Announcements

Context

Time domain astronomy was highlighted as a key science area for the 2020s in the Astro2020 Decadal Review. Both HST and JWST have the potential to make significant scientific contributions in probing the variable universe at moderate and longer timescales. HST has the advantage of a 30-year legacy of observations spanning the broadest range of celestial sources; JWST has the prospect of a 20-year lifetime, with unparalleled sensitivity at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths opens up opportunities in the high redshift universe. Phenomena include photometric and spectroscopic variations and astrometric motions.

Charter

The Space Telescope Science Institute’s Interim Director, Nancy Levenson, has decided to constitute a Working Group to provide advice and recommendations on how HST and JWST observations can be leveraged in support of these investigations.

The Long-Term Monitoring WG is charged with providing guidance on optimal strategies for maximizing the scientific return from HST and JWST time domain observations. In particular, the Working Group should address the following tasks:

Solicit input from the community on key science areas that can exploit long time-baseline observations, based either on past observations or laying the foundation for future investigations;

Identify science themes that should be prioritized for exploration by future General Observer programs and/or Archival analyses;

Provide advice on the optimal timing for substantive follow-up observations and suggest mechanisms for enabling those observations;

Comment on the appropriate scale of resources likely required to support those programs;

Develop a specific concept for an observing program that will utilize JWST’s imaging and spectroscopic capabilities to probe transient phenomena at high redshift, with the goal of starting implementation of the program in JWST Cycle 2.

By forming this Working Group, STScI aims to ensure that many voices are heard in the formulation of the appropriate priorities for time domain science with HST and JWST.  Our goal is to maximize the science return and legacy value of the observations and the resultant data products. An open request for input by the astronomical community will be issued by STScI to support the Working Group's efforts. In defining the science case for a DD program, the Working Group should take into account both the archival research value of the planned observations and the coordination of these observations with other observatories.

The Working Group will comprise 8-10 members of the astronomical community selected by the STScI in consultation with the HST and JWST user committees. The Chair of the Working Group will organize the meetings of the Working Group, and STScI will provide logistical (travel, meeting, telecon, etc) support as needed. We expect that the Working Group will have at least one face-to-face meeting, supplemented by regular telecons and email exchanges.

The committee will summarize their conclusions in a report to the Director and presentations to the STUC and the JSTUC. Interim recommendations will be presented in the Fall of 2023, with the final report due by January 2024.

The Working Group co-chairs are Saurabh Jha (Rutgers University) and Dana Casetti (Southern Connecticut University) and the members are:

Gary Bernstein (U. Penn.), Matt Hayes (Stockholm), Lidia Oskinova (Potsdam), Andrew Pace (Carnegie Mellon), Robert Quimby (San Diego State), Megan Reiter (Rice), Armin Rest (STScI), Adam Riess (JHU/STScI), David Sand (Arizona), Dan Weisz (Berkeley)

The primary STScI contacts for the Advisory Committee will be Neill Reid (Associate Director for Science) and Laura Watkins (Deputy Head, SMO). They are ex officio members of the Advisory Committee.

Call for Community Input - June 15, 2023

The WG encourages input either by completing this short, on-line survey and/or in the form of short contributions submitted to STScI by Friday, September 8, 2023. We request these be in PDF format and ideally limited to 1 page (+ figures/references), but any reasonable length will be accepted. Contributions do not need to be anonymized and multiple co-authors are welcome. Submissions will guide the working group recommendations, but will not be shared publicly. 

PDF contributions should be e-mailed to wg-longterm@stsci.edu by the September 8th deadline.

Submissions should explicitly specify which of these two topics is being addressed:

Long time baseline science opportunities: We are interested in learning about the key science that would be enabled with long time baseline observations and science themes that should be prioritized in General Observer and Archival proposals. For our purposes, long time baselines refer to those that are not easily accommodated in the standard proposal process. Observations could include, but are not limited to, photometric or spectroscopic variability, and astrometric motions. 

JWST DDT for high-redshift transients: Our working group has also been directed to develop a specific concept for a Director’s Discretionary Time observing program that will use JWST’s imaging and spectroscopic capabilities to probe transient phenomena at high redshift, with a goal of starting implementation of the program in JWST Cycle 2. We are interested in understanding the science cases that should be prioritized for such a program.

In all cases, in addition to the science, we are soliciting input about the observational resources that would be required, advice about timing and sky location for the observations, and suggestions for mechanisms to promote this science in the broad portfolio of HST and JWST programs.

https://outerspace.stsci.edu/display/HPR/Long-term+variability+monitoring+strategies+for+HST+and+JWST

The Extension of HOPS Out to 500 ParSecs (eHOPS) project used archival data to survey all the major star forming molecular clouds within 500 pc of the Sun, except Orion (which was surveyed by HOPS). The first eHOPS data release covers the Aquila molecular clouds (d ~ 436 pc). For every source detected in the Herschel/PACS bands, the eHOPS-Aquila catalog contains 1-850 micron SEDs assembled from 2MASS, Spitzer, Herschel, WISE, and JCMT/SCUBA-2 data. A total of 172 protostars are found in Aquila, tightly concentrated in the molecular filaments that thread the clouds. Of these, 71 (42%) are Class 0 protostars, 54 (31%) Class I protostars, 43 (25%) are flat-spectrum protostars, and 4 (2%) are Class II sources. Ten of the Class 0 protostars are young PACS Bright Red Sources similar to those discovered in Orion. eHOPS compares the SEDs to a grid of radiative transfer models to constrain the luminosities, envelope densities, and envelope masses of the protostars.

The data can be found at:  https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/Herschel/eHOPS/ehops_seds_protostars.html

If you use eHOPS data, please cite both the journal article Pokhrel et al. (2023) and the dataset Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.26131/IRSA553.

Dear community of disk observers and modelers,

At the aftermath of a new intense cycle of JWST proposals, we’d like to celebrate efforts with the release of major upgrades to SpExoDisks.com:

- a new home page with direct links to datasets by instrument (now a total of 7)

- shareable URLs for individual spectra (now a total of 1000+)

- line identification using HITRAN line lists for CO and H2O isotopologues (currently 7)

- user registration and data download, including python scripts to read SpExoDisks FITS files

- and… the first JWST-MIRI disk spectrum from a Cycle 1 GO program! https://tinyurl.com/spexodisksJWST

Enjoy the data and share with your colleagues, and please get in touch if you have data or ideas to share! Our team is constantly at work to improve and expand the database and website. Spexodisks is a community tool, please let us know where we can do better.

Best wishes,

Andrea Banzatti, Caleb Wheeler

& the SpExoDisks developers team

Dear colleagues,

We are sending a quick survey to receive feedback from the community in this phase of expansion of www.spexodisks.com. You will find a short description of the project at the beginning of the survey by clicking on the link below.

Please fill in and submit your response to the survey through this link:

https://forms.gle/aUKNzckJrHErzeXP6

Please forward this message to all your colleagues, at any stage in their career, who might be interested in using SpExoDisks now or in the future. We are trying to reach out as broadly as possible in the community of current and potential users of SpExoDisks, as we prepare to launch an upgraded version of the website and include the first spectra from JWST-MIRI.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly with questions or suggestions.

Best,

Andrea Banzatti (banzatti@txstate.edu)

(for the SpExoDisks developer team)

Fizeau exchange visitors program - call for applications

Submitted by: Claudia Paladini

Electronic mail: fizeau@european-interferometry.eu

Date/Time: 27 April, 2022

Dear colleagues!

The Fizeau exchange visitors program in optical interferometry funds (travel and accommodation) visits of researchers to an institute of his/her choice (within the European Community) to perform collaborative work and training on one of the active topics of the European Interferometry Initiative. The visits will typically last for one month and strengthen the network of astronomers engaged in technical, scientific and, training work on optical/infrared interferometry. The program is open for all levels of astronomers (Ph.D. students to tenured staff), with priority given to PhD students and young postdocs. Non-EU-based missions will only be funded if considered essential by the Fizeau Committee. Applicants are strongly encouraged to seek also partial support from their home or host institutions.

The deadline for applications is May 15 for visits to be carried out between mid-August 2022 and January 2023. 

Further information and application forms can be found at

www.european-interferometry.eu 

The program is funded by OPTICON//RadioNET Pilot Program.

Please distribute this message also to potentially interested colleagues outside of your community!

Looking forward to your applications,

Claudia Paladini

(for the European Interferometry Initiative)

Dear Colleagues,

I’d like to draw your attention to the Third Announcement of Opportunity (AO-3) for participation in ESA’s CHEOPS Guest Observers Programme.

AO-3 solicits proposals for observations to be carried out in the period 1 July 2022 to 24 September 2023 and is open to scientists worldwide. The AO is now open,  and will be the last in the nominal mission. 

Full details, including the Policies and Procedures document (master document for the AO), together with all tools/manuals/information needed to prepare and submit observing proposals, can be found at: 

https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/cheops-guest-observers-programme/ao-3

I’d like to draw the attention of those of you who may not be so familiar with CHEOPS, to two presentations that provide an introduction to the mission and its capabilities. These can be found at:  

https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/cheops-guest-observers-programme/is-cheops-for-you-

The deadline for submission of proposals is 12:00 hrs GMT/13:00 hrs CET on 15 March 2022

Please send any questions to cheops-support@cosmos.esa.int

Best wishes,

Kate Isaak

ESA CHEOPS Project Scientist

(kate.isaak@esa.int)

Dear Colleagues, 

It is our pleasure to announce the fourth data release (DR4) from the ULLYSES (UV Legacy Library of Young Stars as Essential Standards) Director’s Discretionary program with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).  

ULLYSES DR4 includes data for 251 targets that are distributed as follows:

• Medium-resolution COS FUV spectra for 51 T Tauri stars, 31 of which also have customized calibrations of low-resolution STIS NUV-optical-NIR spectra. These customized calibrations include the de-fringing of G750L NIR spectra and tailored extraction of companions, see Proffitt et al. 2021.

• COS spectroscopic time series for the four T Tauri stars spectroscopically monitored over time with HST: TW Hya, BP Tau, RU Lup, and GM Aur.

• LCOGT photometric time series for 32 T Tauri stars (including TW Hya).

• STIS G230L, G430L, and G750L spectra of 8 low-mass stellar companions present in the long-slit observations of ULLYSES T Tauri targets

• Medium- and high-resolution UV spectra and associated high-level science products (HLSPs; co-added and abutted spectra) obtained with HST for 196 massive stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Spectra of the 178 targets previously included in DR3 now incorporate the latest calibration updates to CalCOS and CalSTIS products.

• Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spectra of 103 massive stars in the LMC and SMC. The highest level HLSPs include the HST and FUSE spectra abutted together.

• Drizzled WFC3 HLSPs of NGC 3109 in the F225W, F275W, F336W, F475W, and F814W bands. These images were used to estimate the SED and UV flux of the 3 ULLYSES massive, low-metallicity stars for which follow-up COS G140L/800 spectroscopy is planned. The corresponding photometry is included in the ULLYSES low-metallicity target page.

The data can be found at the data download webpage of the ULLYSES website (HLSPs and contributing data), the MAST Data Discovery Portal (HLSPs and contributing data), or directly at the HLSP collection for ULLYSES (HLSPs only). Complete data release notes describing the DR4 data products are available on the ULLYSES website.

For more information about the program and data, please visit the ULLYSES website. Questions regarding the program and data can be directed to the HST/ULLYSES helpdesk.

Kind regards,

The ULLYSES implementation team at STScI

You may opt-out from future generic messages by clicking this or cut and paste the following url into your browser: https://proper.stsci.edu/proper/subscriptions/optout/2xd1p_1ny

Dear colleagues!

The Fizeau exchange visitors program in optical interferometry funds (travel and accommodation) visits of researchers to an institute of his/her choice (within the European Community) to perform collaborative work and training on one of the active topics of the European Interferometry Initiative. The visits will typically last for one month and strengthen the network of astronomers engaged in technical, scientific, and training work on optical/infrared interferometry. The program is open for all levels of astronomers (Ph.D. students to tenured staff), with priority given to PhD students and young postdocs. Non-EU-based missions will only be funded if considered essential by the Fizeau Committee.

From January 2021 onwards, applications to travel to VLTI Expertise Centres have priority, given the new financial rules applying to the programme. Applicants are strongly encouraged to seek also partial support from their home or host institutions.

The deadline for applications is November 15 for visits to be carried out between mid-January 2022 and July 2022.

Further information and application forms can be found at

www.european-interferometry.eu 

The program is funded by OPTICON//RadioNET Pilot Program.

Please distribute this message also to potentially interested colleagues outside of your community!

Looking forward to your applications,

Josef Hron

(for the European Interferometry Initiative)

New dates and open registration for "Star Formation: From Clouds to Discs - A tribute to the career of Lee Hartmann"

In light of the easing of travel restrictions expected in the coming months, the organizers of the conference 'Star Formation: From Clouds to Discs', in honor of the career of Lee Hartmann, have decided to postpone the conference by two more months, to allow more participants to be able to attend in person. The conference will now go ahead from the 18th to 21st of October, 2021, in a hybrid format, including a mix of online and in-person talks and discussions. Due to the ongoing restrictions, the number of participants able to attend in person at the Grand Hotel Malahide, in Dublin, Ireland, will be limited according to Irish government and health authority guidelines.

Abstract submission (with the option of proposing a contribution either virtually or in-person) and registration are now open. The abstract submission deadline is 18th July, 2021. Early-bird registration ends on 18th August, 2021, while late registration for in-person attendance will be open until 18th September, 2021. We look forward to seeing you there.

https://www.dias.ie/cloudstodiscs/

Pre-registration is now available for Protostars and Planets VII meeting that is postponed about one year from the original schedule. (The original announcement was shown in Star Formation Newsletter No. 321.) This is NOT an official registration and you still need to sign up for the official registration when it is announced.

With this pre-registration, organizers will make a mailing list, to which announcements related to the conference will be posted. The organizers would also like to make an estimate of the number of potential participants to prepare the meeting. It should take only 3 minutes. Please visit the following website:

http://ppvii.org/pre-registration/index.html

Along with the pre-registration, we would like to collect your current intention of (a) the style of participation and (b) poster presentation. Currently, the organizers are planning to hold the conference in 21st - 27th March 2022 on-site in Kyoto. The organizers think that creative and active discussion in person will play an important role in conferences in general, and in particular for Protostars and Planets VII, as critical discussion on each review talk will greatly improve the quality of the PPVII Book that will be published after the meeting. We would like to create a book that would remain as a standard textbook for the next decade.

Thank you.

Scientific Advisory Committee:

João Alves (Austria), Philippe André (France), Isabelle Baraffe (UK), John Carpenter (Chile), Paola Caselli (Germany), Wen-Ping Chen (Taiwan), Kees Dullemond (Germany), Tristan Guillot (France), Alyssa Goodman (USA), Lynne Hillenbrand (USA), Thomas Henning (Germany), Shigeru Ida (Japan), Doug Johnstone (Canada), Inga Kamp (Netherlands), Mark Krumholz (Australia), Jeong-Eun Lee (Korea), Victoria Meadows (USA), Michael Meyer (USA), Richard Nelson (UK), Toshikazu Onishi (Japan), Eve Ostriker (USA), Ilaria Pascucci (USA), Yasuhito Sekine (Japan), Shogo Tachibana (Japan), Mario Tafalla (Spain), Ewine van Dishoeck (Netherland), and Jonathan Williams (USA)

List of Editors:

Shu-ichiro Inutsuka (Nagoya University, Chair), Motohide Tamura (University of Tokyo), Yuri Aikawa (University of Tokyo), Takayuki Muto (Kogakuin University), and Kengo Tomida (Osaka University)

The CARMA-NRO Orion Survey data first presented in Kong et al., enhanced with additional coverage of the L1641-C region to the south of the integral-shaped filament, is available online. 

The data includes position–position–velocity cubes for the molecular lines 12CO(1–0), 13CO(1–0), and C18O(1–0). The mapped region spans about 2.5 deg along the Orion A cloud in the north-south direction, providing an unprecedented overview of the extended molecular gas in this benchmark cloud.

Kong et al. and this research note should be cited when using these data.

SOFIA is pleased to invite proposals for the SOFIA Archival Research Program (SARP), aimed at encouraging the use of SOFIA archival observations for impactful science. This program funds archival research projects primarily using SOFIA data in the Infrared Science Archive (IRSA) and is open to all astronomers affiliated with a U.S. institution.

Two distinct types of proposals for the archival research program are solicited:

• Regular Proposals - Large programs requesting up to $150,000 per year, or more in exceptional cases, and lasting up to two years 

• Small Proposals - Targeted programs requesting up to $50,000 and lasting for one year This call is open to all U.S. institutions. 

Proposals are due February 12, 2021. Learn more here. 

This program complements the Astrophysics Data Analysis Program (ADAP) under the NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) solicitation. 

Over the next months, the SFN will move from Hawaii to Vienna. Over the transition period, that will take the SFN from PDF based to web based, some things will likely break. If you find problems, incorrect or missing information, or have suggestions on how to improve the SFN web, don't hesitate to send me a message.