STScI at the 245th AAS Meeting, January 12–16, 2025
About this Article
Ann Jenkins (jenkins[at]stsci.edu)Members of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) will participate in the 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) January 12–16 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor, Maryland, adjacent to Washington, DC. This will be a joint meeting with the AAS High Energy Astrophysics and Historical Astronomy Divisions.
STScI enables excellence in astronomical research by optimizing the science from state of the art observational instruments in space. We are the science operations center of the Hubble Space Telescope, and we host the science and operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope. We will perform parts of the science operations for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, in formulation for launch in late 2026. STScI also houses the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) which is a NASA-funded project to support and provide to the astronomical community a variety of astronomical data archives, and is the data repository for the HST, JWST, Kepler, K2, TESS missions and more.
Throughout the week, members of STScI will be involved in a wide variety of workshops, science and technical presentations, press releases, and press conferences. Our exhibit booth and several associated events will highlight the missions we support on behalf of the science community, and several STScI representatives will be giving NASA Hyperwall talks as well.
| Title and Description | Date and Time | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| The JWST Calibration Pipeline: A Hands-On Workshop This one-day workshop, guided by STScI's JWST Pipeline experts, will offer a Pipeline overview, which will include a summary of known issues, and recent and upcoming updates. Participants will then install the calibration pipeline, with all needed reference files, and engage on a series of guided python notebook based tutorials of highly utilized JWST observing modes. There will be time to troubleshoot installation problems, to have a general Q&A, and to discuss specific data issues users may have already encountered. |
Sat, Jan 11 8:45 – 5:15 pm |
Workshop | National Harbor 5 |
| STEM Learning and Public Engagement with NASA’s Science Activation Program Join us for a workshop to engage with NASA teams working to meet the needs of learners and science experts, explore how you can become involved, and walk away with NASA resources that you can use in your own outreach efforts. We will share resources, tackle select challenges, and connect with programs looking for expert volunteers to help deliver current, accurate, and exciting NASA astrophysics content to audiences across the country. We will explore current astrophysics themes, programs, and resources for working with different audiences. |
Sun, Jan 12 9 am – 12 pm |
Workshop | National Harbor 11 |
| The TESS Mission: How to Access and Use the Data/TIKE and TESS: Optimizing Your Scripts for the Cloud This two-day workshop is an opportunity to gain a holistic picture of the TESS mission, from proposing to analyzing data. We'll explain how to propose for data (and research funding!) through the TESS General Investigator Program. We'll also present "recipes" to efficiently access and analyze mission data, and describe features of TIKE, a JupyterHub cloud service provided by STScI that is designed to improve accessibility to TESS data. This workshop is ideal for both new and established users of TESS data and TIKE. |
Sat, Jan 11 & Sun, Jan 12 9 am – 5 pm |
Workshop | National Harbor 2 |
| Preparing for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: The New Cloud Science Platform This one-day workshop will provide the scientific community an introductory overview of the Roman Science Platform, which is being developed to offer the astronomical community a cloud computing environment for Roman data. The workshop will include both directed training and independent exploration exercises (i.e., hack hours). The training will feature presentations and short tutorials, alternating with hands-on practical exercises focused on exploring several high-level workflows. |
Sun, Jan 12 |
Workshop | National Harbor 5 |
| Python Data Analysis with the James Webb and Roman Space Telescopes This workshop will cover several tools used for the data analysis and visualization of JWST and Roman data. This includes the Jdaviz visualization and data analysis package, the Advanced Scientific Data Format (ASDF) package, specreduce, photutils PSF photometry, and generalized world coordinate systems (gwcs). The goals are to introduce participants to these tools and provide hands-on time for participants to use the tools and ask questions to the developers. The format will include short presentations followed by instructor-guided tutorials using Jupyter notebooks. |
Sun, Jan 12 9 am – 5 pm |
Workshop | Chesapeake 4-5 |
| Hands-on Hubble: How to Access, Align, Drizzle, and PSF Model Hubble Space Telescope Images In this interactive half-day workshop, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) experts will share the resources to help you succeed in using HST imaging for your research. Learn how to download data, perform astrometric alignment, and create mosaics by drizzling images obtained with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and other imagers onboard Hubble. Explore how to generate high-quality Point Spread Function (PSF) models for accurate astrometry and photometry. Experts will be on hand to aid you with questions specific to the datasets you are analyzing. There will be ample time for Q&A. |
Sun, Jan 12 1 – 5:30 pm |
Workshop | Maryland 1-2 |
| Roman Spectroscopy Data Challenge (Part 1/3) Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will revolutionize astronomy with its widefield slitless spectroscopy capabilities. This technique captures spectra from every object in the field of view, enabling detailed studies of stars, galaxies, black holes, and the large-scale structure of the universe. The scientific community must be prepared to effectively handle and analyze this data. This session is the first part of a Roman spectroscopic data challenge, and offers a gentle introduction to slitless spectroscopy, with a focus on the Roman Space Telescope's spectroscopic capabilities. This data challenge aims to: familiarize the community with Roman's powerful spectroscopic capabilities; develop, utilize, and enhance data simulation and analysis methods, including combining spectroscopy and imaging data, and using a variety of postprocessing techniques; and train and foster collaborations among future users of Roman. |
Mon, Jan 13 10 – 11:30 am |
Splinter Session | Chesapeake F |
| NASA Town Hall This session will provide an opportunity for the Astrophysics science community to interact with members of the leadership team and staff of the Astrophysics Division (APD) of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. A presentation on the state of APD will precede an opportunity for audience questions. Topics include scientific accomplishments, current programmatic milestones and direction, and NASA’s progress towards implementing the recommendations identified in the Astro2020 Decadal Survey: Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. |
Mon, Jan 13 12:45 – 1:45 pm |
Town Hall | Potomac Ballroom A/B |
|
New Perspectives on Protoplanetary Disks in the Era of JWST and the ALMA Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade |
Tues, Jan 14 |
Special Session | Chesapeake 4 – 5 |
| Quasi-periodic Signals from the Nuclei of External Galaxies: Observations, Theory, and Multi-messenger Prospects In the last five years, a mysterious new class of astrophysical transients has been uncovered. These sources are spatially coincident with the nuclei of nearby galaxies and exhibit remarkable soft X-ray variations that repeat with quasi–periodicities on timescales of hours to years. They are referred to in the literature as quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs), quasi-periodic outflows (QPOuts), quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), and repeating tidal disruption events (TDEs). In this session. we will discuss the latest multi-wavelength observations, the role of existing facilities, proposed models, and prospects for GW+EM science in the 2030s with combined measurements from LISA, Taiji, and Athena. We will have three review talks followed by a discussion panel. |
Tues, Jan 14 10 – 11:30 am |
Special Session | Maryland 1 – 2 |
| STScI Town Hall The STScI Town Hall will serve as the center piece for STScI’s AAS 245 presence. We will report on the status of our existing and upcoming missions and describe new opportunities designed to advance astrophysics through the 2020s. In particular, we will present updates on Hubble Space Telescope operations in light of the transition to reduced gyro mode and the results of NASA’s Operational Paradigm Review. We will also present a progress report on the JWST/HST Rocky Worlds Director’s Discretionary Time program. The presenters will include STScI science leads. We will include time for discussion to receive community input regarding new capabilities and to answer questions about our activities in the coming year. |
Tues, Jan 14 12:45 – 1:45 pm |
Town Hall | National Harbor 4 |
| Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Town Hall The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA flagship mission planned for launch no later than May 2027. The Roman Space Telescope 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. |
Tues, Jan 14 6:30 – 8:30 pm |
Town Hall | National Harbor 11 |
| The Rocky Worlds DDT Program: A Search for Atmospheres on Rocky Exoplanets around M-dwarfs STScI is initiating a large-scale, multi-year survey of rocky M-dwarf exoplanets—the Rocky Worlds Program—using around 500 hours of Director’s Discretionary Time (DDT) on the James Webb Space Telescope to search for atmospheres in more than a dozen nearby systems. This program will, in turn, include approximately 250 orbits of ultraviolet observations with the Hubble Space Telescope devoted to characterize the system’s host star UV properties. In this session, we will present an overview of this DDT program, as well as synergies it might have with ground- and other space-based facilities that could be used to characterize the stars and exoplanetary systems under study by the program. |
Wed, Jan 15 |
Special Session | Chesapeake G – H |
| NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory This Special Session is an update for the astrophysics community about the current activities and future plans of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a future NASA flagship astrophysics mission concept in response to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey. HWO will be a large-aperture ultraviolet/optical/infrared space telescope designed to search for signs of life on terrestrial planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars, and will be one the most versatile astronomical telescopes ever flown, capable of conducting transformative science across nearly all of astrophysics in the legacy of missions such as Hubble and Webb. In this session, representatives from NASA Headquarters and the HWO Technology Maturation Project Office will share the community-driven development of the mission concept to date, avenues for future involvement, and plans for next steps. |
Wed, Jan 15 |
Special Session | Potomac Ballroom C |
| Time Domain Insights from the Roman Space Telescope The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is poised to revolutionize time-domain astrophysics (TDA). Three Project Infrastructure Teams (PITs) and teams at the Science Operations Center (SOC) and Science Support Center (SSC), along with a Wide-Field Science (WFS) team, are developing the necessary infrastructure to support Roman’s TDA capabilities. To bring the time domain aspects of these different groups together, we recently formed the working group STRIDE (Strategic Time-domain Research and Infrastructure Development for Roman Exploration). Through this session we would like to introduce the group to AAS members, seek more diverse participation, as well as feedback on collaborative and complementary possibilities. |
Wed, Jan 15 |
Special Session | National Harbor 2 |
| Open Science: NASA Astrophysics in the Roman Era US science agencies increasingly emphasize open-source science — accelerating scientific progress by open sharing of data, software, and knowledge. NASA’s Astrophysics Division plans to host large datasets from its science missions in the cloud, and to provide cloud-based analysis capabilities for the science community. Petabytes of data from NASA’s Roman telescope, launching in 2027, will be publicly available in this way. This session will feature a panel of speakers to discuss how the Astrophysics Division is working with others within NASA and in the science community to facilitate data sharing, and to ensure that development of robust reusable open-source software and other products is appropriately funded, acknowledged, and rewarded. |
Wed, Jan 15 |
Special Session | Chesapeake 4 – 5 |
| JWST Town Hall The James Webb Space Telescope is in its third year of successful science operations, and its groundbreaking discoveries have already impacted most fields of astronomy. This JWST Town Hall will provide science highlights and updates on the observatory status and performance, including the JWST calibration pipeline. It will also summarize efforts to engage and keep the community informed and provide updates on the JWST Cycle 3 submitted proposals as well as plans for the Cycle 4 proposals. There will be ample time for the user community to provide feedback and ask questions. The speakers will represent JWST leadership at STScI and NASA. |
Wed, Jan 15 6:30 – 8:30 pm |
Town Hall | Potomac Ballroom C |
|
The Habitable Worlds Observatory: Current Status and Opportunities for Engagement |
Thurs, Jan 16 |
Splinter Session | Potomac Ballroom C |
* This schedule is preliminary and subject to change
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