S21A0100
S21A0100
In an environment of intense host star radiation, short period exoplanets that are insufficiently massive to retain a substantial gaseous atmosphere lose it through its expansion and hydrodynamic escape. Evidence of this process has been revealed as a significant minimum in the radius distribution of exoplanets, the “radius valley”. Observational evidence for atmospheric escape has been obtained for a handful of exoplanets in the form of a strong absorption signal detected in the wings of the hydrogen Lyman-alpha line. But ISM absorption of Lyman-alpha challenges the detectability of this extended atmosphere. Absorption of the metastable He 10830 Å line has been proposed as another method of probing the escaping atmospheres of exoplanets, through which escaping helium from Hot-Jupiters and warm-Neptunes are detected. Such detection has not been observed on sub-Neptune or terrestrial planets. Here we propose to collect time-resolved spectra with IRD during the transits of TOI-1235 b hosted by the a bright star (Jmag=8.71), to detect and characterize their evaporating atmosphere. Based on the mass and density measurements, TOI-1235 b lie in the radius valley, making it an excellent test laboratory to study the evaporating atmospheres.
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