Gen TSO: A General JWST Simulator for Exoplanet Times-series Observations

TL;DR

Gen TSO is a comprehensive, user-friendly simulator for JWST exoplanet time-series observations, integrating noise estimation, target acquisition, and resource databases to aid observation planning.

Contribution

It introduces a modular, graphical, and API-accessible tool specifically designed for simulating JWST exoplanet observations, combining existing noise models and exoplanet data resources.

Findings

Enables S/N estimation for all JWST instruments in spectroscopic modes.

Supports simulation of target acquisition on science and nearby stellar targets.

Provides an accessible interface for planning JWST exoplanet observations.

Abstract

Gen TSO is a noise calculator specifically tailored to simulate James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) time-series observations of exoplanets. Gen TSO enables the estimation of signal-to-noise ratios (S/N) for transit or eclipse depths through an interactive graphical interface, similar to the JWST Exposure Time Calculator (ETC). This interface leverages the ETC by combining its noise simulator, Pandeia, with additional exoplanet resources from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, the Gaia DR3 catalog of stellar sources, and the TrExoLiSTS database of JWST programs. The initial release of Gen TSO allows users to calculate S/Ns for all JWST instruments for the spectroscopic time-series modes available as of the Cycle 4 GO call. Additionally, Gen TSO allows users to simulate target acquisition on the science targets or, when needed, on nearby stellar targets within the visit splitting distance. This article presents an overview of Gen TSO and its main functionalities. Gen TSO has been designed to provide both an intuitive graphical interface and a modular API to access the resources mentioned above, facilitating planing and simulation of JWST exoplanet time-series observations. Gen TSO is available for installation via the Python Package Index and its documentation can be found at pcubillos.github.io/gen_tso.