# JWST/NIRCam Coronagraphic Search for Hidden Planets in the HD~163296 Protoplanetary Disk

**Authors:** Taichi Uyama, Luca Ricci, Marie Ygouf, Sean Andrews, Sara Gallagher, Jane Huang, Andrea Isella, Dimitri Mawet, Laura Perez, Massimo Robberto, Garreth Ruane, Shangjia Zhang, Zhaohuan Zhu  
**arXiv:** [2503.20132](https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.20132)  
**Date:** 2025-03-26  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2503.20132v1/

## Key points

- Conducted study on Herbig Ae/Be star HD~163296 and its protoplanetary disk
- Used JWST/NIRCam coronagraphic imaging to detect potential young planets
- Identified point-like source candidate near ALMA velocity kinks
- Achieved unprecedented contrast levels for stellocentric separations >0.8 arcseconds
- Acknowledged contributions from various individuals in the JWST proposal
- Utilized observations from NASA/ESA/CSA's James Webb Space Telescope and data from W. M. Keck Observatory
- Recognized support from Mauna Kea Observatory staff during challenging times like COVID-19 pandemic
- Made use of data from ESA's Gaia mission processed by DPAC and VOSA developed under Spanish Virtual Observatory project funding

## Summary

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We conducted a study on the Herbig Ae/Be star HD~163296 and its protoplanetary disk, which displays clear evidence of ongoing planet formation such as rings, gaps, and kinematic features. Our goal was to use JWST/NIRCam coronagraphic imaging with F410M and F200W filters to detect potential young planets within the system. Although our F410M observations did not reveal the predicted planets at the ALMA velocity kinks, we did identify a point-like source candidate located approximately 0.75 arcseconds away at a position angle of around 231 degrees. This candidate is unlikely to be a background star due to its measured flux in the F410M filter and detection limit in the F200W filter. Our data achieved unprecedented contrast levels at approximately 4 microns for stellocentric separations greater than 0.8 arcseconds, allowing us to place strict constraints on the mass of the putative planet at the outer velocity kink with or without a circumplanetary disk, considering various initial entropies for the planet. We would like to acknowledge Vanessa Bailey and Cornelis Dullemond for their contributions to our JWST proposal, Jorge Llop-Sayson for assisting with synthetic RDI reduction, William Balmer for his comments on spaceKLIP steps, Felipe Alarcon for providing model extinction maps of the HD 163296 disk with NIRCam filters, Gabriele Cugno for discussions about JWST data, and Maxwell Millar-Blanchaer for insights on disk forward modeling. This work utilized observations from NASA/ESA/CSA's James Webb Space Telescope obtained through program GO 2540 and data from W. M. Keck Observatory. We are grateful for the support from Mauna Kea Observatory staff, especially during challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic, and we recognize the cultural significance of Maunakea within the indigenous Hawaiian community. Furthermore, we made use of data from ESA's Gaia mission processed by DPAC and VOSA developed under Spanish Virtual Observatory project funding. This publication was supported by Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme grant nº 776403 (EXOPLANETS-A), highlighting collaborative efforts in advancing our understanding of planetary systems like HD~163296.