Characterizing hot-Jupiter atmospheres with Palomar/Hale transit spectroscopy

Transit spectroscopy is one of the most efficient ways to characterizeexoplanet atmospheres. When a planet blocks partial light of its hoststar during a transit, spectral features of planetary atoms andmolecules are imprinted on the stellar light that is transmitted inthe upper atmosphere of the terminator region. Optical transmissionspectrum covering a broad wavelength range is able to tell whethercloud exists or what the chemical compositions are. Recent progress inthis field mainly comes from the Hubble space telescope andground-based large-aperture telescopes (VLT, Gemini, Keck, GTC,Magellan). In this talk, I will present our transit observations onthree hot Jupiters using the Palomar 5.1m Hale telescope through theTelescope Access Program (TAP). I will show the measured transmissionspectra, and discuss what atmospheric properties are delivered bythese data.