James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post


Literature
Date: 4/5/2024

Arxiv: Report of the Working Group on Strategic Exoplanet Initiatives with HST and JWST Published: 4/2/2024 10:43:28 PM Updated: 4/2/2024 10:43:28 PM

Paper abstract: This STScI Working Group (WG) was charged with soliciting community feedbackand evaluating the strategic planning for exoplanet science with JWST and HSTgiven the high quality of exoplanet observations, the significantly lengthenedmission lifetime for JWST, and the pronounced expansion of the field over thelast decade. We were charged with identifying key science themes, providingrecommendations on issues associated with optimal timing and scale ofresources, as well as providing a recommended DDT concept achievable with 500hours of JWST time. We recommend a DDT concept to survey the atmospheres ofrocky-M dwarf exoplanets. It is critical to quickly survey a wide sample ofsuch targets to ascertain if they indeed host significant atmospheres, i.e.,define the cosmic shoreline, and to identify high priority targets for futurefollow-up. It is important for this effort to occur early in the missionlifetime. In the context of strategic planning of exoplanet observations, it isuseful to estimate the expected exoplanet observational commitment over JWST'slifetime. Given the current usage associated with exoplanets, extended over 20cycles, it is anticipated that JWST will dedicate ~30,000 hours toexoplanet observations. We recommend efforts to support GO-driven programs thatwill contribute to this unprecedented data product of JWST. Of the~30,000 hours of anticipated JWST full-mission time dedicated toexoplanets, we expect that 1/3 of it could, and perhaps inevitably would, forma comprehensive, high S/N, panchromatic, 10^4 hour atmospheric survey ofplanets. Such an observational sample would be a legacy archive that wouldaddress a broad range of science questions across various populations ofplanets. It would also bridge the direct imaging and transit communities andinvolve a multitude of techniques to detect and characterize exoplanets.