JWST-TST High Contrast: JWST/NIRCam observations of the young giant planet $\beta$ Pic b

Abstract

We present the first JWST/NIRCam observations of the directly-imaged gas giant exoplanet $\beta$ Pic b. Observations in six filters using NIRCam's round coronagraphic masks provide a high signal-to-noise detection of $\beta$ Pic b and the archetypal debris disk around $\beta$ Pic over a wavelength range of $\sim$1.7-5 $\mu$m. This paper focuses on the detection of $\beta$ Pic b and other potential point sources in the NIRCam data, following a paper by Rebollido et al. which presented the NIRCam and MIRI view of the debris disk around $\beta$ Pic. We develop and validate approaches for obtaining accurate photometry of planets in the presence of bright, complex circumstellar backgrounds. By simultaneously fitting the planet's PSF and a geometric model for the disk, we obtain planet photometry that is in good agreement with previous measurements from the ground. The NIRCam data supports the cloudy nature of $\beta$ Pic b's atmosphere and the discrepancy between its mass as inferred from evolutionary models and the dynamical mass reported in the literature. We further identify five additional localized sources in the data, but all of them are found to be background stars or galaxies based on their color or spatial extent. We can rule out additional planets in the disk midplane above 1 Jupiter mass outward of 2 arcsec ($\sim$40 au) and away from the disk midplane above 0.05 Jupiter masses outward of 4 arcsec ($\sim$80 au). The inner giant planet $\beta$ Pic c remains undetected behind the coronagraphic masks of NIRCam in our observations.

30 pages, 14 figures, published in AJ

References in corpus (45)

• Array Programming with NumPy
• The Astropy Project: Sustaining and Growing a Community-oriented Open-source Project and the Latest Major Release (v5.0) of the Core Package
• The James Webb Space Telescope
• The James Webb Space Telescope Mission
• The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning
• The fast spin-rotation of a young extrasolar planet
• NIRCam Performance on JWST In Flight
• Fundamental limitations of high contrast imaging set by small sample statistics
• A new set of atmosphere and evolution models for cool T-Y brown dwarfs and giant exoplanets
• The Hipparcos-Gaia Catalog of Accelerations: Gaia EDR3 Edition
• Stellar and substellar companions from Gaia EDR3 -- Proper motion anomaly and resolved common proper motion pairs
• JWST MIRI flight performance: The Medium-Resolution Spectrometer
• Methane, Carbon Monoxide, and Ammonia in Brown Dwarfs and Self-Luminous Giant Planets
• HST/ACS Multiband Coronagraphic Imaging of the Debris Disk around Beta Pictoris
• The New Generation Planetary Population Synthesis (NGPPS). I. Bern global model of planet formation and evolution, model tests, and emerging planetary systems
• 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
• Consistent simulations of substellar atmospheres and non-equilibrium dust-cloud formation
• orbitize!: A Comprehensive Orbit-fitting Software Package for the High-contrast Imaging Community
• Peering into the formation history of beta Pictoris b with VLTI/GRAVITY long baseline interferometry
• 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
• Direct confirmation of the radial-velocity planet $\beta$ Pic c
• Dynamical traceback age of the $\beta$ Pictoris moving group
• The Orbit and Transit Prospects for $\beta$ Pictoris b constrained with One Milliarcsecond Astrometry
• Let the Great World Spin: Revealing the Stormy, Turbulent Nature of Young Giant Exoplanet Analogs with the Spitzer Space Telescope
• The mass of Beta Pictoris c from Beta Pictoris b orbital motion
• Magellan Adaptive Optics first-light observations of the exoplanet $\beta$ Pic b. I. Direct imaging in the far-red optical with MagAO+VisAO and in the near-IR with NICI
• Spitzer Variability Properties of Low-Gravity L Dwarfs
• Precise Dynamical Masses and Orbital Fits for $\beta$ Pic b and $\beta$ Pic c
• On the Composition of Young, Directly Imaged Giant Planets
• Physical and orbital properties of Beta Pictoris b
• Astrometric Orbits for Hipparcos Stochastic Binaries
• The First JWST Spectral Energy Distribution of a Y dwarf
• Characterization of Low-mass, Wide-separation Substellar Companions to Stars in Upper Scorpius: Near-infrared Photometry and Spectroscopy
• The Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey: Dynamical Mass of the Exoplanet beta Pictoris b from Combined Direct Imaging and Astrometry
• JWST/NIRSpec Observations of the Planetary Mass Companion TWA 27B
• Addressing Systematics in the Traceback Age of the $\beta$ Pictoris Moving Group
• JWST-TST Proper Motions: I. High-Precision NIRISS Calibration and Large Magellanic Cloud Kinematics
• GRAVITY K-band spectroscopy of HD 206893 B: brown dwarf or exoplanet
• The Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph for the James Webb Space Telescope -- IV. Aperture Masking Interferometry
• Constrained Reference Star Differential Imaging: Enabling High-Fidelity Imagery of Highly Structured Circumstellar Disks
• First Observations of the Brown Dwarf HD 19467 B with JWST
• The Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph for JWST -- V. Kernel Phase Imaging and Data Analysis
• Has the dust clump in the debris disk of Beta Pictoris moved?
• The beta Pictoris system: Setting constraints on the planet and the disk structures at mid-IR wavelengths with NEAR
• Simulating reflected light coronagraphy of Earth-like exoplanets with a large IR/O/UV space telescope: impact and calibration of smooth exozodiacal dust

Cited by in corpus (6)

• JWST-TST High Contrast: Living on the Wedge, or, NIRCam Bar Coronagraphy Reveals CO${}_2$ in the HR 8799 and 51 Eri Exoplanets' Atmospheres
• Multi-modal atmospheric characterization of $\beta$ Pictoris b: Adding high-resolution continuum spectra from GRAVITY
• Dynamics of the Beta Pictoris planetary system and possibility of an additional planet
• The mid-infrared spectrum of $\beta$ Pictoris b. First VLTI/MATISSE interferometric observations of an exoplanet
• Direct Imaging Discovery of Giant Exoplanet $\beta$ Pictoris d: A Decade-Long Game of Hide-and-Seek
• JWST-TST High Contrast: First Direct Spectroscopy of GJ 504 b reveals Clouds and Possible Metal Enrichment