The JWST Early Release Science Program for the Direct Imaging & Spectroscopy of Exoplanetary Systems

Abstract

The direct characterization of exoplanetary systems with high contrast imaging is among the highest priorities for the broader exoplanet community. As large space missions will be necessary for detecting and characterizing exo-Earth twins, developing the techniques and technology for direct imaging of exoplanets is a driving focus for the community. For the first time, JWST will directly observe extrasolar planets at mid-infrared wavelengths beyond 5$\mu$m, deliver detailed spectroscopy revealing much more precise chemical abundances and atmospheric conditions, and provide sensitivity to analogs of our solar system ice-giant planets at wide orbital separations, an entirely new class of exoplanet. However, in order to maximise the scientific output over the lifetime of the mission, an exquisite understanding of the instrumental performance of JWST is needed as early in the mission as possible. In this paper, we describe our 55-hour Early Release Science Program that will utilize all four JWST instruments to extend the characterisation of planetary mass companions to $\sim$15$\mu$m as well as image a circumstellar disk in the mid-infrared with unprecedented sensitivity. Our program will also assess the performance of the observatory in the key modes expected to be commonly used for exoplanet direct imaging and spectroscopy, optimize data calibration and processing, and generate representative datasets that will enable a broad user base to effectively plan for general observing programs in future cycles.

arXiv comment21 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for Publication in PASP

References in corpus (167)

• Gaia Data Release 2. Summary of the contents and survey properties
• The James Webb Space Telescope
• Direct Imaging of Multiple Planets Orbiting the Star HR 8799
• A Hipparcos census of the nearby OB associations
• The effects of snowlines on C/O in planetary atmospheres
• Angular Differential Imaging: a Powerful High-Contrast Imaging Technique
• A continuum from clear to cloudy hot-Jupiter exoplanets without primordial water depletion
• Images of a fourth planet orbiting HR 8799
• A giant planet imaged in the disk of the young star Beta Pictoris
• Detection and Characterization of Exoplanets and Disks using Projections on Karhunen-Loeve Eigenimages
• A Giant Planet Candidate near a Young Brown Dwarf
• The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope I. Overview of the instrument and its capabilities
• The Occurrence Rate of Small Planets around Small Stars
• One or more bound planets per Milky Way star from microlensing observations
• SPHERE: the exoplanet imager for the Very Large Telescope
• Discovery and spectroscopy of the young Jovian planet 51 Eri b with the Gemini Planet Imager
• A new algorithm for point spread function subtraction in high-contrast imaging: a demonstration with angular differential imaging
• The Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey: Giant Planet and Brown Dwarf Demographics From 10-100 AU
• The Mid-Infrared Instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope I: Introduction
• Neglected Clouds in T and Y Dwarf Atmospheres
• Monte Carlo radiative transfer in protoplanetary disks
• Detection of Carbon Monoxide and Water Absorption Lines in an Exoplanet Atmosphere
• The imprint of exoplanet formation history on observable present-day spectra of hot Jupiters
• Fundamental limitations of high contrast imaging set by small sample statistics
• Imaging Extrasolar Giant Planets
• Disks ARound TTauri Stars with Sphere (DARTTS-S) I: Sphere / IRDIS Polarimetric Imaging of 8 prominent TTauri Disks
• Clouds and Chemistry in the Atmosphere of Extrasolar Planet HR8799b
• PynPoint: An Image Processing Package for Finding Exoplanets
• Debris Disks: Structure, Composition, and Variability
• LkCa 15: A Young Exoplanet Caught at Formation?
• A new set of atmosphere and evolution models for cool T-Y brown dwarfs and giant exoplanets
• A Framework for Characterizing the Atmospheres of Low-Mass Low-Density Transiting Planets
• The Runts of the Litter: Why planets formed through gravitational instability can only be failed binary stars
• Mapping the Shores of the Brown Dwarf Desert II: Multiple Star Formation in Taurus-Auriga
• Accreting Protoplanets in the LkCa 15 Transition Disk
• Strong Water Absorption in the Dayside Emission Spectrum of the Planet HD 189733b
• A Combined Subaru/VLT/MMT 1--5 Micron Study of Planets Orbiting HR 8799: Implications for Atmospheric Properties, Masses, and Formation
• Masses, Radii, and Cloud Properties of the HR 8799 Planets
• Tau-REx I: A next generation retrieval code for exoplanetary atmospheres
• Weather on Other Worlds. II. Survey Results: Spots Are Ubiquitous on L and T Dwarfs
• Population Properties of Brown Dwarf Analogs to Exoplanets
• Hints for a Turnover at the Snow Line in the Giant Planet Occurrence Rate
• Fingering convection and cloudless models for cool brown dwarf atmospheres
• Combining high-dispersion spectroscopy (HDS) with high contrast imaging (HCI): Probing rocky planets around our nearest neighbors
• The Circumstellar Disk of HD 141569 Imaged with NICMOS
• The Hawaii Infrared Parallax Program. II. Young Ultracool Field Dwarfs
• Observing the Atmospheres of Known Temperate Earth-sized Planets with JWST
• The Mid-Infrared Instrument for JWST, II: Design and Build
• The SPHERE infrared survey for exoplanets (SHINE). III. The demographics of young giant exoplanets below 300 au with SPHERE
• Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph Observations of M, L, and T Dwarfs
• Probing for Exoplanets Hiding in Dusty Debris Disks: Disk Imaging, Characterization, and Exploration with HST/STIS Multi-Roll Coronagraphy
• Fomalhaut's Debris Disk and Planet: Constraining the Mass of Fomalhaut b From Disk Morphology
• Dust Migration and Morphology in Optically Thin Circumstellar Gas Disks
• Retrieving scattering clouds and disequilibrium chemistry in the atmosphere of HR 8799e
• Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Extrasolar Planet HR 8799 b
• Resonant Trapping of Planetesimals by Planet Migration: Debris Disk Clumps and Vega's Similarity to the Solar System
• Discovery of a probable 4-5 Jupiter-mass exoplanet to HD 95086 by direct-imaging
• Strong Brightness Variations Signal Cloudy-to-Clear Transition of Brown Dwarfs
• Discovery of a warm, dusty giant planet around HIP65426
• A Spitzer Spectrum of the Exoplanet HD 189733b
• Cloudless atmospheres for L/T dwarfs and extra-solar giant planets
• Simultaneous Detection of Water, Methane and Carbon Monoxide in the Atmosphere of Exoplanet HR8799b
• TauREx III: A fast, dynamic and extendable framework for retrievals
• HST/ACS Coronagraphic Imaging of the Circumstellar Disk around HD1415659A
• Atmospheric Signatures of Giant Exoplanet Formation by Pebble Accretion
• Discovery of a young planetary mass companion to the nearby M dwarf VHS J125601.92-125723.9
• Detection and Characterization of Exoplanets using Projections on Karhunen-Loeve Eigenimages: Forward Modeling
• Tau-REx II: Retrieval of emission spectra
• Discovery of Two Nearby, Peculiar L Dwarfs from the 2MASS Proper Motion Survey: Young or Metal-Rich?
• A Systematic Study of Departures from Chemical Equilibrium in the Atmospheres of Substellar Mass Objects
• First direct detection of an exoplanet by optical interferometry; Astrometry and K-band spectroscopy of HR8799 e
• Michelson Interferometry with the Keck I Telescope
• First Light LBT AO Images of HR 8799 bcde at 1.65 and 3.3 Microns: New Discrepancies between Young Planets and Old Brown Dwarfs
• HD 203030B: an Unusually Cool Young Sub-Stellar Companion near the L/T Transition
• Directly Imaged L-T Transition Exoplanets in the Mid-Infrared
• A New High Contrast Imaging Program at Palomar Observatory
• HST/NICMOS detection of HR 8799 b in 1998
• MIRACLES: atmospheric characterization of directly imaged planets and substellar companions at 4-5 $\mu$m. I. Photometric analysis of $\beta$ Pic b, HIP 65426 b, PZ Tel B and HD 206893 B
• Towards a Population Synthesis Model of Objects formed by Self-Gravitating Disc Fragmentation and Tidal Downsizing
• Constraining the Nature of the PDS 70 Protoplanets with VLTI/GRAVITY
• M-band Imaging of the HR 8799 Planetary System Using an Innovative LOCI-based Background Subtraction Technique
• $\beta$ Pictoris' inner disk in polarized light and new orbital parameters for $\beta$ Pictoris b
• Direct confirmation of the radial-velocity planet $\beta$ Pic c
• Pandeia: A Multi-mission Exposure Time Calculator for JWST and WFIRST
• Temporal Evolution of Coronagraphic Dynamic Range, and Constraints on Companions to Vega
• Multi-Dimensional Bayesian Membership Analysis of the Sco OB2 moving Group
• Non-negative Matrix Factorization: Robust Extraction of Extended Structures
• Mid-infrared spectra of PAH emission in Herbig AeBe stars
• Composition of Early Planetary Atmospheres I: Connecting Disk Astrochemistry to the Formation of Planetary Atmospheres
• Spiral Structure when Setting up Pericentre Glow: Possible Giant Planets at Hundreds of AU in the HD141569 Disk
• Cloud busting: enstatite and quartz clouds in the atmosphere of 2M2224-0158
• Five steps in the evolution from protoplanetary to debris disk
• The Viewing Geometry of Brown Dwarfs Influences Their Observed Colours and Variability Properties
• Stellar Companions and the Age of HD 141569 and its Circumstellar Disk
• Observations of Disequilibrium CO Chemistry in the Coldest Brown Dwarfs
• Photolytic Hazes in the Atmosphere of 51 Eri b
• First images of debris disks around TWA 7, TWA 25, HD 35650, and HD 377
• The Mid-Infrared Instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope, V: Predicted Performance of the MIRI Coronagraphs
• The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope IV. Capabilities and predicted performance for exoplanet characterization
• Spectroscopic characterization of HD 95086 b with the Gemini Planet Imager
• The mass of Beta Pictoris c from Beta Pictoris b orbital motion
• Planetary chaotic zone clearing: destinations and timescales
• Phase Errors in Diffraction-Limited Imaging: Contrast Limits for Sparse Aperture Masking
• High-Cadence, High-Contrast Imaging for Exoplanet Mapping: Observations of the HR 8799 Planets with VLT/SPHERE Satellite Spot-Corrected Relative Photometry
• Detection and Bulk Properties of the HR 8799 Planets with High Resolution Spectroscopy
• Vertical structure of debris discs
• AKARI Observations of Brown Dwarfs. III. CO, CO2 and CH4 Fundamental Bands and Physical Parameters
• Two Directly Imaged, Wide-orbit Giant Planets around the Young, Solar Analog TYC 8998-760-1
• Reference star differential imaging of close-in companions and circumstellar disks with the NIRC2 vortex coronagraph at W.M. Keck Observatory
• Observational Constraints on Companions inside of 10 AU in the HR 8799 Planetary System
• Variability in a Young, L/T Transition Planetary-Mass Object
• Imaging Young Planets From Ground and Space
• Hubble Space Telescope UV and H$\alpha$ Measurements of the Accretion Excess Emission from the Young Giant Planet PDS 70 b
• The SPHERE infrared survey for exoplanets (SHINE) -- II. Observations, Data reduction and analysis Detection performances and early-results
• The LEECH Exoplanet Imaging Survey: Characterization of the Coldest Directly Imaged Exoplanet, GJ 504 b, and Evidence for Super-Stellar Metallicity
• Spitzer Variability Properties of Low-Gravity L Dwarfs
• Five Debris Disks Newly Revealed in Scattered Light from the HST NICMOS Archive
• Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the HD 202628 Debris Disk
• Spectral Variability of VHS J1256-1257 b from 1 to 5 $\mu$m
• Characterizing the performance of the NIRC2 vortex coronagraph at W.M. Keck Observatory
• A medium-resolution spectrum of the exoplanet HIP 65426 b
• On the Mass Function, Multiplicity, and Origins of Wide-Orbit Giant Planets
• Connecting planet formation and astrochemistry: Refractory carbon depletion leading to super-stellar C/O in giant planetary atmospheres
• The SPHERE infrared survey for exoplanets (SHINE)- I Sample definition and target characterization
• SCExAO/CHARIS Near-Infrared Direct Imaging, Spectroscopy, and Forward-Modeling of kappa And b: A Likely Young, Low-Gravity Superjovian Companion
• Atmospheric characterization of terrestrial exoplanets in the mid-infrared: biosignatures, habitability & diversity
• High-spatial-resolution imaging of thermal emission from debris disks
• Discovery of Seven Companions to Intermediate Mass Stars with Extreme Mass Ratios in the Scorpius-Centaurus Association
• Discovery of concentric broken rings at sub-arcsec separations in the HD 141569A gas-rich, debris disk with VLT/SPHERE
• A comparison of chemical models of exoplanet atmospheres enabled by TauREx 3.1
• A search for a 5th planet around HR 8799 using the star-hopping RDI technique at VLT/SPHERE
• Strong Near-Infrared Spectral Variability of the Young Cloudy L Dwarf Companion VHS J1256-1257 b
• Adaptive Optics imaging of VHS 1256-1257: A Low Mass Companion to a Brown Dwarf Binary System
• Spectral and orbital characterisation of the directly imaged giant planet HIP 65426 b
• A wide-orbit giant planet in the high-mass b Centauri binary system
• High-contrast Imaging with Spitzer: Deep Observations of Vega, Fomalhaut, and epsilon Eridani
• Gas lines from the 5-Myr old optically thin disk around HD141569A. Herschel observations and modeling
• Imaging low-mass planets within the habitable zone of α Centauri
• Planets Around Low-Mass Stars (PALMS). VI. Discovery of a Remarkably Red Planetary-Mass Companion to the AB Dor Moving Group Candidate 2MASS J22362452+4751425
• Characterization of the inner disk around HD 141569 A from Keck/NIRC2 L-band vortex coronagraphy
• Signatures of a planet-planet impacts phase in exoplanetary systems hosting giant planets
• Discovery of an Inner Disk Component around HD 141569 A
• Mixing and Overshooting in Surface Convection Zones of DA White Dwarfs: First Results from ANTARES
• Direct imaging of sub-Jupiter mass exoplanets with James Webb Space Telescope coronagraphy
• Direct characterization of young giant exoplanets at high spectral resolution by coupling SPHERE and CRIRES+
• The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: Asymmetries in the HD 141569 disc
• Comparing Non-Redundant Masking and Filled-Aperture Kernel Phase for Exoplanet Detection and Characterization
• Using Data Imputation for Signal Separation in High Contrast Imaging
• What can we learn about protoplanetary disks from analysis of mid-infrared carbonaceous dust emission?
• Methane in Analogs of Young Directly Imaged Exoplanets
• An image-plane algorithm for JWST's non-redundant aperture mask data
• The First Scattered Light Image of the Debris Disk around the Sco-Cen target HD 129590
• GRAVITY K-band spectroscopy of HD 206893 B: brown dwarf or exoplanet
• Early Results from VLT-SPHERE: Long-Slit Spectroscopy of 2MASS 0122-2439B, a Young Companion Near the Deuterium Burning Limit
• ALICE Data Release: A revaluation of HST-NICMOS coronagraphic images
• The James Webb Space Telescope Aperture Masking Interferometer
• Efficiently Imaging Accreting Protoplanets from Space: Reference Star Differential Imaging of the PDS 70 Planetary System using the HST/WFC3 Archival PSF Library
• Constraining the presence of giant planets in two-belt debris disk systems with VLT/SPHERE direct imaging and dynamical arguments
• The Matryoshka Disk: Keck/NIRC2 Discovery of a Solar System-Scale, Radially Segregated Residual Protoplanetary Disk Around HD 141569A
• Thermal Infrared Imaging and Atmospheric Modeling of VHS J125601.92-125723.9 b: Evidence for Moderately Thick Clouds and Equilibrium Carbon Chemistry in a Hierarchical Triple System
• NIRISS aperture masking interferometry: an overview of science opportunities
• Discovery of an Edge-on Circumstellar Debris Disk Around BD+45${}^{\circ }$598: a Newly Identifed Member of the $\beta$ Pictoris Moving Group
• Revealing asymmetrical dust distribution in the inner regions of HD 141569
• Revealing the Vertical Cloud Structure of a young low-mass Brown Dwarf, an analog to the beta-Pictoris b directly-imaged exoplanet, through Keck I/MOSFIRE spectro-photometric variability
• The Feasibility of Directly Imaging Nearby Cold Jovian Planets with MIRI/JWST
• Imaging the 44 AU Kuiper Belt-analogue debris ring around HD 141569A with GPI polarimetry
• The California Legacy Survey II. Occurrence of Giant Planets Beyond the Ice line

Cited by in corpus (24)

• The James Webb Space Telescope Mission
• The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems II: A 1 to 20 Micron Spectrum of the Planetary-Mass Companion VHS 1256-1257 b
• Direct discovery of the inner exoplanet in the HD206893 system. Evidence for deuterium burning in a planetary-mass companion
• On the Masses, Age, and Architecture of the VHS J1256-1257AB b System
• JWST/NIRSpec Observations of the Planetary Mass Companion TWA 27B
• Roaring Storms in the Planetary-Mass Companion VHS 1256-1257 b: Hubble Space Telescope Multi-epoch Monitoring Reveals Vigorous Evolution in an Ultra-cool Atmosphere
• X-SHYNE: X-shooter spectra of young exoplanet analogs. I. A medium-resolution 0.65-2.5$\mu \mathrm{m}$ one-shot spectrum of VHS\,1256-1257 b
• Imaging detection of the inner dust belt and the four exoplanets in the HR8799 system with JWST's MIRI coronagraph
• Hubble WFC3 Spectroscopy of the Terrestrial Planets L~98-59~c \& d: No Evidence for a Clear Hydrogen Dominated Primary Atmosphere
• Hubble WFC3 Spectroscopy of the Rocky Planet L 98-59 b: No Evidence for a Cloud-Free Primordial Atmosphere
• Simulated performance of the molecular mapping for young giant exoplanets with the Medium Resolution Spectrometer of JWST/MIRI
• Comparing Apples with Apples: Robust Detection Limits for Exoplanet High-Contrast Imaging in the Presence of non-Gaussian Noise
• Dynamics and Clouds in Planetary Atmospheres from Telescopic Observations
• Leaning Sideways: VHS 1256-1257 b is a Super-Jupiter with a Uranus-like Obliquity
• Measuring the variability of directly imaged exoplanets using vector Apodizing Phase Plates combined with ground-based differential spectrophotometry
• Thermal Behavior of Astrophysical Amorphous Molecular Ices
• Exploring the directly imaged HD 1160 system through spectroscopic characterization and high-cadence variability monitoring
• Detecting planetary mass companions near the water frost-line using JWST interferometry
• Cascade adaptive optics with a second stage based on a Zernike wavefront sensor for exoplanet observations
• Walking the Line: Young Stars on the Boundary of the Epsilon Cha and Lower Centaurus-Crux Associations
• Planet Search with the Keck/NIRC2 Vortex Coronagraph in Ms-band for Vega
• NMF-based GPU accelerated coronagraphy pipeline
• JWST/MIRI coronagraphic performances as measured on-sky
• Next-generation Exo-REM atmospheric models: application to VHS 1256 b to emulate patchy clouds