55 Cancri e occultation with CHEOPS

In this study, we analyse a set of 41 occultations obtained over a two-year timespan with the CHEOPS satellite. We report the detection of 55 Cnc e's occultation with an average depth of 12+/-3 ppm.

We derive a corresponding 2-sigma upper limit on the geometric albedo of A_g_<0.55 once decontaminated from the thermal emission measured by Spitzer at 4.5 microns. CHEOPS's photometric performance enables for the first time the detection of individual occultations of this super-Earth in the visible and identifies short-timescale photometric corrugations likely induced by stellar granulation. We also find a clear 47.3-day sinusoidal pattern in the time-dependent occultation depths that we are unable to relate to stellar noise, nor instrumental systematics but whose planetary origin could be tested with upcoming JWST occultation observations of this iconic super-Earth.