MIRISim: A Simulator for the Mid-Infrared Instrument on JWST

Abstract

The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), has imaging, four coronagraphs and both low and medium resolution spectroscopic modes . Being able to simulate MIRI observations will help commissioning of the instrument, as well as get users familiar with representative data. We designed the MIRI instrument simulator (MIRISim) to mimic the on-orbit performance of the MIRI imager and spectrometers using the Calibration Data Products (CDPs) developed by the MIRI instrument team. The software encorporates accurate representations of the detectors, slicers, distortions, and noise sources along the light path including the telescope's radiative background and cosmic rays. The software also includes a module which enables users to create astronomical scenes to simulate. MIRISim is a publicly available Python package that can be run at the command line, or from within Python. The outputs of MIRISim are detector images in the same uncalibrated data format that will be delivered to MIRI users. These contain the necessary metadata for ingestion by the JWST calibration pipeline.

arXiv comment10 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication by MNRAS

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• JWST MIRI Flight Performance: Imaging
• JWST/MIRI Simulated Imaging: Insights into Obscured Star-Formation and AGN for Distant Galaxies in Deep Surveys
• Simulated performance of the molecular mapping for young giant exoplanets with the Medium Resolution Spectrometer of JWST/MIRI
• PlatoSim: An end-to-end PLATO camera simulator for modelling high-precision space-based photometry
• Modeling JWST MIRI-MRS Observations of T Cha: Mid-IR Noble Gas Emission Tracing a Dense Disk Wind
• Observability of Forming Planets and their Circumplanetary Disks IV. -- with JWST & ELT
• Transiting exoplanets with the Mid-InfraRed Instrument on board the James Webb Space Telescope: From simulations to observations
• Wavelength Calibration and Resolving Power of the JWST MIRI Medium Resolution Spectrometer
• Combining high-contrast imaging with high-resolution spectroscopy: Actual on-sky MIRI/MRS results compared to expectations