Dr. Alex Harrison Parker

Research scientist in planetary astronomy at the Southwest Research Institute, supporting NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, and developing the post-Pluto mission into the Kuiper Belt. Expert in the dynamics of binary minor planets, detection and characterization of trans-Neptunian objects, and the origin of the architecture of our Solar System.

The Outer Solar System With JWST

February 15, 2021  /  Alex Parker

The giant space observatory JWST will be a powerful tool for studying the properties of dwarf planets and trans-Neptunian Objects.

Artist’s impression of JWST after deployment. Credit: NASA/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez. CC-BY-2.0

Artist’s impression of JWST after deployment. Credit: NASA/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez. CC-BY-2.0

In 2015, I led a focus group that investigated how JWST’s capabilities might transform our understanding of the worlds beyond Neptune. We found that it’s spectral sensitivity in the near infrared and mid infrared made it an extremely powerful platform to accurately measure temperatures, albedos, sizes, and compositions of many trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs). It may also compete with Hubble’s remarkable capability to detect and characterize the satellites of large and small TNOs. Our findings are summarized in a white paper published in PASP in 2016: Physical Characterization of TNOs with JWST.

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