The data for "Worlds Next Door: A Candidate Giant Planet Imaged in the Habitable Zone of aCen A. I. Observations, Orbital and Physical Properties, and Exozodi Upper Limits"

This repository provides the updated ephemeris for Alpha Cen A and B and results of orbital modeling of the exoplanet candidate identified in JWST/MIRI F1550C coronagraphic observations of Alpha Centauri A. Two products are made available. (1) Ephemeris for Alpha Centauri A and B. The text file Ephemeris-AlphaCenAB-JWST.txt contains the right ascension (RA) and declination (Dec) of both stars, projected separation between Alpha Cen A and B (rho), and position angle of Alpha Cen B with respect to Alpha Cen A (tet, where North corresponds to a position angle of 0 degrees) for dates between 2024 and 2027. (2) Family of S1+C1 orbits around Alpha Centauri A. The text file S1+C1_stable_orbits_consistent_with_JWST_nondetections.txt contains orbital parameters for all orbits fit to the S1 and C1 relative astrometry that are dynamically stable in the presence of Alpha Cen B and are consistent with a non-detection of the planet candidate in the February and April 2025 JWST observations. Each row in the text file is one accepted orbit (from the OFTI orbit fitting algorithm, see Beichman & Sanghi et al. 2025) with the semi-major axis (SMA), eccentricity (ecc), inclination with respect to the plane of the sky (isky), argument of periastron (aop), position angle of ascending node (pan), epoch of periastron (tau, see here) for reference epoch 58849 MJD, parallax (plx), total system mass (mtot), and the mutual inclination between the S1+C1 candidate's orbital plane around Alpha Cen A and the Alpha Cen AB stellar binary orbital plane. For research that benefits from this compilation, please cite Beichman & Sanghi et al. (2025).