Transit asymmetry calculations for planets around diverse host stars in the near-infrared. Differences between the individual evening and morning transit depths (transit asymmetries) of cloudy atmosphere scenarios for observation in the integrated NIRSpec/G140M wavelength range for tidally locked planets with T_global = 800 K… 2600 K (left: only equatorial information is used, right: all latitudes are used). Colored stripes indicate the range for cloud scenarios (with cloud mass load, ρ_g/ρ_d(z) for atmospheric layers, where 〈a〉 < 0.1 μm is scaled by values between 1 and 10⁻³) around different main sequence host stars (purple: A, dark blue: F, golden: G, orange: K, gray: M). Circles denote the maximum values and crosses indicate negative evening-morning transit asymmetries for clarity.

PLATO transit depth asymmetry observations for T_global = 800 … 1200 K and ultrahot Jupiters should thus be examined for this population. Here, in particular the transition between hot to ultrahot Jupiters (T_global = 1800 → 2000 K) is of interest: The jump from positive evening to morning transit depth difference to negative difference for a clear evening limb scenario (Fig. 17 top right: orange bar) is an ideal smoking gun to constrain not only cloud scenarios but even the latitudinal extent of evening limb clouds. The expected large transit asymmetry signal of −1000 ppm is large already for a conservative, 1R_Jup-sized planets.