Compared sensitivities of VLT, JWST and ELT for direct exoplanet detection in nearby stellar moving groups

In the context of exoplanet detection, a large majority of the 400 detected exoplanets have been found by indirect methods. Today, progress in the field of high contrast and angular resolution imaging has allowed direct images of several exoplanetary systems to be taken (cf. HR 8799, Fomalhaut and β Pic).1-4 In the near future, several new instruments are going to dramatically improve our sensitivity to exoplanet detection. Among these, SPHERE (Spectro Polarimetric High contrast Exoplanet REsearch) at the VLT, MIRI (Mid Infra-Red Instrument) onboard JWST and EPICS at the ELT will be equipped with coronagraphs to reveal faint objects in the vicinity of nearby stars. We made use of the Lyon group (COND) evolutionary models of young (sub-)stellar objects and exoplanets to compare the sensitivities of these different instruments using their estimated coronagraphic profiles. From this comparison, we present a catalogue of targets which are particularly well suited for the different instruments.

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