by applying Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression machine learning. Solar Fraunhofer lines are exploited for SIF retrieval with the PLS approach by excluding telluric absorption features. The PLS models are trained and tested on synthetic reflectance and SIF data modeled with SCOPE. We identified a logarithmic relationship of the retrieval error with respect to signal-to-noise ratio of the instrument. The approach has been tested with real-world data measured by the Fluorescence Box (FloX), and evaluated against two well-established retrieval methods: the spectral fitting method (SFM) and the singular value decomposition (SVD). PLS models exploiting solar Fraunhofer lines retrieved meaningful SIF values with high precision and demonstrated robustness against atmospheric reabsorption, including from a 100m tall tower. In addition, PLS retrieval requires no complex correction for atmospheric reabsorption and computes 37 times faster than SFM. Hence, PLS retrieval allows fast and robust exploitation of SIF from solar Fraunhofer lines with high precision under conditions in which other retrieval approaches require complex atmospheric correction.

New Observations of the IR Emission Corona from the 2019 July 2 Eclipse Flight of the Airborne Infrared Spectrometer

The Airborne Infrared Spectrometer (AIR-Spec) was commissioned during the 2017 total solar eclipse, when it observed five infrared coronal emission lines from a Gulfstream V research jet owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The second AIR-Spec research flight took place during the 2019 July 2 total solar eclipse across the south Pacific. The 2019 eclipse flight resulted in seven minutes of observations, during which the instrument measured all four of its target emission lines: S xi 1.393 μm, Si x 1.431 μm, S xi 1.921 μm, and Fe ix 2.853 μm. The 1.393 μm S xi line was detected for the first time, and probable first detections were made of Si xi 1.934 μm and Fe x 1.947 μm. The 2017 AIR-Spec detection of Fe ix was confirmed and the first observations were made of the Fe ix line intensity as a function of solar radius. Telluric absorption features were used to calibrate the wavelength mapping, instrumental broadening, and throughput of the instrument. AIR-Spec underwent significant upgrades in preparation for the 2019 eclipse observation. The thermal background was reduced by a factor of 30, providing a 5.5× improvement in signal-to-noise ratio, and the postprocessed pointing stability was improved by a factor of 5 to <10″ rms. In addition, two imaging artifacts were identified and resolved, improving the spectral resolution and making the 2019 data easier to interpret.

Applications of a Gaussian process framework for modelling of high-resolution exoplanet spectra

ABSTRACT Observations of exoplanet atmospheres in high resolution have the potential to resolve individual planetary absorption lines, despite the issues associated with ground-based observations. The removal of contaminating stellar and telluric absorption features is one of the most sensitive steps required to reveal the planetary spectrum and, while many different detrending methods exist, it remains difficult to directly compare the performance and efficacy of these methods. Additionally, though the standard cross-correlation method enables robust detection of specific atmospheric species, it only probes for features that are expected a priori. Here, we present a novel methodology using Gaussian process (GP) regression to directly model the components of high-resolution spectra, which partially addresses these issues. We use two archival CRyogenic Infra-Red Echelle Spectrograph (CRIRES)/Very Large Telescope (VLT) data sets as test cases, observations of the hot Jupiters HD 189733 b and 51 Pegasi b, recovering injected signals with average line contrast ratios of ∼4.37 × 10−3 and ∼1.39 × 10−3, and planet radial velocities ΔKp = 1.45 ± 1.53 $\mathrm{km\, s^{-1}}$ and ΔKp = 0.12 ± 0.12 $\mathrm{km\, s^{-1}}$ from the injection velocities, respectively. In addition, we demonstrate an application of the GP method to assess the impact of the detrending process on the planetary spectrum, by implementing injection-recovery tests. We show that standard detrending methods used in the literature negatively affect the amplitudes of absorption features in particular, which has the potential to render retrieval analyses inaccurate. Finally, we discuss possible limiting factors for the non-detections using this method, likely to be remedied by higher signal-to-noise data.

Estimating fundamental parameters of nearby M dwarfs from SPIRou spectra

ABSTRACT We present the results of a study aiming at retrieving the fundamental parameters of M dwarfs from spectra secured with SPIRou, the near-infrared high-resolution spectropolarimeter installed at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), in the framework of the SPIRou Legacy Survey (SLS). Our study relies on comparing observed spectra with two grids of synthetic spectra, respectively, computed from PHOENIX and MARCS model atmospheres, with the ultimate goal of optimizing the precision at which fundamental parameters can be determined. In this first step, we applied our technique to 12 inactive M dwarfs with effective temperatures (Teff) ranging from 3000 to 4000 K. We implemented a benchmark to carry out a comparison of the two models used in this study. We report that the choice of model has a significant impact on the results and may lead to discrepancies in the derived parameters of 30 K in Teff and 0.05 dex to 0.10 dex in surface gravity (log g) and metallicity ($\rm {[M/H]}$), as well as systematic shifts of up to 50 K in Teff and 0.4 dex log g and $\rm {[M/H]}$. The analysis is performed on high signal-to-noise ratio template SPIRou spectra, averaged over multiple observations corrected from telluric absorption features and sky lines, using both a synthetic telluric transmission model and principal component analysis. With both models, we retrieve Teff, log g, and $\rm {[M/H]}$ estimates in good agreement with reference literature studies, with internal error bars of about 30 K, 0.05 dex, and 0.1 dex, respectively.

Science Commissioning of NIHTS: The Near-infrared High Throughput Spectrograph on the Lowell Discovery Telescope

The Near-Infrared High Throughput Spectrograph (NIHTS) is in operation on the 4.3 m Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) in Happy Jack, AZ. NIHTS is a low-resolution spectrograph (R ∼ 200) that operates from 0.86 to 2.45 microns. NIHTS is fed by a custom dichroic mirror which reflects near-infrared wavelengths to the spectrograph and transmits the visible to enable simultaneous imaging with the Large Monolithic Imager (LMI), an independent visible wavelength camera. The combination of premier tracking and acquisition capabilities of the LDT, a several arcminutes field of view on LMI, and high spectral throughput on NIHTS enables novel studies of a number of astrophysical and planetary objects including Kuiper Belt Objects, asteroids, comets, low mass stars, and exoplanet hosts stars. We present a summary of NIHTS operations, commissioning, data reduction procedures with two approaches for the correction of telluric absorption features, and an overview of select science cases that will be pursued by Lowell Observatory, Northern Arizona University, and LDT partners.

WOBBLE: A Data-driven Analysis Technique for Time-series Stellar Spectra

In recent years, dedicated extreme-precision radial velocity (EPRV) spectrographs have produced vast quantities of high-resolution, high-signal-to-noise time-series spectra for bright stars. These data contain valuable information for the dual purposes of planet detection via the measured RVs and stellar characterization via the co-added spectra. However, considerable data analysis challenges exist in extracting these data products from the observed spectra at the highest possible precision, including the issue of poorly-characterized telluric absorption features and the common use of an assumed stellar spectral template. In both of these examples, precision-limiting reliance on external information can be sidestepped using the data directly. Here we propose a data-driven method to simultaneously extract precise RVs and infer the underlying stellar and telluric spectra using a linear model (in the log of flux). The model employs a convex objective and convex regularization to keep the optimization of the spectral components fast. We implement this method in wobble, an open-source python package which uses TensorFlow in one of its first non-neural-network applications to astronomical data. In this work, we demonstrate the performance of wobble on archival HARPS spectra. We recover the canonical exoplanet 51 Pegasi b, detect the secular RV evolution of the M dwarf Barnard's Star, and retrieve the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for the Hot Jupiter HD 189733b. The method additionally produces extremely high-S/N composite stellar spectra and detailed time-variable telluric spectra, which we also present here.

Toward a Self-calibrating, Empirical, Light-weight Model for Tellurics in High-resolution Spectra

Abstract To discover Earth analogs around other stars, next generation spectrographs must measure radial velocity with 10 cm s−1 precision. Since even microtellurics can induce RV errors of up to 50 cm s−1, achieving 10 cm s−1 precision requires precise modeling of telluric absorption features. The standard approaches to telluric modeling are (a) observing a standard star and (b) using a radiative transfer code. Observing standard stars, however, takes valuable observing time away from science targets. Radiative transfer codes, meanwhile, may omit microtelluric features, which are an important contributor to the RV error budget at 10 cm s−1. To address these issues, we present a telluric model of the self-calibrating, empirical, light-weight linear regression telluric (SELENITE) model for high-resolution spectra. The model exploits two simple observations: (a) water tellurics grow proportionally to precipitable water vapor and therefore proportionally to each other and (b) non-water tellurics grow proportionally to airmass. Water tellurics can be identified by looking for pixels whose growth correlates with a known calibration water telluric and modeled by regression against it, and likewise non-water tellurics with airmass. The model does not require line data, water vapor measurements, or additional observations (beyond one-time calibration observations), achieves fits with a of 1.17 on B stars and 2.95 on K dwarfs, and leaves residuals of 1% (B stars) and 1.1% (K dwarfs) of continuum. Fitting takes seconds on laptop PCs; SELENITE is light-weight enough to guide observing runs.

Compensation of Oxygen Transmittance Effects for Proximal Sensing Retrieval of Canopy-Leaving Sun-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence.

Estimates of Sun–Induced vegetation chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF) using remote sensing techniques are commonly determined by exploiting solar and/or telluric absorption features. When SIF is retrieved in the strong oxygen (O2) absorption features, atmospheric effects must always be compensated. Whereas correction of atmospheric effects is a standard airborne or satellite data processing step, there is no consensus regarding whether it is required for SIF proximal–sensing measurements nor what is the best strategy to be followed. Thus, by using simulated data, this work provides a comprehensive analysis about how atmospheric effects impact SIF estimations on proximal sensing, regarding: (1) the sensor height above the vegetated canopy; (2) the SIF retrieval technique used, e.g., Fraunhofer Line Discriminator (FLD) family or Spectral Fitting Methods (SFM); and (3) the instrument’s spectral resolution. We demonstrate that for proximal–sensing scenarios compensating for atmospheric effects by simply introducing the O2 transmittance function into the FLD or SFM formulations improves SIF estimations. However, these simplistic corrections still lead to inaccurate SIF estimations due to the multiplication of spectrally convolved atmospheric transfer functions with absorption features. Consequently, a more rigorous oxygen compensation strategy is proposed and assessed by following a classic airborne atmospheric correction scheme adapted to proximal sensing. This approach allows compensating for the O2 absorption effects and, at the same time, convolving the high spectral resolution data according to the corresponding Instrumental Spectral Response Function (ISRF) through the use of an atmospheric radiative transfer model. Finally, due to the key role of O2 absorption on the evaluated proximal–sensing SIF retrieval strategies, its dependency on surface pressure (p) and air temperature (T) was also assessed. As an example, we combined simulated spectral data with p and T measurements obtained for a one–year period in the Hyytiälä Forestry Field Station in Finland. Of importance hereby is that seasonal dynamics in terms of T and p, if not appropriately considered as part of the retrieval strategy, can result in erroneous SIF seasonal trends that mimic those of known dynamics for temperature–dependent physiological responses of vegetation.

Search for water vapor in the high-resolution transmission spectrum of HD 189733b in the visible

Ground-based telescopes equipped with state-of-the-art spectrographs are able to obtain high-resolution transmission and emission spectra of exoplanets that probe the structure and composition of their atmospheres. Various atomic and molecular species, such as Na, CO, H2O have been already detected. Molecular species have been observed only in the near-infrared while atomic species have been observed in the visible. In particular, the detection and abundance determination of water vapor bring important constraints to the planet formation process. We search for water vapor in the atmosphere of the exoplanet HD189733b using a high-resolution transmission spectrum in the visible obtained with HARPS. We use Molecfit to correct for telluric absorption features. Then we compute the high-resolution transmission spectrum of the planet using 3 transit datasets. We finally search for water vapor absorption using a cross-correlation technique that combines the signal of 800 individual lines. Telluric features are corrected to the noise level. We place a 5-sigma upper limit of 100 ppm on the strength of the 6500 A water vapor band. The 1-sigma precision of 20 ppm on the transmission spectrum demonstrates that space-like sensitivity can be achieved from the ground. This approach opens new perspectives to detect various atomic and molecular species with future instruments such as ESPRESSO at the VLT. Extrapolating from our results, we show that only 1 transit with ESPRESSO would be sufficient to detect water vapor on HD189733b-like hot Jupiter with a cloud-free atmosphere. Upcoming near-IR spectrographs will be even more efficient and sensitive to a wider range of molecular species. Moreover, the detection of the same molecular species in different bands (e.g. visible and IR) is key to constrain the structure and composition of the atmosphere, such as the presence of Rayleigh scattering or aerosols.

Accounting for Chromatic Atmospheric Effects on Barycentric Corrections

Abstract Atmospheric effects on stellar radial velocity measurements for exoplanet discovery and characterization have not yet been fully investigated for extreme precision levels. We carry out calculations to determine the wavelength dependence of barycentric corrections across optical wavelengths, due to the ubiquitous variations in air mass during observations. We demonstrate that radial velocity errors of at least several cm s−1 can be incurred if the wavelength dependence is not included in the photon-weighted barycentric corrections. A minimum of four wavelength channels across optical spectra (380–680 nm) are required to account for this effect at the 10 cm s−1 level, with polynomial fits of the barycentric corrections applied to cover all wavelengths. Additional channels may be required in poor observing conditions or to avoid strong telluric absorption features. Furthermore, consistent flux sampling on the order of seconds throughout the observation is necessary to ensure that accurate photon weights are obtained. Finally, we describe how a multiple-channel exposure meter will be implemented in the EXtreme PREcision Spectrograph (EXPRES).

MULTIPLEXING PRECISION RVs: SEARCHING FOR CLOSE-IN GAS GIANTS IN OPEN CLUSTERS

ABSTRACT We present a multiplexed high-resolution (R ∼ 50,000 median) spectroscopic survey designed to detect exoplanet candidates in two southern star clusters (NGC 2516 and NGC 2422) using the Michigan/Magellan Fiber System (M2FS) on the Magellan/Clay telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. With 128 available fibers in our observing mode, we are able to target every star in the core half-degree of each cluster that could plausibly be a solar-analog member. Our template-based spectral fits provide precise measurements of fundamental stellar properties—T eff (±30 K), [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] (±0.02 dex), and (±0.3 km s−1)—and radial velocities (RVs) by using telluric absorption features from 7160 to 7290 Å as a wavelength reference for 251 mid-F to mid-K stars (126 in NGC 2516 and 125 in NGC 2422) that comprise our survey. In each cluster, we have obtained ∼10–12 epochs of our targets. Using repeat observations of an RV standard star, we show our approach can attain a single-epoch velocity precision of 25–60 m s−1 over a broad range of signal-to-noise ratios throughout our observational baseline of 1.1 years. Our technique is suitable for nonrapidly rotating stars cooler than mid-F. In this paper, we describe our observational sample and analysis methodology and present a detailed study of the attainable precision and measurement capabilities of our approach. Subsequent papers will provide results for stars observed in the target clusters, analyze our data set of RV time series for stellar jitter and stellar and substellar companions, and consider the implications of our findings on the clusters themselves.

Modelling telluric line spectra in the optical and infrared with an application to VLT/X-Shooter spectra

Earth's atmosphere imprints a large number of telluric absorption and emission lines on astronomical spectra, especially in the near infrared, that need to be removed before analysing the affected wavelength regions. These lines are typically removed by comparison to A- or B-type stars used as telluric standards that themselves have strong hydrogen lines, which complicates the removal of telluric lines. We have developed a method to circumvent that problem. For our IDL software package tellrem we used a recent approach to model telluric absorption features with the line-by-line radiative transfer model (LBLRTM). The broad wavelength coverage of the X-Shooter at VLT allows us to expand their technique by determining the abundances of the most important telluric molecules H2O, O2, CO2, and CH4 from sufficiently isolated line groups. For individual observations we construct a telluric absorption model for most of the spectral range that is used to remove the telluric absorption from the object spectrum. We remove telluric absorption from both continuum regions and emission lines without systematic residuals for most of the processable spectral range; however, our method increases the statistical errors. The errors of the corrected spectrum typically increase by 10% for S/N~10 and by a factor of two for high-quality data (S/N~100), i.e. the method is accurate on the percent level. Modelling telluric absorption can be an alternative to the observation of standard stars for removing telluric contamination.

Near-infrared spectroscopy of post-starburst galaxies: a limited impact of TP-AGB stars on galaxy spectral energy distributions★

We present Very Large Telescope Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera (ISAAC) near-infrared (NIR) spectrophotometric observations of 16 post-starburst galaxies aimed at constraining the debated influence of thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) stars on the spectral energy distribution (SED) of galaxies with stellar ages between 0.5 and 2 Gyr, hence critical for high-redshift studies. Post-starburst galaxies are characterized by negligible ongoing star formation and a SED dominated by the stellar population formed in a recent (<2 Gyr) burst. By selecting post-starburst galaxies with mean luminosity-weighted ages between 0.5 and 1.5 Gyr and a broad range of metallicities (based on Sloan Digital Sky Survey optical spectroscopy), we explore the parameter space over which the relative energy output of TP-AGB stars peaks. A key feature of the present study is that we target galaxies at z ≈ 0.2, so that two main spectral features of TP-AGB stars (C-molecule band-head drops at 1.41 and 1.77 μm, blended with strong telluric absorption features, hence hardly observable from the ground, for targets at z ≈ 0) move inside the H and K atmospheric windows and can be constrained for the first time to high accuracy. Our observations provide key constraints to stellar population synthesis models. Our main results are (i) the NIR regions around 1.41 and 1.77 μm (rest frame) are featureless for all galaxies in our sample over the whole range of relevant ages and metallicities at variance with the Maraston ‘TP-AGB heavy’ models, which exhibit marked drops there, and (ii) no flux boosting is observed in the NIR. The optical–NIR SEDs of most of our post-starburst galaxies can be consistently reproduced with the 2003 version of the Bruzual & Charlot models, using either simple stellar populations of corresponding light-weighted ages and metallicities or a more realistic burst plus an underlying old population containing up to approximately 60 per cent of the total stellar mass. In contrast, all combinations of this kind based on the Maraston models are unable to simultaneously reproduce the smoothness of the NIR spectra and the relatively blue optical–NIR colours in the observations. The data collected in this study appear to disfavour ‘TP-AGB heavy’ models with respect to ‘TP-AGB light’ ones.

Synthesising, using, and correcting for telluric features in high-resolution astronomical spectra

We present a technique to synthesise telluric absorption and emission features both for in-situ wavelength calibration and for their removal from astronomical spectra. While the presented technique is applicable for a wide variety of optical and infrared spectra, we concentrate in this paper on selected high-resolution near-infrared spectra obtained with the CRIRES spectrograph to demonstrate its performance and limitation. We find that synthetic spectra reproduce telluric absorption features to about 2%, even close to saturated line cores. Thus, synthetic telluric spectra could be used to replace the observation of telluric standard stars, saving valuable observing time. This technique also provides a precise in-situ wavelength calibration, especially useful for high-resolution near-infrared spectra in the absence of other calibration sources.

The interstellar extinction to V4334 Sgr (Sakurai's object)

We present an 8-13m spectrum of V4334 Sgr (Sakurai's object), which shows clear evidence for the presence of a silicate absorption feature at 9.7m. We argue that the feature is interstellar in origin, and on this basis we determine the interstellar extinction to V4334 Sgr to be E(B V)= 0:66 0:12. This is the only determination of the extinction to V4334 Sgr to date that uses direct observation of the intervening material; as the reddening using this method is refined it will be of importance in determining the distance of V4334 Sgr, and hence in modelling its evolution. grating was used with a 2 pixel (0.76 arcsec) wide slit, giv- ing a resolving power= ' 200. Sakurai's object was ob- served in the standard stare/nod mode, at an average airmass of 1.28. The bright star HR 6378 (assumed to have N = 2:25 and Te = 8800 K) was observed in the same way at a mean airmass of 1.24, for the purposes of flux calibration and remov- ing telluric features. Telluric absorption features provided the wavelength calibration, which is accurate to 0.02m. The reduced 8-13m spectrum of V4334 Sgr is shown in Fig. 1a. An apparent broad absorption feature, centered be- tween 9.5 and 10.0m, resembles the absorption profile of as- tronomical silicates. The spectrum is noisy near the maximum absorption, which coincides with the strongest part of the deep telluric ozone absorption near 9.6m. The airmass mismatch would tend to artificially deepen the feature in the reduced spectrum, but the eect is small compared to the observed fea- ture, because the mismatch was small and because many of the individual ozone lines are saturated. We have made no attempt to correct for the mismatch.

SPECTROSCOPY OF DWARF O STARS IN THE REGION 6250 TO 7150A

ABSTRACT We present moderate-resolution spectra of normal dwarf O stars taken over the commonly ignored spectral range from 6250 to 7150A. Numerous, strong, telluric absorption features, particularly the prominent O2 feature beyond 6850A, have made the study of stellar photospheres over this spectral region very difficult in the past. In this study, we use a method for removing the atmospheric absorption features during the reduction process. With our cleaned spectra, we have been successful in identifying the He II 6891A line in O dwarf stars that has until now been too heavily contaminated by telluric features to be clearly detected.