Simulating Observations of the beta-Pictoris System with the JWST/MIRI Instrument

International audienceThe MIRI instrument of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled to be launched in 2018, offers the potentiality to address the lack of observations of the beta Pictoris b exoplanet beyond 5 microns. Thanks to the large size of the JWST (diameter of 6.5m), MIRI will provide an unprecedented sensitivity. The angular resolution between the beta-Pictoris star and its planet (about 300-400 mas) is at the limit of what can be achieved at 10 microns with a 6.5 m telescope. Thanks to its four quadrant phase mask coronagraphic mode, MIRI observations at low inner angles (down to lambda/D) will be possible at three wavelengths: 10.65, 11.4 and 15.5 microns (Boccaletti et al. 2005, 2014). Detailed simulations are needed to assess the question of the detectability of the beta-Pictoris b planet with MIRI and of the photometric precision achievable. The first results of such simulations will be presented. Observations of the beta-Pictoris disk with the Low Resolution Spectroscopic (LRS) mode of MIRI, as well as with the MIRI Integral Field Unit Medium Resolution Spectrometer (MRS) will also be discussed