Atmospheric characterisation of HIP 67522 b with VLT/CRIRES+

VLT/CRIRES+ suggests a heavier planet and hints at deuterium fractionation

¹ Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université de Toulouse, CNRS UMR 5277, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
² Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
³ LIRA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
⁴ Laboratoire Lagrange, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France
⁵ Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
⁶ Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
⁷ Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK

^★ Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: 28 January 2026
Accepted: 21 April 2026

Abstract

Context. Young transiting exoplanets provide unique opportunities to probe planetary atmospheres during critical early phases of evolution when atmospheric escape and contraction are most active. HIP 67522 b, a 17 Myr old hot Jupiter with an extraordinarily low bulk density (<0.20 g cm⁻³), represents an ideal target for high-resolution transmission spectroscopy.

Aims. We aim to constrain the mass and characterise the atmospheric composition, thermal structure, and dynamics of HIP 67522 b using ground-based high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy with VLT/CRIRES+, complementing recent JWST observations.

Methods. We obtained 92 high-resolution spectra (R ≈ 10⁵) with VLT/CRIRES+ in the K2166 band during a transit on 30 January 2025. We applied cross-correlation techniques and Bayesian nested sampling retrievals to constrain molecular abundances, temperature structure, and atmospheric dynamics.

Results. We detected H₂O at 20σ and CO at 5σ, confirming the extremely extended atmosphere of this low-mass giant. A velocity offset of −2.9 ± 0.2 km s⁻¹ indicates day-to-night winds. The rotation velocity has been constrained to <1.8 km s⁻¹ at 3σ, consistent with tidal locking. The retrieval analysis suggests a planetary mass of 27.7_−5.5^+5.9 Earth masses and statistically favours a two-temperature atmospheric structure with a discrete change at mbar pressures over an isothermal profile. This mass is twice as high as the mass estimated from JWST atmospheric observations and inconsistent at 3σ, casting doubt on the actual planetary density of the planet. No matter the choice of atmospheric model, we derived a supersolar C/O ratio that is about 1.5 times solar, along with a supersolar metallicity that might further increase if the atmosphere is cloudy, which is a degeneracy that our data alone cannot resolve. We report a tentative 2σ detection of HDO with an extreme enrichment factor of ∼1000 relative to the protosolar D/H ratio. If confirmed, this would be the first detection of deuterium in an exoplanet atmosphere and would require an intense escape rate to confirm its presence.