JWST telemetry combined with active coronagraphy: raw contrast predictions for exoplanet imaging with the Habitable Worlds Observatory
Abstract
We provide a quantification of the technological gap between the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) for the goal of exo-Earth imaging around Sun-like stars at the 10−10 raw contrast level. We use JWST's in-flight telemetry of the primary segmented mirror to simulate a JWST-like telescope equipped with a modern coronagraph instrument, inspired by the Roman Space Telescope (RST) Coronagraphic Instrument (CGI), featuring an Apodized Pupil Lyot Coronagraph and active deformable mirror wavefront control on a segmented, unobstructed, off-axis telescope. We show that it can achieve around 10−10 raw contrast for very bright stars (brighter than magnitude 4) for fast control frequencies of 100 Hz, but that this level of control still lacks sufficient signal to correct JWST-amplitude errors for fainter stars. We show that an improvement of a factor of ten in wavefront stability is sufficient to extend this capability to a 10−10 raw contrast across all considered control frequencies (1 Hz to 100 Hz), assuming no reaction wheel vibrations, for stars up to a magnitude of 11. These results establish a new quantitative benchmark linking JWST's demonstrated thermo-mechanical stability to HWO's requirements, showing that active wavefront control relaxes the structural stability demands on the observatory, and identifying wavefront stability as the critical technological gap that must be closed for HWO to achieve its exo-Earth imaging goals.
Related
- Helium escaping from the atmosphere of a nearby rocky exoplanet orbiting in a habitable zone
- pyEDITH: the coronagraphic exposure time calculator for the Habitable Worlds Observatory
- An Ultraviolet Instrument on the Habitable Worlds Observatory: Considerations and Capability Trades on the Multi-Object, Integral-field, and High-resolution modes of a potential UVI
- Precise Stellar Age Constraints and Habitable Zone Evolution in Exoplanet Systems
- A design concept for the High Resolution Imager on the Habitable Worlds Observatory
BibTeX
@misc{pourcelot2026jwst,
title = {{JWST telemetry combined with active coronagraphy: raw contrast predictions for exoplanet imaging with the Habitable Worlds Observatory}},
author = {Raphaël Pourcelot and Laurent A. Pueyo and Emiel H. Por and Marshall D. Perrin and Iva Laginja and Bryony Nickson and Sarah Steiger and Rémi Soummer and Rendal Telfer},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.28322},
eprint = {2608.28322},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.28322},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - JWST telemetry combined with active coronagraphy: raw contrast predictions for exoplanet imaging with the Habitable Worlds Observatory
AU - Raphaël Pourcelot
AU - Laurent A. Pueyo
AU - Emiel H. Por
AU - Marshall D. Perrin
AU - Iva Laginja
AU - Bryony Nickson
AU - Sarah Steiger
AU - Rémi Soummer
AU - Rendal Telfer
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/28
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.28322
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.28322
AB - We provide a quantification of the technological gap between the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) for the goal of exo-Earth imaging around Sun-like stars at the 10^−10 raw contrast level. We use JWST's in-flight telemetry of the primary segmented mirror to simulate a JWST-like telescope equipped with a modern coronagraph instrument, inspired by the Roman Space Telescope (RST) Coronagraphic Instrument (CGI), featuring an Apodized Pupil Lyot Coronagraph and active deformable mirror wavefront control on a segmented, unobstructed, off-axis telescope. We show that it can achieve around 10^−10 raw contrast for very bright stars (brighter than magnitude 4) for fast control frequencies of 100 Hz, but that this level of control still lacks sufficient signal to correct JWST-amplitude errors for fainter stars. We show that an improvement of a factor of ten in wavefront stability is sufficient to extend this capability to a 10^−10 raw contrast across all considered control frequencies (1 Hz to 100 Hz), assuming no reaction wheel vibrations, for stars up to a magnitude of 11. These results establish a new quantitative benchmark linking JWST's demonstrated thermo-mechanical stability to HWO's requirements, showing that active wavefront control relaxes the structural stability demands on the observatory, and identifying wavefront stability as the critical technological gap that must be closed for HWO to achieve its exo-Earth imaging goals.
ER -