High Contrast Imaging of Exoplanets and Exoplanetary Systems with JWST

Our accepted JWST Early Release Science (ERS) program, High Contrast Imaging of Exoplanets and Exoplanetary Systems with JWST, has been awarded ~54 hours of observing time and will perform: a) coronagraphic imaging of a directly imaged exoplanetary companion and a well-studied circumstellar debris disk from 3-15 microns, b) spectroscopy from 2-28 microns of a wide separation companion at the planet/brown dwarf boundary, and c) deep aperture masking interferometry of an exoplanetary companion at 4 microns.

Within the first few months of JWST operation, our program will analyse and disseminate publicly-available datasets of these observations, which span a range of instrumental modes to be commonly used by the exoplanet/disk direct imaging communities. Ours will be among the first-ever direct observations of bona fide exoplanets across their full luminous spectral range, and will be crucial test cases for atmospheric models that have mostly focussed on the visible and near-infrared. Further, our program will demonstrate the degree to which atmospheric abundance analysis can be obtained from JWST spectroscopy, possibly providing clues to the planet formation process, cloud composition, and disequilibrium chemistry. Additionally, our program will provide measurements of the water-ice abundance within a debris disk in conjunction with empirical constraints on the emission at the rising Wien tail of its spectral energy distribution.

Throughout this talk I will describe our planned observations in detail, in addition to how our international team of investigators will deliver science enabling products to empower a broad user base to develop successful future JWST investigations in Cycle 2 and beyond