Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2014
The field of exoplanet spectroscopy has grown tremendously in the last decade. With the discovery of gas giant planets at wide separations from their host stars via direct imaging, it is now possible to obtain exoplanet spectra with unprecedented spectral resolution. We present a medium resolution spectrum of the directly imaged exoplanet HR 8799c. This K-band spectrum was obtained using the integral field spectrograph OSIRIS on the Keck II telescope. Our spectrum shows numerous, well-resolved molecular lines from water and carbon monoxide (CO). There is no clear evidence for methane absorption, in spite of a best fit temperature of ~1100 K. We find a best fit surface gravity log(g) ~ 4.0, consistent with the inferred young age for the system (~30 Myr), and a continuum morphology consistent with previously-inferred dust clouds. Using the water and CO lines, we are able to estimate the C/O ratio for this planet. We find a ratio slightly higher than stellar (~0.65), which provides hints about the planet's formation.