We are a newly formed, budding research group dedicated to characterizing short-period exoplanets, their atmospheres and host stars. If you are interested in joining the activities of the group, please contact one of the space administrators.

Activities

What are we? We are a group composed of staff, analysts, students from STScI, JHU and beyond, working on exoplanetary science being done with transiting and/or radial-velocity planets: spanning from detection (e.g., transit surveys, RV surveys, etc.) to atmospheric characterization (e.g., ground-based low/high res transit spectroscopy, JWST, etc.).

Objectives of the group: We aim for this group to be a network for transiting and radial-velocity exoplanetary science at STScI in order to both foster collaboration and coordination within the Institute’s efforts, but also being a window to the different efforts astronomers at STScI are leading with their own external collaborations. 

Who can join the group? Anyone within the STScI and JHU communities — including direct collaborators at the Institute.

Context within STScI Priorities: This group also promotes strategic thinking about RV/transit exoplanet science as a response to the Decadal, and in support of current and future flagship missions.

Research Topics:

• Transiting exoplanet discovery
• Exoplanet atmospheres
• Radial-velocity surveys
• Planet formation
• Instrumentation

Activities

Internal (more details here):

• Monthly T-Rex group meeting: TBD
• Yearly Science Jamboree: Late Summer, exact date TBD

External:

• Exoplanets, Star & Planet Formation (ESPF) Seminar Series: Mondays at 3 pm (website and schedule)
• Exocoffee journal club: every other Monday at 9 am (website)

Depending on quorum:

• Space Telescope Proposal Sprint: Every week in the month leading to the proposal deadline (usually March for HST; exact dates TBD; tentatively December for JWST Cycle 2)
• Ground-based Telescope Proposal Fall Sprint: Every week in the month leading to the proposal deadline (usually September for most facilities)

Policies

• We abide by the AAS code of ethics.
• Ideas and work shared and/or discussed in T-Rex group activities and/or between members should be understood as proprietary of the person sharing them (unless credited to someone else). Any invitation to be part of that idea and/or work must be explicit and not be understood as arising simply for engaging in discussions on them.
• Collaboration (if any, including: proposals, papers, conferences, funding) within the group thus is not automatic, and needs explicit agreement between members.
• On “ideas”: group should be a hub for ideas, but proper credit must be given when used outside of the group (acknowledgments, co-authorship on proposals, papers, conferences, etc.).