The Near-Inrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a very versatile instrument, offering multiobject and integral field spectroscopy with varying spectral resolution (∼30 to ∼3000) over a wide wavelength range from 0.6 to 5.3 micron, enabling scientists to study many science themes ranging from the first galaxies to bodies in our own Solar System. In addition to its integral field unit and support for multiobject spectroscopy, NIRSpec features several fixed slits and a wide aperture specifically designed to enable high precision time-series and transit as well as eclipse observations of exoplanets. In this paper we present its capabilities regarding time-series observations, in general, and transit and eclipse spectroscopy of exoplanets in particular. Due to JWST's large collecting area and NIRSpec's excellent throughput, spectral coverage, and detector performance, this mode will allow scientists to characterize the atmosphere of exoplanets with unprecedented sensitivity.
@article{arxiv.2202.03309,
title = {The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope IV. Capabilities and predicted performance for exoplanet characterization},
author = {S. M. Birkmann and P. Ferruit and G. Giardino and L. D. Nielsen and A. García Muñoz and S. Kendrew and B. J. Rauscher and T. L. Beck and C. Keyes and J. A. Valenti and P. Jakobsen and B. Dorner and C. Alves de Oliveira and S. Arribas and T. Böker and A. J. Bunker and S. Charlot and G. de Marchi and N. Kumari and M. López-Caniego and N. Lützgendorf and R. Maiolino and E. Manjavacas and A. Marston and S. H. Moseley and N. Prizkal and C. Proffitt and T. Rawle and H. W. Rix and M. te Plate and E. Sabbi and M. Sirianni and C. J. Willott and P. Zeidler},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2202.03309},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in A&A. 15 pages, 15 figures