The Uncharted Worlds JWST Direct Imaging Survey for Sub-Jupiter Mass Exoplanets

The wavelength coverage of JWST, alongside it’s exquisite sensitivity and stability, provides an unrivaled opportunity to directly image exoplanets of lower masses than ever before. In this talk, we will present the first results from the Uncharted Worlds program - the largest JWST direct imaging survey to date. Our survey is sensitive to sub-Jupiter, and even sub-Saturn mass companions at wide separations beyond 20 au. Prior to JWST, this parameter space remained almost entirely unexplored, as most ground-based observations are only sensitive to more massive, super-Jupiter, companions. As such, our program provides the first empirical constraints on sub-Jupiter exoplanet occurrence at wide separations, which itself is closely connected to our understanding of planetary formation and evolution, and the nature of debris disk spatial structures. Finally, discoveries from this program will act as new atmospheric benchmarks, and will serve as unique comparisons to existing transiting, directly imaged, and Solar System planets.