Authors
Mary Anne Limbach, Johanna M Vos, Melinda Soares-Furtado, Andrew Vanderburg, René Heller, Joshua N Winn, Adam C Schneider, Ann Marie Cody, Fei Dai, Brandon Hensley, Marina Kounkel, Adam Kraus, Andrew W Mann, Jeffrey C Mason, Massimo Robberto, Anna L Rosen, Richard Townsend, Brian Jackson
Publication date
2022/6
Journal
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society
Volume
54
Issue
5
Pages
102.183
Description
The detection and characterization of the exomoon population would open the door to a new field within exoplanetary science. We present the prospects for the James Webb and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescopes (JWST & Roman) to detect exomoons transiting isolated planetary-mass objects (IPMOs—also known as free-floating planets). Given the high occurrence and close orbits of solar system moons, transiting exomoons are likely to occur around 10%-15% of IPMOs, although the intrinsic variability of the IPMO may make detections challenging. For at least 30 of the currently known nearby IPMOs, observations of a single transit with JWST would allow for the detection of an Io-or Titan-sized moon. Beyond JWST, we propose that a Transiting Exosatellites, Moons & Planets in Orion (TEMPO) survey with Roman could monitor hundreds of IPMOs and brown dwarfs in the Orion Nebula Cluster for transits …
Total citations
2023202411
Scholar articles
MA Limbach, JM Vos, M Soares-Furtado, A Vanderburg… - Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 2022