This tool estimates spectral contamination and scheduling visibility for
supported JWST slitless time-series modes. It places Gaia field sources on
the detector at each position angle, simulates overlap with the target
spectrum, and reports the expected contamination as a function of position
angle. The visibility calculation provides the dates and telescope
orientations available for the selected target, instrument, and epoch.
Important limitations
- Field sources come from Gaia DR3. Coordinates are propagated from the
Gaia reference epoch to the selected epoch when proper-motion
measurements are available. Sources absent from Gaia or lacking a valid
Gaia G-band flux are not included.
- Relative source brightness is currently normalized using Gaia G-band
flux. This approximation can be inaccurate when the target and
contaminant have substantially different optical-to-infrared colors.
- Trace-placement and distortion uncertainties can shift predicted
spectral overlap by several detector pixels.
Questions or unexpected results can be reported through the
JWST Help Desk.