2023MNRAS.525.2985R

The characterization of exoplanet atmospheres has proven to be successful using high-resolution spectroscopy. Phase curve observations of hot/ultra-hot Jupiters can reveal their compositions and thermal structures, thereby allowing the detection of molecules and atoms in the planetary atmosphere using the cross-correlation technique. We present pre-eclipse observations of the ultra-hot Jupiter, MASCARA-1b, observed with the recently upgraded CRIRES+ high-resolution infrared spectrograph at the VLT. We report a detection of Fe (≈ 8.3σ) in the K-band and confirm previous detections of CO (>15σ) and H₂O (>10σ) in the day-side atmosphere of MASCARA-1b. Using a Bayesian inference framework, we retrieve the abundances of the detected species and constrain planetary orbital velocities, T-P profiles, and the carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O). A free retrieval results in an elevated CO abundance ($\log _{10}(\chi _{\rm {{}^{12}CO}}) = -2.85^{+0.57}_{-0.69}$), leading to a supersolar C/O ratio. More realistically, allowing for vertically-varying chemistry in the atmosphere by incorporating a chemical-equilibrium model results in a C/O of $0.68^{+0.12}_{-0.22}$ and a metallicity of $[\rm M/H] = 0.62^{+0.28}_{-0.55}$, both consistent with solar values. Finally, we also report a slight offset of the Fe feature in both K_p and v_sys that could be a signature of atmospheric dynamics. Due to the 3D structure of exoplanet atmospheres and the exclusion of time/phase dependence in our 1D forward models, further follow-up observations and analysis are required to confirm or refute this result.