Talks, Sessions, and Splinters
All times are listed in Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Monday, January 13
10 to 11:30 a.m., Chesapeake 4-5
Session Chair: Rachel Akeson, Caltech/IPAC Deputy Director
The NASA MIDEX mission SPHEREx will observe the entire sky multiple times during its planned two-year mission and is scheduled to launch in early 2025. Its overlapping scan strategy will obtain a minimum of four 0.75 to 5.0 micron spectra with 102 channels at every point in the sky, with much greater coverage in the deep survey fields at the North and South ecliptic poles. SPHEREx will achieve point source sensitivities magnitudes deeper than 2MASS. In this session, we will describe the SPHEREx mission, performance, main science themes and data products available to the community.
Talks in this session:
10:12 to 10:24 a.m., Chesapeake A/B
The NASA's Universe of Learning (NASA's UoL) project creates and delivers science-driven, audience-driven resources and experiences designed to engage learners of all ages and backgrounds in exploring the universe for themselves. The competitively-selected project represents a unique partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and is part of the NASA Science Mission Directorate Science Activation program. Project objectives include increasing learners' understanding of the process of science, increasing the role of NASA subject matter experts as partners, and increasing the diversity of participants reached through intentional, inclusive programming.
In pursuant of these goals, UoL is developing a series of audio stories of discovery linked with various UoL content themes and NASA missions/initiatives. Each story explores a particular discovery, showcasing both the science and the scientists, and interviews a contemporary scientist in the same field. Special attention is paid to scientists' lived experiences and to the process of science. Each installment also invites learners to interact with the science themselves, encouraging development of their identities as science learners.
When choosing topics, this project intentionally showcases stories of scientists from a variety of backgrounds–particularly women and underrepresented minorities–in an effort to encourage diverse groups of learners to "see themselves" reflected in the world of science. Historical stories currently in development showcase, among others, Vera Rubin, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Bibha Chowdhury, Louise Webster, and Paul Murdin. Some scientists' lives and stories are well-documented already. In other cases, despite their groundbreaking work, the scientists remain relatively unknown, and we must employ more creative methods of uncovering their stories. Collaboration with historians, librarians, and record keepers across several institutions have added much depth and richness to this project.
This presentation is based on work done as part of the NASA's Universe of Learning project and is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award NNX16AC65A. This project received Federal support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum, Asian Pacific American Center, and National Museum of the American Latino, and was supported by the Center for Astrophysics Research Experiences in Astronomy, Technology, & Engineering (CREATE) program.
Rutuparna Das, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Saarthak Johri, The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Lucila Ojeda, DePauw University; Gabrielle Stewart, The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Nicole Kuchta, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Nana Asmah, The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Ky'Johnna Jamison, University of Rochester; Hailee Brandt, Hollins University; Kathleen Lestition, SAO; Kimberly Arcand, Center for Astrophysics, Chandra X-ray Center; April Jubett, Chandra X-ray Center; Timothy Rhue II, Space Telescope Science Institute; Varoujan Gorjian, Jet Propulstion Laboratory; Colleen Manning, Goodman Research Group, Inc.; Denise Smith, STScI; Emma Marcucci, Space Telescope Science Institute; Travis Schirner, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Gordon Squires, Caltech/IPAC.
9 to 10 a.m., Maryland Ballroom D
Many studies have been published looking for young stellar objects (YSOs) in HII regions at various wavelengths. One commonly used method is to look for infrared excess, since YSOs with circumstellar dust will have more infrared than a stellar photosphere (hence, infrared excess); another common method is to look for stars with Halpha excess, since YSOs are often active and/or accreting, and therefore bright in Halpha. We aim to continue our work started by Kuper et al. (2024), a NITARP team, by looking for YSOs in Sharpless regions using primarily IR excess, but also collecting YSO candidates from the literature where Halpha excess was also commonly used. However, where we previously used an intensively human-based inspection process, we will attempt to automate more of the process by using Python. We will start from the subset of stars that Kuper et al. used from 5 regions encompassing 8 Sharpless objects to look for YSO candidates. The catalog assembled there included data from 2MASS, WISE (AllWISE, CatWISE, unWISE), Gaia, Akari, PanSTARRS, and IPHAS, and over some of the regions, Spitzer, Herschel, and MSX. We will start with the same color-color and color-magnitude diagrams we used before and attempt to parameterize the locations of the stars in the plots. We will also quantify the significance of the IR excess as a function of wavelength and fold this into the YSO assessment. We hope to recover the labor-intensive YSO candidate assessments from Kuper et al. and have a long-term goal of applying this automation scheme to new, similarly under-studied Sharpless regions.
NITARP Alumnni: Rosina Garcia, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History; Luisa Rebull, Caltech/IPAC (NITARP Advisor); Michael McClain, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
11:20 to 11:30 a.m., National Harbor 12
The cosmic star formation rate has plummeted since its peak ~8 Gyr ago (z~2, cosmic noon) after the steady rise following the onset of galaxies in the epoch of reionization (z~6). We aim to study the processes underlying this decline through the aggregate measurements of star formation rate (SFR) and interstellar medium (ISM) conditions in galaxy populations since cosmic noon. Far-infrared gas-phase spectral lines offer unique opportunities to diagnose the multi-phase ISM and measure SFR in galaxies as they evolve, because the far-IR emission does not suffer dust obscuration. The PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA), a cryogenic far-IR space observatory concept for the next decade, features a spectrometer FIRESS offering R~100 spectroscopy across the entire 24 to 235 µm band with unprecedented sensitivity. In this talk, we present an investigation of PRIMA’s ability to spectrally survey the sky in far-IR line emission. As a case study, we consider a 500-hour survey on a 0.2 square degree field enclosing GOODS-South and examine yields in [OI]63µm, [OIII]52 and 88µm, and [NII]122 μm that encode star formation and gas cooling processes. We predict the number (density) of direct detections and perform spectral stacking analysis based on Euclid-like mock catalog, which offers enhanced signal-to-noise and provides aggregation over the population. We demonstrate that for each far-IR line the z=1 – 2 line-SFR relation will be calibrated and luminosity function will be constrained with (a) direct blind detections of individual galaxies and (b) spectral stack using near-IR priors – this extends the study to quiescent galaxies (SFR~0.1 M_sun/yr). We also highlight the potential for multi-line analyses which constrain ISM diagnostics such as metallicity.
Lunjun (Simon) Liu, Caltech; Charles (Matt) Bradford, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Ryan Keenan, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy; Tzu-Ching Chang, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.
3:10 to 3:20 p.m., Maryland Ballroom D
Measuring the fraction of galaxies in the local universe containing active galactic nuclei (AGN) is important for many reasons, including gaining a better understanding of the growth and fueling of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) during galaxy interactions, determining the role of AGN feedback in quenching star formation in their host galaxies, and providing insights into multi-messenger phenomena that occur during mergers of binary SMBHs. The NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) provides a census of over 1.1 billion objects, combining large photometric surveys across the electromagnetic spectrum with data extracted from thousands of journal articles and catalogs. The NED Local Volume Sample (LVS) is a subset of 1.9 million galaxies with distances up to 1 Gpc for which the completeness measured with respect to the near-infrared luminosity function is estimated to be near 100% out to 30 Mpc and ~70% to 300 Mpc (Cook et al. 2023). The fraction of galaxies in NED-LVS with published AGN classifications is only 5%, but this is likely a lower limit due to several factors. We describe results of applying machine learning methods, training models primarily using multi-wavelength photometry, to predict new AGN candidates within the NED-LVS. Initial results indicate the local AGN fraction is as high as 20%, and analysis of a subset with new spectroscopic diagnostics available in the DESI survey indicates many AGN predicted by the ML models reside in galaxy nuclei ionized primarily by star formation at the optical depths measured at visual wavelengths. These results suggest the presence of many additional AGN that are heavily obscured at optical wavelengths, attesting to the need for X-ray, infrared or radio observations to reveal them.
Mason Ruby, University of Memphis; Joseph Mazzarella, Caltech/IPAC; David Cook, Caltech/IPAC.
11 to 11:10 a.m., Chesapeake J/K/L
The complex environment of interstellar gas and dust around the young supernova remnant Cassiopeia A hosts a spectacular system of thermal infrared echoes powered by the burst of radiation from the historical explosion. Building on nearly two decades of observations by Spitzer and NEOWISE, JWST now offers the ability to see these echoes in astonishing detail. We present preliminary results of a new imaging (NIRCam; 0.9-4.5 micron) and spectroscopic (MIRI/MRS; 5-24 micron) observing campaign of one of Cas A's echoes (JWST-GO 5451). This spectrophotometric time-series will reveal the compositions and physical conditions of the echoing clouds, constrain our picture of Cas A's massive progenitor through the luminosity, hardness and duration of the incident shock-breakout radiation, and provide a real-time view of the dynamic effects of this radiation field on the dust and molecular content of the interstellar medium.
Jacob Jencson, Caltech/IPAC; Armin Rest, Space Telescope Science Institute; Richard Arendt, CRESST/UMBC; Joshua Peek, Space Telescope Science Institute; Justin Pierel, STScI; Michael Engesser, STScI; Melissa Shahbandeh, Space Telescope Science Institute; Kishalay De, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Joseph Masiero, Caltech/IPAC; Roee Partoush, Johns Hopkins University; Eli Dwek, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Sebastian Gomez, Space Telescope Science Institute; Karl Gordon, Space Telescope Science Institute; Dan Milisavljevic, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Mikako Matsuura, Cardiff University; Karl Misselt, Steward Observatory; Tea Temim, Princeton University; Rodrigo Angulo, Johns Hopkins University; Martha Boyer, Space Telescope Science Institute; David Coulter, Space Telescope Science Institute; Ilse De Looze, University of Ghent; Ori Fox, Space Telescope Science Institute; Muryel Guolo, Johns Hopkins University; Charles Kilpatrick, Northwestern University; Xiaolong Li, University of Delaware; Matthew Siebert, Space Telescope Science Institute; Qinan Wang, Johns Hopkins University; Roger Wesson, Cardiff University; Yossef Zenati, Johns Hopkins University.
2:50 to 3 p.m., Potomac Ballroom C
The Young Suns Exoplanet Survey (YSES) is a SPHERE/VLT survey to discover and characterize planets around ~70 young (15 Myr old) stars in the Sco-Cen association. The stars are all located in the Lower Centaurus Crux (LCC), providing well-determined ages and distances. One of the challenges of exoplanet direct imaging is determining the mass of any discovered companions, which is inferred through evolutionary models based on the age of the host star. Thus this well selected sample of young stars assists in constraining the mass of any companions. Three planets around two stars have been discovered in this survey (YSES 1b Bohn et al. 2020; YSES 1c Bohn et al. 2020; YSES 2b Bohn et al. 2021), and another planet candidate has been submitted (Pengyu et al. submitted). Here we present new measurements of YSES 2b in the thermal infrared (Meshkat et al. in prep).
Tiffany Meshkat, Caltech/IPAC; Matthew Kenworthy, Leiden Observatory; Eric Mamajek, NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program, JPL; Richelle van Capelleveen, Leiden Observatory; Alexander Bohn, Leiden Observatory; Pengyu Liu, University of Edinburgh; Christian Ginski, University of Galway.
Tuesday, January 14
9 a.m. to noon, Annapolis 3-4
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is NASA's next flagship mission in astrophysics. The Roman Project Infrastructure Teams (PITs) develop and maintain the infrastructural tools and capabilities needed to address the mission objectives and to support community science collaborations, in close collaboration with the Roman project and partnering with the Roman Science Centers at IPAC and STScI. At this splinter meeting, the Roman PITs will present detailed work plans and deliverables. This will inform the community about the tools being developed by the PITs for Roman science, and enable the PITs to benefit from community input.
The Roman PITs competitively selected by NASA are: "Cosmology with the Roman High Latitude Imaging Survey," "Project Infrastructure for the Roman Galaxy Redshift Survey," "A Roman Project Infrastructure Team to Support Cosmological Measurements with Type Ia Supernovae." "The Roman Galactic Exoplanet Survey Project Infrastructure Team", and "RAPID: Roman Alerts Promptly from Image Differencing."
Talks in this splinter:
10:20 to 10:30 a.m., National Harbor 12
The cosmic star formation history (CSFH), i.e., the total amount of star formation occurring in the Universe as a function of redshift, is a simple but powerful probe of galaxy evolution. However, constraints from galaxy surveys necessarily rely on extrapolation beyond the detection limit, and so effectively make strong assumptions about the properties of faint galaxy populations. SPHEREx—to launch in early 2025—will provide R~40–110 spectro-photometry from 0.75–5 microns in every 6x6 arcsecond pixel in the sky, and so will probe clean star formation indicators like H-alpha and H-beta over most of cosmic history. Critically, because SPHEREx obtains a full spectrum in every pixel, true measurements of the CSFH—including the aggregate emission from source populations too faint to be detected directly—are within reach via the techniques of intensity mapping. In this talk I will outline a strategy for constraining the CSFH in the next year using cross-correlations between SPHEREx maps and pre-existing galaxy catalogs, including the impact of dust corrections, redshift errors, and contamination from fainter unresolved lines. A complete census of cosmic star formation obtained in this way, in conjunction with the measurements from surveys, will allow us to isolate the properties of the Universe's faintest galaxies across a broad range in redshifts, z~0.5–6.5, and will thus offer an unprecedented new test for models of galaxy formation.
Jordan Mirocha, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
2 to 3:30 p.m., National Harbor 10
Session Chair: Harry Teplitz, Caltech/IPAC, Euclid NASA Science Center at IPAC (ENSCI) Task Lead
Euclid is an ESA mission with NASA involvement to study the geometry and nature of the dark universe. Euclid launched on 1 July 2023. During its 6 year primary mission, Euclid will survey over 13,000 sq. deg. of extragalactic sky and obtain optical images (530-920nm band), near-infrared images (Y,J,H) and slitless grism spectra (1206nm-1892nm, R~480). All Euclid data will be made public to the world community after a proprietary period. Early Release Observations are now available, the first large data release of 50 square degrees will take place in Spring 2025, and the first year of data (over 2000 square degrees) will be released in 2026. Data will be available from the ESA’s Euclid Archive System and from the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA). NASA is supporting archival research with Euclid data via the ROSES Euclid Guest Investigator Program. The Euclid NASA Science Center at IPAC (ENSCI) is available now to answer questions from researchers planning to use Euclid data. In this session, we will give an overview of Euclid’s status and the first results from the mission. We will discuss the opportunities and science potential for archival research with public Euclid data.
Talks in this session:
2 to 3:30 p.m., Annapolis 1-2
Development is already underway for NASA’s next flagship mission -- the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). As this will be the only flagship launched in the coming few decades, we want to explore how the IR community can contribute to the science case and technology development for HWO including but not limited to:
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HWO science cases that make use of an infrared band
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Technical overlaps with detector, optics, and supporting technology development in the IR thru mm
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Synergies with other IR observations that will support HWO’s science mission
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This is an exciting opportunity to broaden the reach of the IR community and advocate for the value of multi-wavelength observations.
Talks in this splinter:
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2:00 – 2:10 – Dominic Benford - Synergistic Technology Development for Long Wavelengths
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2:10 – 2:20 – Meredith MacGregor - How NIR Capabilities Can Bring Solar Systems into Context
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2:20 – 2:30 – Roberta Paladini - Dust Extinction Curves beyond the Milky Way
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2:30 – 2:40 – Tom Greene - The Habitable Worlds Observatory High-Resolution Imager
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2:40 – 2:50 – Chris Stark - The impact of noiseless, energy resolving detectors on the Habitable Worlds Observatory’s exoplanet science
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2:50 – 3:00 – Karwan Rostem - Energy Resolving Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors for HWO
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3:00 – 3:10 – Ed Canavan - Possible Paths Toward Ultralow Vibration Cooling for sub-Kelvin Detectors
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3:10 – 3:30 – HWO Leadership Panel with Aki Roberge, Lee Feinberg, Feng Zhao, and Tom Greene
2:40 to 2:50 p.m., Potomac 3-4
The search for rocky planets in the habitable zones of nearby, Sun-like stars has been thus far unsuccessful. A number of techniques and projects have been deployed, the majority of which have concentrated on single star systems. However, up to 50% of nearby Sun-like stars are in binary systems, which may provide new ground for targeted searches. Here we describe the SHERA (Searching for Habitable Exoplanets with Relative Astrometry) SMEX mission concept, which will use diffractive pupil technology to measure the distance between binary stars with sub-microarcsecond precision. Over a three-year mission, this precision allows us to probe down to rocky (1-5 Me) planets in the habitable zones of a modest sample of nearby binary systems, which include a number of stars that are high-priority targets for the Habitable Worlds Observatory.
Jessie Christiansen, Caltech/IPAC-NASA Exoplanet Science Institute
2:40 to 2:50 p.m., Chesapeake D/E
In an era where effective communication and public understanding of science are more crucial than ever due to the rapid advancement of scientific knowledge, we aim to establish a centralized Center for Science Engagement (CSE) based at Caltech. This initiative seeks to unify efforts across institutions, creating a comprehensive resource and network that streamlines access to information, tools, and best practices for the community.
The CSE will provide resources for defining, designing, and implementing objective-oriented Workforce, Education, Public Outreach, and Communication (WEPOC) programs. Key components of the CSE will include a comprehensive online resource hub that consolidates WEPOC resources for scientists and professionals, a directory of experts and ongoing projects to enhance visibility, and a networking forum for collaboration. Additionally, the CSE will offer workshops and training specifically tailored to the needs of scientists and WEPOC professionals. It will also focus on designing and refining methods for evaluating the effectiveness of these programs, ensuring alignment with broader goals.
Additionally, regular professional evaluations will gather community feedback to inform future initiatives and measure the center's impact. Over an initially targeted five-year plan, the CSE will foster a community of practice that creates sustainable connections between scientists and WEPOC professionals. This initiative will promote mutual support and collaboration while ensuring open access to best practices in the field to advance science education, engagement, and communication.
Marziye Jafariyazani, Caltech/IPAC; Gordon Squires, Caltech/IPAC; Janesse Brewer, 23.4 Degrees/Johns Hopkins University; Xinnan Du, KIPAC/Stanford University; Matthew Dudley, Johns Hopkins University; Bahram Mobasher, University of California, Riverside; Tracy Petroske, Bell Creek Science Consulting; Katie Yurkewicz, Argonne National Laboratory.
10:30 to 10:40 a.m., Chesapeake J/K/L
Young binary systems offer a unique opportunity to study the fragility of circumstellar disks in dynamically tumultuous environments. In this talk, I will present preliminary ALMA continuum and 12CO emission for several systems, including the puzzling DF Tau. DF Tau is a close visual binary with a semi-major axis of only 14 AU; we find circumstellar disks around both the primary and secondary star. Other disk signatures, i.e., accretion measurements and H-band veiling, indicate only a disk around the primary star. Because the two stars likely formed together, with the same composition, in the same environment, and at the same time, we expect their disks to be co-eval. However the absence of an inner disk around the secondary suggests uneven dissipation. We resolve this contradiction by proposing that the inner disk of DF Tau B is, at minimum, beyond ~0.06 AU and consider several processes which have the potential to accelerate inner disk evolution..
Taylor Kutra, Lowell Observatory; Lisa Prato, Lowell Observatory; Benjamin Tofflemire, University of Texas, Austin; Rachel Akeson, Caltech/IPAC; Gail Schaefer, CHARA Array - Georgia State University; Shih-Yun Tang, Rice Univ./Lowell Obs.; Dominique Segura-Cox, University of Texas, Austin; Christopher Johns-Krull, Rice University; Adam Kraus, University of Texas, Austin; Sean Andrews, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Eric Jensen, Swarthmore College.
Wednesday, January 15
10 to 10:10 a.m., Maryland 1-2
We extend the morphology analysis of Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) down to faint luminosities (M_UV = -14) at Cosmic Noon (z ~ 2.5) to investigate whether LAEs show distinct, characteristic sizes as previously claimed. We measure the UV size of a sample of 20 LAEs found in three lensing galaxy clusters: MACS 0717, 1149, and Abell 1689. By leveraging strong lensing effects, we are able to securely measure the UV-continuum sizes of our sample LAEs including faint galaxies. We found that, unlike typical star-forming galaxies (SFGs), our sample of LAEs show very small sizes relative to their luminosity, with an intrinsic mean effective radius (r_eff) of 170 ± 140 pc. Due to their small sizes, they also follow a distinct size-luminosity relation, with an intercept that is smaller by a factor of ~3 (i.e., r_eff at M_UV = −21) and show higher star formation surface density (ΣSFR) compared to typical SFGs at similar redshifts. Thus, a compact morphology is one of the crucial physical conditions for the escape of Ly-A such that strong galactic outflows/winds (as indicated by high ΣSFR) likely create under-dense channels in the ISM for the escape of Ly-A photons.
Keunho Kim, Caltech/IPAC; Anahita Alavi, Caltech/IPAC; Christopher Snapp-Kolas, University of California, Riverside; Harry Teplitz, Caltech/IPAC; James Colbert, Caltech; Vihang Mehta, Caltech/IPAC; Brian Siana, UC Riverside; Johan Richard, Univ Lyon.
10:30 to 10:50 a.m., Chesapeake A/B
Compared to the well-studied infrared and radio domains, galaxy emission in the millimeter to centimeter wavelength range has been less extensively observed. In this range, the galaxy emission consists of several elements: the thermal emission from dust grains, the free-free emission from the HII regions, and in the radio, the synchrotron emission. Dust emission is often modeled as a modified black body, however dust emissivity in the (sub)-mm may be flatter than assumed, since there may be a number of wavelength breaks (the sub-mm excess, and further out in wavelengths the mm excess), and variations in the shape and intensity related to environmental conditions. Additionally, anomalous microwave emission (AME), another potential contributor in the mm to cm range, has been detected in our galaxy for several decades. The prevailing theory attributes AME to rapidly rotating dust grains, however it remains largely undetected in external galaxies.
Our objective is to accurately characterize the spectral energy distribution (SED) of galaxy emission across the mm-cm range.
For that, we used low-resolution data from COBE-DIRBE, IRAS, Planck, and WMAP satellites. Although these datasets provide a coverage of the entire galaxy without filtering or sensitivity problems, one of the key challenges lies in separating the target galaxy's emission from foreground and background sources, which often dominate at low resolution, such as the fluctuations of the CMB. By removing these contaminating signals, we were able to reconstruct the integrated SED of the galaxy, providing a more realistic picture of the spectral shape of the galaxy emission in the mm-cm wavelength range.
These SEDs will be presented for a sample of nearby galaxies. This study will shed new light on potential degeneracies in modeling due to the presence of CMB fluctuations in the background of observed galaxies. It will also provide observational constraints on the spectral shape of dust emission at long wavelengths across different environments, and we will analyzed the implications for dust properties.
Lucie Correia, Strasbourg Observatory; Lucie Correia, Strasbourg Observatory; Caroline Bot, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg; Jérémy Chastenet, Ghent University; Axel Rymar, Université Paris-Saclay; Roberta Paladini, Caltech/IPAC; Katharina Lutz, Deutsche Zentrum für luft und raumfahrt.
11 to 11:10 a.m., National Harbor 2
AstroPix (astropix.org) is a unified resource for locating the best public astrophysics images in one place. Its goal is to streamline the efforts of scientists, educators, students, journalists, and others striving to find the best and most relevant images to support a public talk, classroom lecture, outreach event, multimedia production, museum display, or other astrophysics projects.
Search functionality is analogous to a research data archive, allowing for a robust object or subject search of nearly 10,000 public-friendly images contributed by more than a dozen observatories and institutions. Image downloads are available at the highest available print quality, along with the institutionally-provided metadata and links to the original source material on the home institutions' websites. The assets are up-to-date, usually appearing within 24 hours of the time they are publicly released by our partners.
Contributing institutions currently include many of NASA's key astrophysics missions, as well as NOIRLab, NRAO, European Southern Observatory, and the European Space Agency. New partnerships are welcome.
The rich image metadata is presented using intuitive widgets for visualizing distance and spectral color assignments. Many assets include WCS positional metadata allowing contextual sky views in WorldWide Telescope, and downloaded images can also be opened in Aladin for comparison with other datasets.
AstroPix assets are also available to planetariums through support of the Data2Dome standard by key software vendors.
AstroPix is part of NASA’s Universe of Learning (NASA’s UoL), which creates and delivers science-driven, audience-driven resources and experiences designed to engage learners of all ages and backgrounds. The competitively-selected project represents a unique partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and is part of the NASA Science Mission Directorate Science Activation program under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A.
Robert Hurt, Caltech/IPAC; Jacob Llamas, Caltech/IPAC; Gordon Squires, Caltech/IPAC; Lars Christensen, NSF's NOIRLab; Ryan Wyatt, California Academy of Sciences.
11:10 to 11:20 a.m., National Harbor 2
The AstroViz Project creates cinematic and elucidating explorations of astronomical objects based upon NASA data. These visualizations feature iconic objects such as the Orion Nebula, Eta Carinae, and the Whirlpool Galaxy. The 3D models are guided by scientific papers and done in collaboration with science experts. Using data from visible, infrared, and x-ray space telescopes showcases not only the variety of observations, but also the diverse insights gained through multiwavelength astronomy. The narration guides viewers from basic understanding through select scientific detail, with appropriately layered learning messages. This approach has proven extremely popular, with our recent fly-through of the Pillars of Creation garnering more than 2.8 million views on social media.
Leaders of the AstroViz Project will present highlights from their first decade of work. They will describe the team process, multiple skillsets, and intense efforts required to achieve high levels of both scientific integrity and artistic presentation. In addition, they will discuss various avenues for increasing accessibility with a suite of products. And, of course, they will cap it off with a sneak peek at the latest project.
This presentation is based on work performed as part of the NASA's Universe of Learning (NASA's UoL) project and is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A. NASA's UoL creates and delivers science-driven, audience-focused resources and experiences designed to engage and immerse learners of all ages and backgrounds in exploring the universe for themselves. The competitively-selected project represents a unique partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and is part of the NASA Science Mission Directorate Science Activation program.
Frank Summers, STScI; Robert Hurt, Caltech/IPAC; Kimberly Arcand, Center for Astrophysics, Chandra X-ray Center.
11:10 to 11:20 a.m., National Harbor 13
The Census of the Local Universe (CLU) survey uses narrowband filters to search for emission-line (Hα) galaxies out to a distance of 200 Mpc and across 26,470 deg^2 of the sky. We present the first catalog of galaxy candidates in the full survey that totals 55k objects, where 48% have no previous redshift measurements. Of the candidates with known redshifts from large spectroscopic surveys, we find that 87% have their emission lines correctly identified in the CLU filters and the success rate increases to 98% for candidates with bluer optical colors and moderately higher-confidence selection thresholds. The physical properties of the CLU galaxies show a peak in Log(Mstar)~9.8 and Log(SFR)~-0.4 suggesting that most are normal, star-forming galaxies. However, despite the relatively shallow flux limits of the survey (1.6e-14 erg/s/cm^2), we find that the CLU filters are able to detect galaxies with masses as low Log(M)~7 and star formation rates as low as Log(SFR)~-2. In addition, we also confirm the identification of 200 higher redshift (z~0.3) objects via strong [OIII] emission (i.e., green peas and QSOs). An examination of the properties of these [OIII] emitters facilitates further selection methods to identify more of these rare objects with no previous redshift information.
David Cook, Caltech/IPAC; Annalisa Citro, University of Minnesota; Dawn Erb, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; David Kaplan, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Mansi Kasliwal, California Institute of Technology; Shrinivas Kulkarni, California Institute of Technology; Chaoran Zhang, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
11 to 11:10 a.m., National Harbor 2
AstroPix (astropix.org) is a unified resource for locating the best public astrophysics images in one place. Its goal is to streamline the efforts of scientists, educators, students, journalists, and others striving to find the best and most relevant images to support a public talk, classroom lecture, outreach event, multimedia production, museum display, or other astrophysics projects.
Search functionality is analogous to a research data archive, allowing for a robust object or subject search of nearly 10,000 public-friendly images contributed by more than a dozen observatories and institutions. Image downloads are available at the highest available print quality, along with the institutionally-provided metadata and links to the original source material on the home institutions' websites. The assets are up-to-date, usually appearing within 24 hours of the time they are publicly released by our partners.
Contributing institutions currently include many of NASA's key astrophysics missions, as well as NOIRLab, NRAO, European Southern Observatory, and the European Space Agency. New partnerships are welcome.
The rich image metadata is presented using intuitive widgets for visualizing distance and spectral color assignments. Many assets include WCS positional metadata allowing contextual sky views in WorldWide Telescope, and downloaded images can also be opened in Aladin for comparison with other datasets.
AstroPix assets are also available to planetariums through support of the Data2Dome standard by key software vendors.
AstroPix is part of NASA's Universe of Learning (NASA's UoL), which creates and delivers science-driven, audience-driven resources and experiences designed to engage learners of all ages and backgrounds. The competitively-selected project represents a unique partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and is part of the NASA Science Mission Directorate Science Activation program under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A.
Mary Dussault, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Kimberly Arcand, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Christopher Britt, Space Telescope Science Institute; Rutuparna Das, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Joseph DePasquale, Space Telescope Science Institute; Robert Hurt, Caltech/IPAC; Brandon Lawton, Space Telescope Science Institute; John Maple, Space Telescope Science Institute; Keith Miller, Caltech/IPAC; Alyssa Pagan, Space Telescope Science Institute; Frank Sienkiewicz, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Erika Wright, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Robert Zellem, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Denise Smith, Space Telescope Science Institute; Emma Marcucci, Space Telescope Science Institute; Gordon Squires, Caltech/IPAC; Travis Schirner, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Kathleen Lestition, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Colleen Manning, Goodman Research Group, Inc..
9:30 to 11 a.m., Chesapeake 4-5
This AAS Splinter meeting will discuss synergies of two upcoming major radio facilities in the Northern hemisphere: The Deep Synoptic Array (DSA-2000), a radio survey telescope and multi-messenger discovery engine, and the next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA), the next-generation radio flagship by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. The DSA-2000 will consist of 2,000 5-m dishes operating between 0.7–2 GHz in a radio quiet valley in Nevada. Commencing in 2028, the telescope will survey 31,000 deg^2 repeatedly to an eventual depth of 500 nJy, providing the community with continuum, spectral and polarimetric image cubes rather than visibility data products. The ngVLA will have 10 times the sensitivity of ALMA and the VLA and will cover a broad wavelength range (1.2–116 GHz), simultaneously offering continental baselines up to 8.000km. Significant synergy exists in the key science identified for both telescopes, particularly with respect to multi-messenger astronomy, the time domain, pulsars and galaxy formation/evolution. DSA-2000 surveys will address frontier topics in multi-messenger astronomy by discovering the afterglows of gravitational-wave events, and by timing a suite of millisecond pulsars to detect and characterize low-frequency gravitational waves from binary supermassive black holes. Through a sixteen-epoch all-sky survey over 5 years, the DSA-2000 will map, catalog, characterize and monitor over a billion radio sources, while simultaneously characterizing galaxies in HI to z=1. Time-domain analyses of DSA-2000 survey data, including commensal searches for FRBs and pulsars, will deliver transformational samples of events that populate the dynamic radio sky. Together, these surveys will identify the key targets and populations that will motivate a component of the observing program of the ngVLA, taking advantage of its sensitivity, broader frequency coverage, and superb spatial resolution. The synergy between the DSA-2000 (unparalleled surveys) and ngVLA (superb sensitivity, frequency coverage and spatial resolution) mirrors the relationship between the upcoming Rubin-LSST survey and the Extremely Large Telescopes, as well as JWST, in the OIR. This AAS Splinter meeting will discuss opportunities that joint DSA-2000–ngVLA projects will enable, in conjunction with similar ongoing OIR initiatives, and discuss future joint community activity.
10 to 11:30 a.m., Potomac Ballroom C
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 Special 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. This session is open to all AAS attendees, and will feature an extended Q&A session for discussion and feedback from the community.
10:20 to 10:30 a.m., Potomac 5-6
Roughly half of Solar-type stars are binary, yet planets in binaries have frequently been neglected in favor of the easier-to-characterize planets of single-star systems. However, stellar companions can influence multiple facets of planet formation and evolution, resulting in distinct properties for planets around single stars, in close-in binaries, and in wide binaries. We have therefore compiled a catalog of 842 TESS Objects of Interest that have been vetted via high-resolution adaptive optics imaging, which we have used to reveal stellar companions or to identify likely single stars. After characterizing both stars in the system using EXOFAST, assessing the observed companions for boundedness, vetting the planet candidates, and correcting the planetary properties for dilution, we will investigate how properties such as radius and orbital period differ between the subsamples of single stars and close-in and wide binaries, including as functions of stellar spectral type, mass ratio, and binary separation. This catalog will be of fundamental utility to both exoplanet scientists and stellar astrophysicists using the wealth of TESS data to probe the Solar Neighborhood.
Catherine Clark, NASA Exoplanet Science Institute - Caltech/IPAC; David Ciardi, NASA Exoplanet Science Institute - Caltech/IPAC; Jason Eastman, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; Jacqueline Vazquez, Boston University.
2 to 3:30 p.m., National Harbor 2
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled for launch by May 2027, is poised to revolutionize time-domain astrophysics (TDA). A cornerstone of its mission is the High-Latitude Time Domain Survey (HLTDS), aimed at observing Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) for cosmological measurements. Beyond SNe Ia, Roman will explore a broad range of phenomena including other supernova types, tidal disruption events (TDEs), and active galactic nuclei (AGN), as highlighted by numerous submitted white papers. Closer to home there are also studies of Solar System objects and stellar variables, and the early low latitude survey.
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.
Talks in this session:
Thursday, January 16
10:20 to 10:30 a.m., Maryland Ballroom D
Pre-stellar molecular cloud cores provide insight on the early conditions that may set the initial composition of comets, asteroids, and planets. In the densest regions of the clouds, the near- and mid-infrared spectrum looks vastly different from the diffuse interstellar medium as the formation of ices on dust grains and the growth of the grains, following coagulation, produce broad absorption features and affect the shape of the extinction curve. The collapsing starless molecular core, L694-2, provides an ideal testbed to study these effects, especially as an intermediary evolutionary stage between quiescent clouds and protostellar envelopes. For the first time we combine JWST's superb sensitivity, resolving power, and spectral coverage in the mid-infrared with exquisite near-infrared ground-based observations from IRTF to characterize the spectrum through a dense (AV~30) line of sight from 1-18 μm toward the background star, L694-N01. We will demonstrate the detailed steps we took to calibrate the JWST/MIRI (Medium Resolution Spectrograph IFU mode) data from 5-18 µm with the similar resolution IRTF/SpeX data covering 1-5 µm. With the complete spectrum and photometry from 2MASS, the stellar photosphere of L694-N01 was carefully modeled using the PHOENIX stellar models. We will present the photosphere-subtracted spectrum and analysis of extinction, ice formation, and grain growth along this dense line of sight. This work creates a strong foundation for the synergy between ground- and space-based observations.
Laurie Chu, California Institute of Technology; Roberta Paladini, Caltech/IPAC; Tracy Huard, University of Maryland, College Park; Abraham Boogert, University of Hawaii.
10:30 to 10:40 a.m., Maryland Ballroom D
We present the Mid- and Far-Infrared extinction (MIREX/FIREX) mapping methods applied to Milky Way infrared-dark clouds (IRDCs), with a specific focus on IRDC G028.37+00.07. This particular cloud is a valuable target for studying massive molecular cores, which are thought to be the earliest precursors of high-mass protoclusters. The MIREX/FIREX maps offer an unprecedented level of detail, enabling us to explore extremely dense regions within the cloud (AV > 50 mag), where characterizing the dust extinction law has traditionally been very difficultTo address this challenge, we employed careful modeling of the Galactic background to accurately account for mid- to far-infrared (MIR-FIR) extinction, as well as sub-millimeter (sub-mm) emission. From this data, we derived both the dust opacity (κ) law and spectral indices (β) for the regions of interest. The multi-wavelength extinction maps we constructed reveal notable variations in dust opacity across the MIR-FIR range. One key finding is the observed correlation between the MIR-FIR dust opacity and the sub-mm spectral index β, which suggests that the opacity (κ) curve flattens in colder regions of the cloud. This flattening indicates that the dust grain properties are changing in these areas. By comparing these observational results with theoretical models, we have been able to qualitatively identify processes contributing to dust grain growth, such as the formation of ice mantles and the coagulation of dust particles. These processes appear to be particularly active in the colder and denser parts of the cloud, giving us new insights into how dust evolves in such extreme environments.
Wanggi Lim, Caltech/IPAC
