Direct Detection of Known Exoplanets in Reflected Light: Predicting Sky Position with Literature Orbit Solutions

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Auteurs principaux: Pearce, Logan A., Males, Jared R., Limbach, Mary Anne
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Pearce, Logan A.
Males, Jared R.
Limbach, Mary Anne
author_facet Pearce, Logan A.
Males, Jared R.
Limbach, Mary Anne
contents The next generation of ground- and space-based observatories will enable direct imaging and characterization of cold, mature planets through thermal emission and, for the first time, reflected light detection. Known RV and astrometrically detected planets provide a known population for detection and characterization observations. However, many of the most promising targets lack orbital parameters of sufficient precision to confidently predict their location on relative to the star for a direct imaging campaign. We have developed \texttt{projecc}, an open source Python package designed to generate sky-plane planet location posteriors from literature orbit solutions. This tool aims to facilitate community preparation for direct imaging observations of known planets. In this work we describe \texttt{projecc} and use it to examine two case study systems relevant to reflected light imaging with ELTs: GJ~876~b, which we find has a well-constrained prediction, and Proxima Centauri b, whose location remains highly uncertain.%, as well as one potential target for \textsl{Roman} CGI, HD~219134~h, which we estimate has a 40\% probability of being in a detectable sky location at any given time. We provide a web app for exploring reflected light planet targets and their orbit solutions, including predictions from literature for 17 additional planets, located at https://reflected-light-planets.streamlit.app/. We also discuss future upgrades to \texttt{projecc}.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_06747
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Direct Detection of Known Exoplanets in Reflected Light: Predicting Sky Position with Literature Orbit Solutions
Pearce, Logan A.
Males, Jared R.
Limbach, Mary Anne
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
The next generation of ground- and space-based observatories will enable direct imaging and characterization of cold, mature planets through thermal emission and, for the first time, reflected light detection. Known RV and astrometrically detected planets provide a known population for detection and characterization observations. However, many of the most promising targets lack orbital parameters of sufficient precision to confidently predict their location on relative to the star for a direct imaging campaign. We have developed \texttt{projecc}, an open source Python package designed to generate sky-plane planet location posteriors from literature orbit solutions. This tool aims to facilitate community preparation for direct imaging observations of known planets. In this work we describe \texttt{projecc} and use it to examine two case study systems relevant to reflected light imaging with ELTs: GJ~876~b, which we find has a well-constrained prediction, and Proxima Centauri b, whose location remains highly uncertain.%, as well as one potential target for \textsl{Roman} CGI, HD~219134~h, which we estimate has a 40\% probability of being in a detectable sky location at any given time. We provide a web app for exploring reflected light planet targets and their orbit solutions, including predictions from literature for 17 additional planets, located at https://reflected-light-planets.streamlit.app/. We also discuss future upgrades to \texttt{projecc}.
title Direct Detection of Known Exoplanets in Reflected Light: Predicting Sky Position with Literature Orbit Solutions
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.06747