NASA的Pandora小卫星任务：近红外系外行星传输光谱的模拟建模与反演
NASA's Pandora SmallSat Mission: Simulated Modeling and Retrieval of Near-Infrared Exoplanet Transmission Spectra
AI总结：
Pandora小卫星任务通过近红外光谱分析系外行星大气，提供高精度吸收物丰度约束，并与JWST协同提升大气表征能力。
摘要：
Pandora是一个专注于通过分离恒星异质性对系外行星传输光谱影响的小卫星任务。该任务于2021年被选为NASA天体物理学先锋任务，将为凌星系统提供同时的长期可见光光度监测（0.4-0.7 μm）和低分辨率近红外（NIR）光谱学（0.9-1.6 μm），目的是监测宿主恒星的变异性并表征系外行星的大气层。Pandora的为期一年的主任务从2026年到2027年，正好处于以目标大气表征为特征的十年中间，为利用这一新资源最大化JWST和其他天文台的科学发现提供了关键机会。在这里，我们研究了Pandora对可被凌星光谱学研究的系外行星总体群体（从热木星到温带亚 Neptune）的预期性能。通过建模五种测试案例的大气层，这些案例大致符合HD 209458 b、HD 189733 b、WASP 80 b、HAT-P 18 b和K2-18 b的总体特性，我们发现Pandora可能能够提供主大气吸收物如H2O和CH4的丰度约束，精度可达约1.0个数量级。然后，我们探讨了Pandora与JWST之间的协同效应。我们的结果表明，具有JWST近红外数据的目标可以从Pandora观测中获益，从而比仅使用JWST数据获得更可靠的丰度估计。此外，Pandora可以为社区提供感兴趣的JWST大气表征目标的预观测。最后，我们概述了如何利用Pandora作为独立天文台以及与JWST协同工作的策略。
英文摘要：
Pandora is a SmallSat mission dedicated to understanding exoplanets and their host stars by disentangling the impact of stellar heterogeneity on exoplanet transmission spectra. Selected as a NASA Astrophysics Pioneers mission in 2021, Pandora will provide simultaneous long-term visible photometric monitoring (0.4--0.7 $μ$m) and low-resolution near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy (0.9--1.6 $μ$m) of transiting systems for the purposes of monitoring host star variability and characterizing exoplanetary atmospheres. Pandora's year-long prime mission from 2026 to 2027 coincides with the middle of a decade defined by targeted efforts for atmospheric characterization of exoplanets, offering a key opportunity to leverage this new resource to maximize science with JWST and other observatories. Here we investigate Pandora's anticipated performance for the general exoplanet population accessible to transit spectroscopy, from hot Jupiters to temperate sub-Neptunes. By modeling the atmospheres of five test cases broadly consistent with the bulk properties of HD~209458~b, HD~189733~b, WASP-80~b, HAT-P-18~b, and K2-18~b, we find that Pandora may provide abundance constraints as precise as $\sim$1.0\,dex for main atmospheric absorbers such as H$_2$O and CH$_4$. Then, we explore the synergies between Pandora and JWST. Our results suggest that targets with JWST data in the near-infrared can benefit from the addition of Pandora observations and result in more reliable abundance estimates than with JWST data alone. Moreover, Pandora can serve the community by providing precursory observations of targets of interest for JWST atmospheric characterization. We conclude by outlining strategies for the use of Pandora as a standalone observatory and in synergy with JWST.
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