Ultraviolet Observations Of Atmospheric Escape In Exoplanets With The Habitable Worlds Observatory

Among the many recommendations of the Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020, we found that a priority area of research is to pave the pathways towards finding and characterizing habitable worlds.

In this context, we aim to understand how planetary systems evolve through atmospheric escape, and develop techniques to identify potentially Earth-like worlds. Using the ultraviolet (UV) capabilities of the Habitable Worlds Observatory, we can use transit spectroscopy observations to determine what processes drive the evolution of exoplanets, how well can small exoplanets retain atmospheres, and search for Earth-like atmospheres.

We advocate the development of a UV spectrograph that is capable of moderate- to high-resolution spectroscopy of point sources, access to key spectral features between 1000 and 3000 Angstrom, and UV detectors that are resilient to high count rates.

Leonardo A. Dos Santos, Eric D. Lopez

Comments: Accepted in a special section of JATIS dedicated to the workshop “Ultraviolet Science & Instrumentation: On the Way to Habitable Worlds” held at JPL in May 2024
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
Cite as: arXiv:2601.06263 [astro-ph.EP](or arXiv:2601.06263v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.06263
Focus to learn more
Journal reference: J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst. 11(4), 042236 (2025)
Related DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.11.4.042236
Focus to learn more
Submission history
From: Leonardo A. Dos Santos
[v1] Fri, 9 Jan 2026 19:18:03 UTC (3,707 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.06263

Astrobiology,