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Description
The TRAPPIST-1 planetary system is favorable for transmission spectroscopy and offers the unique opportunity to study rocky-planets with possibly non-primary envelopes. We present here the transmission spectrum of the seventh planet of the TRAPPIST-1 system, TRAPPIST-1 h (R_P_=0.752R_{Earth}_, Teq=173K) using Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Wide Field Camera 3 Grism 141 (WFC3/G141) data. Our purpose is to reduce the HST observations of the seventh planet of TRAPPIST-1 system and by testing simple atmospheric hypothesis put new constraint on the composition and the nature of the planet. First we extracted and corrected the raw data to obtain a transmission spectrum in the Near-IR band (1.1-1.7um). TRAPPIST-1 is a cold M-dwarf and its activity could affect the transmission spectrum. We correct for stellar modulations using three different stellar contamination models, while some fit better the data, they are statistically not significant and the conclusion remains unchanged concerning the presence or not of an atmosphere. Finally, using a Bayesian atmospheric retrieval code we put new constraints on the atmosphere composition of TRAPPIST-1h. According to the retrieval analysis, there is no evidence of molecular absorption in the Near-InfraRed (NIR) spectrum. This suggests the presence of a high cloud deck or a layer of photochemical hazes in a primary atmosphere or a secondary atmosphere dominated by heavy species like nitrogen. This result could even be the consequence of the lack of an atmosphere as the spectrum is better fitted using a flat-line. Variations of transit depth around 1.3um are likely due to remaining scattering noise and results are not improved while changing the spectral resolution. TRAPPIST-1 h has probably lost its atmosphere or possesses a layer of clouds and hazes blocking the NIR signal. We can not distinguish yet between a primary cloudy or a secondary clear envelope using HST/WFC3 data but we can reject, in most cases with more than 3{sigma} confidence, the hypothesis of a clear atmosphere dominated by hydrogen and helium. By testing forced secondary atmospheric scenario, we find that a CO-rich atmosphere (i.e with a volume mixing ratio of 0.2) is one of the best fit to the spectrum with a Bayes Factor of 1.01 corresponding to a 2.1{sigma} detection.
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