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STScI Newsletter
2020 / Volume 37 / Issue 02
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C. Christian (carolc[at]stsci.edu)

AAS 237

 
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) will have staff members attending the Virtual 237th AAS, which will be held 11–15 January, 2021. An exhibit booth and several associated events highlighting the missions we support for the science community will be available throughout the week.  A wide variety of science presentations will be given in sessions, technical presentations on instruments and missions, and press releases. Several Webinars will also be given throughout the week. There will be ample time to confer with experts from Hubble, Webb, Roman, and MAST throughout the meeting and in the exhibit booth.

Exhibit Booth

The Hubble, Webb, and Roman missions will be represented in the STScI exhibit booth. They will provide information on new developments and updated status of these missions, and also describe our upcoming initiatives for user-community support. Representatives from MAST will demonstrate use of the Portal to find, analyze, and retrieve data. Also, newly added JWST planned proposals can be searched and other new features and services will be discussed. On-line material, including interactive, will feature science highlights, as well as mission and instrumentation information.

STScI Town Hall

 The Institute serves the astronomical community through the operation of multiple NASA flagship missions including Hubble, JWST, and the Roman Telescope, the development of advanced data, tools, and science archives, including Kepler and TESS, and the dissemination of astronomical information to the broadest public audiences. Offering this breadth of resources to help the scientific community advance, STScI provides support and the primary user interface for the Hubble, Webb, and Roman Space Telescopes. The Institute will contribute to a wide range of workshops, science sessions, splinter meetings, and exhibits throughout the meeting. 

At the Town Hall, we will engage the community of forward-looking initiatives and present new opportunities of our existing and upcoming missions and data archives that are designed to advance astrophysics into the 2020s. Key initiatives will be highlighted by STScI staff and community members.

NASA's Universe of Learning Open Splinter Meeting

 NASA's Universe of Learning creates and delivers science-driven, audience-driven, learning-driven resources and experiences designed to engage and immerse learners of all ages and backgrounds in exploring the universe for themselves. The project is the result of a unique partnership between the STScI, Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and is one of the competitively selected cooperative agreements within the NASA Science Mission Directorate Science Activation program. The NASA's Universe of Learning team draws upon cutting-edge science and works closely with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from across the NASA Astrophysics themes: Physics of the Cosmos, Cosmic Origins, and Exoplanet Exploration. The teams develop and disseminate data tools and participatory experiences, multimedia and immersive experiences, exhibits and community programs, and professional learning experiences that meet the needs of our audiences, with attention to underserved and under-represented populations. This open splinter meeting is aimed at astronomers interested becoming involved, and will describe the tools and resources available.

 Workshops, Events, and Sessions

Format & Location

Title & Description

Date & Time

Press Releases

Press Releases

New research advancements shared daily at live press conferences from the AAS Meeting. Sessions will be conducted via Zoom for press registrants and any other meeting registrants wishing to attend. They'll also be live-streamed on the AAS Press Office YouTube channel.
January 11–15,
10:15 a.m. & 2:15 p.m.

Town Hall

NASA Town Hall

Senior representatives from NASA's Science Mission Directorate and Astrophysics Division will discuss NASA's science program and outlook.
Tuesday,
January 12,
1:40–2:40 p.m.

Splinter Meeting

Exploring the Transient and Variable Universe with the Roman Space Telescope

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA space mission in implementation for launch in the mid 2020s. With a wide field of view of 0.28 sq deg, excellent sensitivity and infrared bandpass, the Roman Space Telescope will provide unique opportunities in time domain and multi-messenger astrophysics. This session will cover a broad sampling of the science topics that can be addressed by Roman observations in the time domain from variable sources in our galaxy to extragalactic transients.  https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/AAS237/
Tuesday,
January 12,
4:10–5:40 p.m.

Splinter Meeting

NASA's Universe of Learning:  Opportunities for Scientists to Engage with Learners of All Ages

NASA's Universe of Learning will provide an overview of its online resources including the menu-of-opportunities for how scientists can be involved, with concrete opportunities for engagement in the near-term. Also provided will be a brief overview of the NASA's Universe of Learning program and evaluation evidence for the value SMEs provide to learners. Finally, a new tool will be highlighted—the SME database— where astrophysics SMEs can register and provide information about their interests and expertise, to be used for matching with upcoming informal education and engagement opportunities.
Tuesday,
January 12,
4:10–5:40 p.m.

Town Hall

STScI Town Hall

The STScI Town Hall will serve as the centerpiece for our AAS 237 presence. We will report on the status of our existing and upcoming missions and describe new opportunities and initiatives designed to advance astrophysics through the 2020s. We will highlight key initiatives associated with our major missions. We will provide ample opportunity for community discussion and feedback.
Wednesday,
January 13,
1:40–2:40 p.m.

Town Hall

JWST Town Hall

This session will provide mission updates from NASA, as well as news about JWST data analysis training. Ample time will be reserved for discussion with the community and to answer questions.
Thursday, 
January 14,
1:40–2:40 p.m.

Special Session

Science Results from Hubble's Archive

For quite some time, a majority of science results obtained using the Hubble Space Telescope arise either completely from archival data, or utilize some archival data in interpreting new observations. This session presents an overview of science results obtained using the diverse range of archival data and tools available. For example, the ways in which archival data are accessed has been expanded and legacy archival proposals, in particular, provide high-level science products to enable science beyond the initial goals of an observing proposal. Session speakers will not only discuss their particular science projects and results, but emphasize how specific archive products helped them support their research. There also will be a related poster session.
Thursday,
January 14,
4:10–5:40 p.m.
 

Splinter Meeting

NASA's Science Activation's Next Phase

NASA's Science Activation program strives to further enable NASA science experts and content into the learning environment more effectively and efficiently with learners of all ages. In this session, NASA officials will describe the next phase of the program and will also provide time for members of the scientific community and Science Activation awardees to exchange ideas and opportunities for collaboration.
Thursday,
January 14,
4:10–5:40 p.m.

Oral Session

Exploring the Milky Way with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA space mission intended for launch in the mid 2020s. With a wide field of view of 0.28 sq deg, excellent sensitivity and infrared bandpass, Roman will provide unique opportunities to study our Galaxy. This session will cover a broad range of topics ranging from star formation, stellar evolution, the Galactic center, and the structure of the Milky Way. https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/AAS237/
Thursday,
January 14,
4:10–5:40 p.m.

Town Hall

Nancy Grace Roman Town Hall

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (formerly WFIRST) is a NASA flagship mission planned for launch in the mid 2020s. Roman will perform breakthrough science in dark energy cosmology, exoplanet microlensing, and NIR sky surveys with its Wide Field Instrument. Roman will also feature the Coronagraph Instrument (CGI), a technology demonstration that will directly image and take spectra of exoplanetary systems using several novel technologies together for the first time in space. This session will cover the status of the project and upcoming opportunities for community involvement in planning and executing the science and technology demonstration aspects of Roman.
Friday,
January 15,
1:20–2:20 p.m.

 

Webinar Presentations

Title

Speaker

Date & Time

STScI Hosted Webinars

 

EDT

Hubble Advanced Products

The Hubble Advanced Products are a new generation of high-level products generated from HST data with the most recent calibration and reference files. We will show how to use the MAST Portal and Astroquery to discover and access these products alongside their original HST data.

Clara Brasseur and David Rodriguez

Monday, January 11, 12:00–12:30 p.m. 

HLSPs

High-Level Science Products (HLSPs) are community-contributed data products that complement or supplement MAST missions. We will explain why you may want to provide HLSPs to MAST, and highlight the new HLSPs from the past year.

Scott Fleming

Monday,

January 11,

2:30–3:00 p.m.

Jupyter Data Analysis Tools for Visualization

Given the large amount of spectroscopic data JWST will provide, we are developing a new set of tools to help users quickly explore spectroscopic observations. We will present our prototype Jupyter Data Analysis Tools for Visualization (JDaViz) interface and show how it connects to our other applications and to Jupyter notebooks.

Brian Cherinka and Erik Tollerud

Tuesday,

January 12,

5:00–5:30 p.m.
Hearing the Light: How Sonification Makes Astronomy More Accessible Jennifer Kotler

Wednesday,

January 13,

2:00–2:30 p.m.

MAST Portal Walkthrough

Learn the basics on how to use the MAST Portal to search for data across all our missions, including HST, JWST, TESS, Kepler, High-Level Science Products, and much more!

Chinwe Edeani

Wednesday,

January 13,

2:00–2:30 p.m.

JWST for Beginners

Klaus Pontoppidan, Susan Mullally, and Amaya Moro-Martin

Thursday,

January 14,

1:00–1:30 p.m.

Wander with Webb VR Edition
Quyen Hart and
Alex Lockwood

Thursday,

January 14,

2:00–2:30 p.m.

NASA Hosted Webinars

 

EDT
Exoplanet Science with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
Aki Roberge –
NASA HQ

Monday,

January 11,

12:00–12:30 p.m. 
The James Webb Space Telescope Science Jonathan Gardner – NASA GSFC Monday, January 11, 1:00–1:30 p.m.
The ULLYSES Director's Discretionary Program: Charting Young Stars' Ultraviolet Light with Hubble
Travis Fischer –
STScI

Wednesday,

January 13,

1:30–2:00 p.m.
Wide Field Survey Science with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Dominic Benford –

NASA HQ

Wednesday,

January 13,

5:00–5:30 p.m.

Overview of the James Webb Space Telescope
John Mather –
NASA GSFC

Thursday, January 14, 12:00–12:30 p.m.

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