Authors: Daisuke Kawata, Hajime Kawahara, Naoteru Gouda, Nathan J. Secrest, Ryouhei Kano, Hirokazu Kataza, Naoki Isobe, Ryou Ohsawa, Fumihiko Usui, Yoshiyuki Yamada, Alister W. Graham, Alex R. Pettitt, et al. (89 authors)
Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for INfrared Exploration (JASMINE) is a planned M-class science space mission by ISAS/JAXA. JASMINE has two main science goals. One is Galactic archaeology with Galactic Center Survey, which will reveal the Milky Way’s central core structure and formation history from Gaia-level (∼25 mas) astrometry in the Near-Infrared (NIR) Hw-band (1.0—1.6 μm). The other is the Exoplanet Survey, which plans to discover transiting Earth-like exoplanets in the habitable zone from the NIR time-series photometry of M-dwarfs, when the Galactic center is not accessible. We introduce the mission, review many science objectives and present the instrument concept. JASMINE will be the first dedicated NIR astrometry space mission and provide precise astrometric information of the stars in the Galactic center, taking advantage of the significantly lower extinction in the NIR band. The precise astrometry is obtained by taking many short-exposure images. Hence, the JASMINE Galactic center survey data will be valuable for studies of exoplanet transits, asteroseismology, variable stars and microlensing studies, including discovery of (intermediate mass) black holes. We highlight a swath of such potential science, and also describe synergies with other missions