Author ORCID Identifier
Kimberly Ward-Duong: 0000-0002-4479-8291
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2024
Publication Title
Astronomical Journal
Abstract
We present the first JWST/NIRCam observations of the directly imaged gas giant exoplanet β Pic b. Observations in six filters using NIRCam's round coronagraphic masks provide a high-signal-to-noise-ratio detection of β Pic b and the archetypal debris disk around β Pic over a wavelength range of ∼1.7-5 μm. This paper focuses on the detection of β Pic b and other potential point sources in the NIRCam data, following a paper by Rebollido et al. that presented the NIRCam and MIRI view of the debris disk around β Pic. We develop and validate approaches to obtaining accurate photometry of planets in the presence of bright, complex circumstellar backgrounds. By simultaneously fitting the planet’s point-spread function 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 support the cloudy nature of β 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 M Jup outward of 2″ (∼40 au) and away from the disk midplane above 0.05 M Jup outward of 4″ (∼80 au). The inner giant planet β Pic c remains undetected behind the coronagraphic masks of NIRCam in our observations.
Volume
168
Issue
2
DOI
10.3847/1538-3881/ad4ffe
ISSN
00046256
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights
© 2024 The Authors
Recommended Citation
Kammerer, Jens; Lawson, Kellen; Perrin, Marshall D.; Rebollido, Isabel; Stark, Christopher C.; Stolker, Tomas; Girard, Julien H.; Pueyo, Laurent; Balmer, William O.; Worthen, Kadin; Chen, Christine; van der Marel, Roeland P.; Lewis, Nikole K.; Ward-Duong, Kimberly; Valenti, Jeff A.; Clampin, Mark; and Mountain, C. Matt, "JWST-TST High Contrast: JWST/NIRCam Observations of the Young Giant Planet β Pic b" (2024). Astronomy: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/ast_facpubs/139
Comments
Archived as published.