ESA Science & Technology - Detection of Planetary Transits with the James Webb Space Telescope

Publication date: 15 November 2007

Authors: Clampin, M., et al.

Journal: JWST White Paper

The James Webb Space Telescope (Gardner et al. 2006) will be capable of characterizing extrasolar planets to significantly greater sensitivity than the current Spitzer detections (Charbonneau et al. 2005, Deming et al. 2005, 2006). In combination with ground-based transit surveys and scientific results from the Kepler and Corot missions, JWST will be able to address the detailed physical characterization of up to 250 exosolar planets (Mountain et al. 2006; Beichman et al. 2006). Transit studies of exosolar planets are currently unique in providing measurements that permit comparative exoplanetology.