VLT FORS2 COMPARATIVE TRANSMISSION SPECTROSCOPY: DETECTION OF Na IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF WASP-39b FROM THE GROUND

We present transmission spectroscopy of the warm Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b made with the Very. Large. Telescope. FOcal Reducer. and. Spectrograph. (FORS2) across the wavelength range 411-810 nm. The transit depth is measured with a typical precision of 240 parts per million (ppm) in wavelength bins of 10 nm on a V = 12.1 mag star. We detect the sodium absorption feature (3.2 sigma) and find evidence of potassium. The ground-based transmission spectrum is consistent with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) optical spectroscopy, supporting the interpretation that WASP-39b has a largely clear atmosphere. Our results demonstrate the great potential of the recently upgraded FORS2 spectrograph for optical transmission spectroscopy, with which we obtained HST-quality light curves from the ground.