JWST/NIRCam Imaging of Young Stellar Objects. I. Constraints on Planets Exterior to the Spiral Disk Around MWC 758

April 2024 • 2024AJ....167..181W

Authors • Wagner, Kevin • Leisenring, Jarron • Cugno, Gabriele • Mullin, Camryn • Dong, Ruobing • Wolff, Schuyler G. • Greene, Thomas • Johnstone, Doug • Meyer, Michael R. • Beichman, Charles • Boyer, Martha • Horner, Scott • Hodapp, Klaus • Kelly, Doug • McCarthy, Don • Roellig, Tom • Rieke, George • Rieke, Marcia • Sitko, Michael • Stansberry, John • Young, Erick

Abstract • MWC 758 is a young star hosting a spiral protoplanetary disk. The spirals are likely companion-driven, and two previously identified candidate companions have been identified—one at the end the Southern spiral arm at ∼0.″6, and one interior to the gap at ∼0.″1. With JWST/NIRCam, we provide new images of the disk and constraints on planets exterior to ∼1″. We detect the two-armed spiral disk, a known background star, and a spatially resolved background galaxy, but no clear companions. The candidates that have been reported are at separations that are not probed by our data with sensitivity sufficient to detect them−nevertheless, these observations place new limits on companions down to ∼2 M _Jup at ∼150 au and ∼0.5 M _Jup at ≳600 au. Owing to the unprecedented sensitivity of JWST and youth of the target, these are among the deepest mass-detection limits yet obtained through direct imaging observations, and provide new insights into the system's dynamical nature.

Links

• SIMBAD https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-ref?querymethod=bib&simbo=on&submit=submit+bibcode&bibcode=2024AJ....167..181W
• PDF https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ad11d5/pdf
• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/2401.02830
• DATA https://archive.stsci.edu/mastbibref.php?bibcode=2024AJ....167..181W
• DATA https://doi.org/10.17909/pmta-3239
• ELECTR https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad11d5