2023-06-14 TSO WG Meeting notes

Nikolay Nikolov  mentions help desk ticked from Thomas Beatty, where the INT_TIMES array was set to zero in the uncal files for a NIRCam grismTS observation. The issue has been resolved with the latest reprocessing of uncal files

Nikolay Nikolov mentions that the Eureka! pipeline has become the standard tool for analysis of exoplanet transit spectroscopy on JWST to a large part of the community. Emphasis is made on the fact that Eureka! relies on the STScI pipeline for the first most fundamental steps of detector calibration effects. Nikolay Nikolov shares the opinion that the use of the STScI calibration pipeline is largely unnoticed by the community, despite the fact that the use is clearly detailed in the Eureka! documentation. Eureka! will be listed in the list of "Tools from the Community" resources for analyzing JWST data.

TSO WG discussed JDox updates and ways to incorporate community feedback into JDox. Overall conclusion is that there is a need of more manpower in case agile documentation is needed along with in-house data analysis owing to the growing number of opportunities of JWST data research.

Brian Brooks discussed upcoming JDox deadlines. TSO WG members should make sure the JDox recommended strategies align with the ETC recommendations.  

Nikolay Nikolov showed a summary and discussed the TSO observations for the past 14 days. All of the 12 observations have been successful and on archive covering 11 transiting exoplanets and one X-ray binary. Upcoming in the next 14 days are 8 scheduled observations and another 20 under scheduling or implementation status that may execute.

Nestor Espinoza discussed the progress on the planning, preparation and coordination of training focused on TSO program reviews. The training is intended for the four JWST instrument branches at STScI and consists of a 20-30min tutorial with a presentation and a Technical Memorandum, which will be available to the members of the four branches. The goal of this training is to spread the knowledge across the JWST branches at STScI to enable better distribution of knowledge, which will further improve TSO program reviews. Nestor Espinoza shared the presentation with TSO WG group members and discussed the contents of three parts: introduction to TSOs, technical requirements, review guidelines and troubleshooting known issues. All TSO WG members were invited to provide feedback, which was incorporated. 

Sarah Kendrew discussed a top level summary of data analysis of MIRI exoplanet TSOs from from Nicole Lewis (Caltech) and David Grant (Bristol) focused on the impact of odd/even effect on transit spectroscopy. Figures of the TSOs covering individual transits and eclipses show differences in the settling times and amplitudes of time series obtained from the odd vs even pixels. In addition, the corresponding spectra show substantial differences, including one being a mirrored image of another, which drastically changes the overall interpretation. These issues have been brought to the attention to the STScI and need to be addressed to make sure the community obtains reliable results from JWST MIRI TSOs.
Nestor Espinoza raises the question if team members from MIRI have looked into the data and eventually reproduced the results? Sarah Kendrew replies that one of the goals is to reproduce the results and work closely with Michael Regan to better understand the detector impact for the interpretation of the observed differences. Elena Manjavacas expresses a concern about the duration of the ramps and proposes that TSO WG looks for a solution of removing them from the data, or reducing them in the observations. 

Loic Albert mentions that NIRISS had 2 failures and a CR may have not been the cause for that, but rather a software issue; there was a TSO without the temperature control, which could have triggered the issue. Nestor Espinoza mentions that a quick check of the data did not show significant systematics in that TSO.