James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post


Literature
Date: 9/19/2024

Arxiv: Updated forecast for TRAPPIST-1 times of transit for all seven exoplanets incorporating JWST data Published: 9/18/2024 3:51:17 AM Updated: 9/18/2024 3:51:17 AM


Paper abstract: The TRAPPIST-1 system has been extensively observed with JWST in thenear-infrared with the goal of measuring atmospheric transit transmissionspectra of these temperate, Earth-sized exoplanets. A byproduct of theseobservations has been much more precise times of transit compared with prioravailable data from Spitzer, HST, or ground-based telescopes. In this note weuse 23 new timing measurements of all seven planets in the near-infrared fromfive JWST observing programs to better forecast and constrain the future timesof transit in this system. In particular, we note that the transit times ofTRAPPIST-1h have drifted significantly from a prior published analysis by up totens of minutes. Our newer forecast has a higher precision, with medianstatistical uncertainties ranging from 7-105 seconds during JWST Cycles 4 and5. Our expectation is that this forecast will help to improve planning offuture observations of the TRAPPIST-1 planets, whereas we postpone a fulldynamical analysis to future work.