The orbital motion, absolute mass and high-altitude winds of exoplanet HD 209458b

For extrasolar planets discovered using the radial velocity method1, the spectral characterization of the host star leads to a mass estimate of the star and subsequently of the orbiting planet. If the orbital velocity of the planet could be determined, the masses of both star and planet could be calculated using Newton's law of gravity, just as in the case of stellar double-line eclipsing binaries. Here we report high-dispersion ground-based spectroscopy of a transit of the extrasolar planet HD209458b. We see a significant wavelength shift in absorption lines from carbon monoxide in the planet's atmosphere, which we conclude arises froma change in the radial component of the planet's orbital velocity. The masses of the star and planet are 1.00±022M_Sun and 0.64±0.09M_Jup respectively. A blueshift of the carbon monoxide signal of approximately 2kms^-1 with respect to the systemic velocity of the host star suggests the presence of a strong wind flowing from the irradiated dayside to the non-irradiated nightside of the planet within the 0.01-0.1 mbar atmospheric pressure range probed by these observations. The strength of the carbon monoxide signal suggests a carbn monoxide mixing ratio of (1-3)×10^-3 in this planet's upper atmosphere.