Extrasolar Planets
Planetary Atmospheres
Transits

Munazza Alam
Natasha Batalha 
Bjorn  Benneke 
Zach K. Berta-Thompson
Jasmina Blecic 
Giovanni Bruno 
Aarynn Carter 
John Chapman 
Ian Crossfield 
Nicolas Michael Crouzet 
Leen Decin 
Brice-Olivier Demory
Jean-Michel Desert
Diana Dragomir 
Jonathan Fortney 
Jonathan Fraine 
Peter Gao
Antonio Garcia Munoz 
Neale Gibson
Jayesh Goyal 
Joseph Harrington 
Kevin Heng 
Renyu Hu 
Eliza M.-R. Kempton 
Sarah Kendrew 
Brian Kilpatrick 
Heather A. Knutson 
Laura Kreidberg 
Jessica Krick 
Pierre-Olivier Lagage 
Monika Lendl 
Jessica Libby-Roberts 
Michael Line 
Mercedes Lopez-Morales
Tom Louden 
Nikku Madhusudhan
Avi Mandell 
Megan Mansfield
Erin M. May 
Thomas Mikal-Evans
Giuseppe Morello
Caroline Morley
Julianne I. Moses 
Nikolay Nikolov 
Vivien Parmentier 
Seth Redfield 
Everett Schlawin 
Adam Showman
David K. Sing 
Jessica Spake 
Mark Raboin Swain 
Kamen Todorov 
Angelos Tsiaras 
Olivia Venot 
William Waalkes 
Hannah Ruth Wakeford 
Peter J. Wheatley 
Robert Thomas Zellem 

JWST presents the opportunity to transform our understanding of planets and the origins of life by revealing the atmospheric compositions, structures, and dynamics of transiting exoplanets in unprecedented detail. However, the high-precision, time-series observations required for such investigations have unique technical challenges, and our prior experience with HST, Spitzer, and Kepler indicates that there will be a steep learning curve when JWST becomes operational.

We propose an ERS program to accelerate the acquisition and diffusion of technical expertise for transiting exoplanet observations with JWST. This program will also provide a compelling set of representative datasets, which will enable immediate scientific breakthroughs. We will exercise the time-series modes of all four instruments that have been identified as the consensus highest priority by the community, observe the full suite of transiting planet characterization geometries (transits, eclipses, and phase curves), and target planets with host stars that span an illustrative range of brightnesses. The proposed observations were defined through an inclusive and transparent process that had participation from JWST instrument experts and international leaders in transiting exoplanet studies. The targets have been vetted with previous measurements, will be observable early in the mission, and have exceptional scientific merit. We will engage the community with a two-phase Data Challenge that culminates with the delivery of planetary spectra, time-series instrument performance reports, and open-source data analysis toolkits.

MIRI: Low Resolution Spectroscopy
NIRCam: Grism Time Series
NIRISS: Single-object Slitless Spectroscopy
NIRSpec: Bright Object Time Series

• Data analysis recipe for each dataset
• Field guide to instrument systematics

We will host a multi-phase data challenge to spark worldwide collaboration and focus the exoplanet community’s creativity on analyzing JWST data. Inspired by the Spitzer 2015 Data Challenge (Ingalls et al. 2016), this challenge will comprise online interaction and face-to-face meetings, bringing together instrument/telescope specialists, observers, and theorists. It will facilitate the speedy validation of our scientific results and construction of our science-enabling products, through intermediate deadlines and opportunities for group work. These activities are not limited to those scientists who were on the original ERS proposal; we welcome participation from the entire community.

While the exact dates are TBD, the first data challenge will occur around the time of JWST's launch and will use simulated data. The second data challenge will use the real data from the program and take place a few months after JWST commences its science operations. See the team website for announcements about these events.

Here's a paper describing our program:  https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018PASP..130k4402B/abstract

https://ers-transit.github.io/index.html 

  https://ers-transit.github.io