Near-ultraviolet transit photometry of HAT-P-32b with the Large Binocular Telescope: Silicate aerosols in the planetary atmosphere

Broad-band exoplanet transit photometry can characterize the planetary atmosphere when observed at multiple selected filters. This observing technique can reveal gradients in the spectra of extrasolar planets, for example, the slope of decreasing opacity from short to long optical wavelengths caused by aerosol scattering. In this work, we observed a transit of the hot Jupiter HAT-P-32b in the shortest wavelength possible from the ground using the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The data comprise the best quality ground-based U-band measurement taken so far of an exoplanet transit. Compared to broad-band observations of intermediate and long optical wavelengths published previously, a clear scattering slope in the planetary transmission spectrum is revealed. Most likely, the scattering particles are magnesium silicate aerosols larger than 0.1 mu m. We define a spectral index to compare this scattering feature of HAT-P-32b with published results of other exoplanets. It turns out to be very typical in amplitude within the compared sample. Furthermore, we searched for correlation in this sample of the spectral index with planetary equilibrium temperature, surface acceleration, and stellar activity indicator, but could not find any.