The Roman exoplanet Imaging data challenge: a major community engagement effort

Organized by the Turnbull Science Investigation Team (SIT), the 2019-2020 Roman Exoplanet Imaging Data Challenge (EIDC) launched in mid October 2019 and ran for eight months. This data challenge was a unique opportunity for exoplanet scientists of all backgrounds and experience levels to get acquainted with realistic Roman CGI (coronagraphic) simulated data with a new contrast regimes at 10-8 to 10-9 enabling to unveil planets down to the Neptune-mass in reflected light. Participating teams had to recover the astrometry of an exoplanetary system combining precursor radial velocity data (also simulated across 15 years) with two to six coronagraphic imaging epochs (HLC and Star Shade). They had to perform accurate orbital fitting and determine the mass of any planet hidden in the data. It involved PSF subtraction techniques, post-processing and other astrophysics hurdles to overcome such as contamination sources (stellar, extragalactic and exozodiacal light). We organized four tutorial "hack-a-thon" events to get as many people on-board. The EIDC proved to be an excellent way to engage with the intricacies of the first mission to perform wavefront control in space, as a pathfinder to future flagship missions. It also generated a lot of positive interactions between open source package owners and a whole new set of young exoplanet scientists running them. As a community we are a few steps closer to being ready to analyze real CGI data

JWST/NIRCam Coronagraphy of the Young Planet-hosting Debris Disk AU Microscopii

High-contrast imaging of debris disk systems permits us to assess the composition and size distribution of circumstellar dust, to probe recent dynamical histories, and to directly detect and characterize embedded exoplanets. Observations of these systems in the infrared beyond 2--3 $\mu$m promise access to both extremely favorable planet contrasts and numerous scattered-light spectral features -- but have typically been inhibited by the brightness of the sky at these wavelengths. We present coronagraphy of the AU Microscopii (AU Mic) system using JWST's Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) in two filters spanning 3--5 $\mu$m. These data provide the first images of the system's famous debris disk at these wavelengths and permit additional constraints on its properties and morphology. Conducting a deep search for companions in these data, we do not identify any compelling candidates. However, with sensitivity sufficient to recover planets as small as $\sim 0.1$ Jupiter masses beyond $\sim 2^{\prime\prime}$ ($\sim 20$ au) with $5\sigma$ confidence, these data place significant constraints on any massive companions that might still remain at large separations and provide additional context for the compact, multi-planet system orbiting very close-in. The observations presented here highlight NIRCam's unique capabilities for probing similar disks in this largely unexplored wavelength range, and provide the deepest direct imaging constraints on wide-orbit giant planets in this very well studied benchmark system.Comment: 27 pages, 14 figure

JWST/NIRCam Coronagraphy of the Young Planet-hosting Debris Disk AU Microscopii

Abstract High-contrast imaging of debris disk systems permits us to assess the composition and size distribution of circumstellar dust, to probe recent dynamical histories, and to directly detect and characterize embedded exoplanets. Observations of these systems in the infrared beyond 2–3 μ m promise access to both extremely favorable planet contrasts and numerous scattered-light spectral features—but have typically been inhibited by the brightness of the sky at these wavelengths. We present coronagraphy of the AU Microscopii (AU Mic) system using JWST’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) in two filters spanning 3–5 μ m. These data provide the first images of the system’s famous debris disk at these wavelengths and permit additional constraints on its properties and morphology. Conducting a deep search for companions in these data, we do not identify any compelling candidates. However, with sensitivity sufficient to recover planets as small as ∼0.1 Jupiter masses beyond ∼2″ (∼20 au) with 5 σ confidence, these data place significant constraints on any massive companions that might still remain at large separations and provide additional context for the compact, multiplanet system orbiting very close-in. The observations presented here highlight NIRCam’s unique capabilities for probing similar disks in this largely unexplored wavelength range, and they provide the deepest direct imaging constraints on wide-orbit giant planets in this very well-studied benchmark system