Exploration of Exoplanet Atmospheres with the James Webb Space Telescope

Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is providing transformative characterization capabilities for the study of both transiting and directly imaged extrasolar planets. Observations deep into the infrared in the form of both spectroscopy and coronagraphic imaging means that JWST is uniquely sensitive to most of the physical processes that dictate the properties of exoplanetary atmospheres. The observatory's thermal and pointing stability directly translates into the extreme photometric precision needed for exquisite transiting exoplanet photometry, as well as highly sensitive coronagraphic observations. Over the mission's 20-25 year lifetime, roughly 10$^4$ hours will be dedicated to observations of exoplanet atmospheres, providing a legacy data archive that will allow population-level characterization of exoplanet atmospheres spanning terrestrial planets, sub-Neptunes and gas giants. This effort will also assess the prevalence of atmospheres of rocky planets and thus the degree to which such planets may have conditions conducive to habitability.