Organisers: Jo Barstow (UCL); Ingo Waldmann (UCL); Sasha Hinkley (Exeter);
Nathan Mayne (Exeter); Gillian Wright (ROE)
The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will open up unprecedented opportunities for exoplanet observation. The near-to-mid infrared wavelength coverage is ideally suited to detailed observations of hot, gaseous exoplanet atmospheres in transit and eclipse; the study of young giant planets and disks; and the potential characterisation of terrestrial exoplanets. JWST’s impressive sensitivity and spectral coverage will provide substantially more detailed spectra of exoplanets than those that are obtained with current state of the art instruments. Current modelling assumptions and simplifications may therefore be questioned by better quality observations, meaning the models will need to be improved and tested. This includes: the modelling and removal of stellar activity signals in transit spectroscopy; assumptions about atmospheric homogeneity, and the treatment of cloud and haze, in atmosphere models; and the assumption of a solar abundance, chemical equilibrium atmosphere for gas giant planets.