How the Habitable Worlds Observatory's field of regard will impact the use of precursor science

Corey Spohn; Chris Stark; Dmitry Savransky

doi:10.1117/12.3020689

23 August 2024 How the Habitable Worlds Observatory's field of regard will impact the use of precursor science

Corey Spohn, Chris Stark, Dmitry Savransky

Proceedings Volume 13092, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 130925L (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020689
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Conference Poster

Abstract

The proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) aims to study the atmospheres of Earth-like exoplanets with direct imaging. Understanding an individual Earth-like planet could require weeks of observation time split over multiple visits. The mission concept studies that inspired HWO, HabEx and LUVOIR, both suggested that precursor observations, or detecting the planets with indirect methods before the mission’s launch, can significantly reduce the time required per planet and should be a priority. The radial velocity method is currently thought to be the most capable of finding Earth-like exoplanets and has several surveys planned and underway. In this work, we investigate how different designs for HWO can affect the usefulness of precursor science. We focus on how the size of HWO’s field of regard, primarily determined by the pitch requirements, impacts our ability to schedule observations of planets potentially detectable by the current radial velocity surveys. Our yield simulations indicate that the field of regard of HWO can change the number of Earth-like exoplanets that can be directly imaged three times by up to 34%.

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

Corey Spohn, Chris Stark, and Dmitry Savransky "How the Habitable Worlds Observatory's field of regard will impact the use of precursor science", Proc. SPIE 13092, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 130925L (23 August 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020689

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