Special Sessions at the January AAS Meeting

AEON: Progress in Networking Observatories and Tools for Follow-up in the ZTF/LSST Era

Sunday 5 January 2020, 5:30–6:30pm, Room 306AB

The Astrophysical Events Observatories Network (AEON), a collaborative partnership, is developing a network of telescopes to execute astronomical observations effectively and efficiently in the ZTF/LSST era. The founding partners are the Gemini, Las Cumbres, and SOAR Observatories and NSF’s OIR Lab. AEON is being developed to enable observations across multiple facilities and to support highly responsive, flexible scheduling and programs that require coordination.

Observation requests for the SOAR 4.1-meter telescope can now be programmatically submitted and queue-scheduled through the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) network infrastructure, thanks to recent upgrades at both facilities, which enable a range of science. LCO has developed an open-source package to enable astronomers to easily build and customize Target and Observation Manager systems (TOMs) to manage and facilitate their science programs. The package provides a range of interfaces to essential observing facilities, brokers and data archives, including AEON, as well as observation planning and data visualization tools. Gemini has begun the Time Domain Astronomy (TDA) project to develop the infrastructure needed to incorporate Gemini’s telescopes into the AEON. NSF’s OIR Lab plans to integrate the Blanco telescope into AEON as well.

In this splinter session, the AEON partners will provide updates on the implementation of AEON to date and plans for the future.

New science opportunities with the next generation Gemini North Adaptive Optics facility

Monday 6 January 2020, 9:30–11:30 am, 306 AB

As part of the “Gemini in the Era of Multi-Messenger Astronomy (GEMMA)” program, Gemini is designing a new queue-operated multi-conjugate adaptive optics (AO) facility for the 8-meter Gemini North telescope. By delivering an AO-corrected field of view of 2 arcminutes to feed the next generation of AO-assisted Gemini North instruments, GNAO will enable a broad range of science cases. Please join us to learn about the GNAO project and future opportunities for scientific exploration with the GNAO facility.

The Zwicky Transient Facility Community Survey Update for Year 3

Monday 6 January 2020, 5:30 pm–6:30 pm, Room 303 A

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) team will present an update on the performance and products of the ZTF Community Survey as it approaches the end of its second year. The session will include schedule and content for data releases 2 and 3. Plans for the third year of the community survey will be open for discussion, including the recently initiated program to track the TESS fields with daily monitoring. The ZTF Community Science Advisory Committee urges participation in this timely opportunity for feedback and input on the community survey element of the ZTF program. This session is expected to be of interest to anyone who is using or may use data from the ZTF survey.

DR2 is expected to contain time series of up to 18 months for more than 2 billion sources. Data releases are supported by IPAC. Feedback on user experience and advice concerning database content and access will be welcome.

ZTF variability alerts are published daily and are available directly or via several brokers. Presentations will include lessons learned on alert quantity and quality. Community experience with alert use, especially follow-up, will be appreciated.

As the survey enters its third year, the program for the community element of the survey, which represents 40% of all survey time, will be reviewed. We welcome input from participants concerning the products of the community survey to date.

As of this writing, the ZTF team is pursuing the possibility of continuing the public survey beyond year 3. Advice and comment from the community on potential observing strategies are invited and welcome.

Planets, Exoplanets, and Planet Formation with Gemini Large and Long Programs (LLPs)

Tuesday 7 January 2020, 9:30–11:30am, Room 303B
Letizia Stanghellini, Alison Peck, and Ken Hinkle (NSF’s OIR Lab)

All scientists, especially current and potential Gemini users, are invited to participate in this splinter meeting, which will showcase science results from Gemini Large and Long Programs (LLP). The program will focus on mature LLPs in the field of exoplanets and planet formation. The following talks will present science results along with data analysis strategies:

• Characterizing Dusty Debris in Exoplanetary Systems (Christine Chen)
• Observational Characterization of Active Main-Belt Comets and Main-Belt Comet Nuclei (Henry Hsieh)
• Validating K2’s Habitable and Rocky Planets with AO Imaging (Elisabeth Matthews)
• Follow-up of Newly Discovered Near-Earth Objects from the NEOWISE Survey (Joseph Masiero)
• Scattered Light Imaging of YSOs: Probing the Fundamental Stages of Planet Formation (Evan Rich)

DESI Imaging and First Light Spectroscopy

Wednesday 8 January 2020, 2:00–3:30 pm, 324

This session will provide a status update on the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI; desi.lbl.gov), its imaging surveys and results from first light and commissioning.

DESI consists of imaging surveys over 16,000 square degrees followed by spectroscopy and redshifts of 35 million galaxies. The imaging surveys have been completed in three optical bands (g, r, z) and include a reprocessing of five years of WISE satellite data (for filters centered at 3.4 and 4.6 microns). Catalogs of stars and extended objects have been measured using forward modeling with Tractor to consistently fit properties in all filters. Image-level and catalog-level data products are publicly available through a web-based viewer, files and the Astro Data Lab.

The DESI instrument has been installed and commissioned on the Kitt Peak 4-meter Mayall Telescope. This instrument includes an 8-square-degree optical corrector, a 5000-fiber robotic positioner, and spectrographs sampling at resolutions R = 2000 to 5500 over the wavelength range 3600 to 9800 Ångstroms. The forward-modeling “spectro-perfectionism” extraction code and sky-subtraction provides spectra and redshifts for millions of luminous red galaxies to z = 1, emission line galaxies to z = 1.6, and quasars at all redshifts including the Lyman-alpha forest at z > 2.

Challenges to Astronomy from Satellites

Wednesday 8 January 2020, 10:00am–11:30am, Room 317B
Connie Walker (NSF’s OIR Lab), Jeff Hall (Lowell Observatory), Lori Allen (NSF’s OIR Lab)

This exciting session will feature a presentation by Patricia Cooper (SpaceX) who will describe the “Emergence of Low-Earth Orbiting Satellite Constellations and Their Impact on Astronomy”. Chris Impey (Steward Observatory) will speak on the industrialization of space. Patrick Seitzer (U. Michigan) will talk about modeling the possible impacts of mega-constellations of satellites on optical astronomy facilities and possible solutions. Harvey Liszt (NRAO) will discuss “Radio Astronomy in a New Era of Radio-communication”. Come participate in the discussions and provide feedback on the next steps.

US Extremely Large Telescope Program Open House

Sunday 5 January 2020, 7:30 pm–9:00 pm, Room 306AB

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) are two of the next-generation extremely large telescopes (ELTs) with significant US participation. The projects are expected to reach first light within the next decade and are working together to develop a plan for broad access to the completed facilities by the US community in coordination with NSF’s OIR Lab’s US ELT Program.

At this Open House, the leadership of the two projects will present brief status updates. Open discussion will follow, and all members of the community are encouraged to participate. There will also be an opportunity for attendees to meet socially with key organizational, technical and scientific leadership of TMT, GMT, and NSF’s OIR Lab. Complimentary snacks and refreshments will be provided thanks to generous support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The US Extremely Large Telescope Program

Tuesday 7 January, 10:00 am–11:30 am, Room 306AB

After more than 20 years of science operations with 8–10-meter-class telescopes, some of today’s forefront astronomical problems demand new facilities with still larger apertures. The forthcoming generation of extremely large telescopes (ELTs) will offer tremendous gains in angular resolution and sensitivity, opening new frontiers in nearly all areas of astrophysics, from our Solar System to cosmology.

The US Extremely Large Telescope Program (US-ELTP) is a partnership between NSF’s OIR Lab and the organizations building the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). Its aim is to ensure that all US scientists may conduct forefront scientific research using these new observatories. The US-ELTP seeks to enable 25% or greater shares of open access observing time on both the GMT and the TMT for US astronomers regardless of their institutional affiliations. This bi-hemispheric ELT system will support US scientific leadership in the global ELT era by enabling US astronomers to observe objects anywhere on the sky, and to use a broader suite of instruments than a single observatory could provide.

This session will describe the objectives of the US-ELTP and provide up-to-date information about the TMT and GMT projects. There will be presentations on the primary scientific motivations for the US-ELTP, including Key Science Program (KSP) concepts developed by community-based teams. KSPs will address questions of fundamental scientific importance that require tens to hundreds of GMT and TMT nights, and will follow open collaboration models that encourage broad, diverse participation by scientists throughout the US research community. The session will include opportunities for audience discussion.