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The Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) is responsible for soliciting and coordinating community input into the development and execution of NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP). It serves as a community-based, interdisciplinary forum for soliciting and coordinating community analysis and input in support of the Exoplanet Exploration Program objectives and of their implications for architecture planning and activity prioritization and for future exploration. It provides findings of analyses to the NASA Astrophysics Division Director.
The 33rd meeting will include presentations from leadership from the Habitable Worlds Observatory Mission and the Roman Space Telescope Project, talks on the latest developments from the exoplanet Science Interest Groups, early career scientists will present current research results and more. The open mic session provides an opportunity for attendees to bring suggestions and feedback directly to NASA and ExoPAG leadership.

Meeting of NASA's Physics of the Cosmos Program Analysis Group (PhysPAG) to discuss relevant topics and concerns for the community.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is anticipated to generate close to 30 petabytes of data during its five-year primary mission, heralding a new era of big data in astronomy. As data sets grow too large for personal computers, virtual science platforms offer a solution by providing cloud-based data processing and analysis capabilities.

The Roman Research Nexus is a science platform being developed to provide the astronomical community with a cloud-based computing environment for Roman data. It combines data-code proximity with a pre-configured software setup and real-time collaboration tools, making it easier for users to work with data and collaborate in teams. The platform includes pre-loaded notebook tutorials and scientific workflows tailored to specific astronomical use cases. Built on the JupyterLab environment, it allows users to create Jupyter Notebooks that integrate code, analysis results, data visualizations, and tools for working with astronomical images, spectra, and catalogs. Users will also be able to customize their environments and install their own software as needed.

This one-day workshop will provide the scientific community with an introductory overview of the Roman Research Nexus. In addition to offering hands-on training, we aim to gather feedback to understand the needs of the user community.

The workshop will include both directed training and independent exploration. The training will feature presentations and short tutorials, alternating with hands-on practical exercises focused on exploring several high-level workflows. Examples include an introduction to Roman data reduction tools, learning how to work with the ASDF file format, and using visualization and simulation tools such as Jdaviz (image visualization), Pandeia (Exposure Time Calculator), RIST (Roman Interactive Sensitivity Tool), Roman I-sim (Roman Image simulator), STIPS (Space Telescope Image Product Simulator), and WebbPSF for Roman (PSFs simulator). Attendees will also learn how to access and analyze state-of-the-art Roman simulations, as well as how to simulate their own data using the Roman simulation tools.

This course is aimed at astronomers and scientists at all stages of their education and careers. A basic knowledge of Python and familiarity with astronomical data concepts (e.g., data reduction, photometry) is expected. Prior experience with science platforms, Jupyter Notebooks, or the Roman mission is not required. This workshop requires registration. Participants will need personal computers and should set up Roman Research Nexus accounts in advance with help from the workshop organizers.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman) is the next NASA Astrophysics flagship mission and is currently planned for launch in fall 2026. As one of the core community surveys to be carried out during its prime mission, the Roman Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey (RGBTDS) will monitor approximately 1.4 square degrees toward the Galactic bulge with a cadence of about 12 minutes during six 72-day seasons spread over the five-year prime mission. One of the primary goals of the RGBTDS is to complete the census of exoplanets initiated by Kepler and TESS by using the microlensing technique to characterize the population of cold exoplanets beyond the snow line. Roman is expected to detect over 20,000 microlensing events, including thousands of bound and free-floating planets.

While an automated pipeline will provide a uniform analysis of most detections, many events will benefit from—or even require—more detailed, customized analyses. These events offer an unprecedented opportunity for the community to extract unique and transformational exoplanet science from the Roman survey.
Although the theoretical foundations of the microlensing technique are well understood, the method is often perceived as more conceptually challenging than other exoplanet detection techniques. Moreover, the exoplanet microlensing community has historically been small, and as a result, the field lacks the extensive infrastructure (e.g., publicly available data reduction and analysis codes, statistical tools, etc.) that supports other methods. Consequently, there exist significant barriers to entry for new researchers in the microlensing field.

This workshop aims to introduce the broader astronomical community to microlensing and encourage researchers to take advantage of the scientific opportunities provided by the RGBTDS, and in turn infuse the field with new perspectives, ideas, analysis techniques and methodologies. We will do this by lowering the barrier to entry through a well-curated data analysis challenge.

Specifically, the workshop will include:
• A brief introduction to microlensing by exoplanets, including hands-on tutorials using Python notebooks.
• A review of relevant publicly available analysis tools for microlensing data.
• An overview of the data challenge structure, levels, submission process, and timeline.
• A moderated hack session with expert tutors, where participants can familiarize themselves with simulated data products and available tools.

The target audience includes astronomers and scientists at all career stages who are interested in learning how to analyze microlensing events through participation in the data challenge. A basic understanding of astronomical concepts—particularly data analysis and reduction—is required, along with basic proficiency in Python.

Registration is required. Participants must bring their own laptops and install necessary software prior to the workshop.

Joint meeting of the three NASA program offices, Physics of the Cosmos, Cosmic Origins and Exoplanet Exploration. The Astrophysics community joins to discuss current topics and interests to the community.

This is the third of planned data challenge workshops on Roman slitless spectroscopy. We look forward to welcoming both returning and new participants.
In this session, we will first recap the basic spectroscopic capabilities of Roman (both grism and prism). We will then introduce a simulated data set, consisting of a complex scene “observed” with Roman slitless spectroscopy, and including a variety of source classes. We will then demonstrate the extraction of multiple sources from the simulated data set, building on the pedagogical Jupyter notebooks presented in earlier sessions. Finally, we will provide the guidelines of the data challenge for participants who wish to analyze the simulated data sets to identify and characterize objects of interest.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA flagship mission planned for launch no earlier than September 2026. The Roman Space Telescope will perform breakthrough science in dark energy cosmology, exoplanet microlensing, and NIR sky surveys with its Wide Field Instrument. Roman will also feature the Coronagraph Instrument (CGI), a technology demonstration that will directly image and take spectra of exoplanetary systems using several novel technologies together for the first time in space. This session will cover the status of the project and upcoming opportunities for community involvement in planning and executing the science and technology demonstration aspects of Roman.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is currently scheduled to launch no later than May 2027, and as early as September 2026. The recently released Call for Proposals includes support for analyzing the archival data as well as the opportunity to propose for new surveys.

This splinter meeting will equip attendees with the knowledge and resources needed to prepare competitive Roman proposals. Representatives from the Roman project and the Roman Science Centers at IPAC and STScI will provide updates on the implementation of community-defined surveys, available simulations, forthcoming data products, and the proposal process itself.

The session will also highlight essential tools that support understanding the community-defined surveys as well as proposal preparation and science planning. These include the Roman Telescope Proposal System (RTPS), the Astronomer’s Proposal Tool (APT), the Exposure Time Calculator (ETC), the Roman Image Simulator (Roman I-Sim), and the Roman Research Nexus, a powerful platform for collaborative research, data analysis, and community engagement.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is NASA's next flagship mission. It will conduct several large, ambitious surveys to address fundamental questions in Cosmology, Exoplanets, and Astrophysics. The mission is on track to launch in September 2026.

The Roman Project Infrastructure Teams (PITs) are responsible for developing and maintaining the infrastructural tools and capabilities needed to achieve the mission objectives and support community science collaborations. The PITs work closely with the Roman Project Science Office and mission partners at the IPAC and STScI Roman Science Centers.

With just over nine months remaining before launch, this session presents detailed work and deliverables of the PITs. The talks will inform the community about the tools developed by the PITs for Roman science and will allow the teams to benefit from community feedback.

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".

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) serves the astronomical community through the operation of multiple NASA flagship missions including the Hubble, Webb, and Roman Space Telescopes, the development of the MAST advanced data and science archives, including Kepler and TESS, and the dissemination of astronomical information to the broadest public audiences. Offering this breadth of resources to help the scientific community advance, STScI provides support and the primary user interface for Hubble, Webb and Roman.

The STScI Town Hall will serve as the center piece for our AAS 247 presence. We will report on the status of our existing and upcoming missions and describe new opportunities designed to advance astrophysics into the 2030s. In particular, we will present updates on Hubble and Webb operations and MAST support in light of the current budget constraints. We will describe the science opportunities afforded by Roman, scheduled for launch later in 2026. We will include a progress report on the JWST/HST Rocky Worlds Director’s Discretionary Time program and highlight synergies with the upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory. We will include time for discussion to receive community input regarding new capabilities and to answer questions about our activities in the coming year.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to revolutionize time-domain astrophysics (TDA) with its combination of wide-field imaging coverage and infrared sensitivity (~27.5 mag AB). Roman will be capable of discovering Galactic and Extragalactic transients and variables such as the electromagnetic counterparts of neutron star mergers (kilonovae), stellar mergers, tidal disruption events (TDEs), and supernovae. With its launch no later than May 2027, now is the ideal time for the community to prepare for time-domain science with Roman.

In order to enable time-domain science for the Roman astronomical community, the Roman Alerts Promptly from Image Differencing (RAPID) Project Infrastructure Team will provide the following four services:

- Rapid image-differencing of every new Roman Wide Field Instrument science image

- A public alert stream of transient and variable candidates from Roman difference images

- Photometry for every Roman transient source observed more than once in same filter (light curves)

- Forced photometry service at any sky location in available Roman data

The highest priority of RAPID is to generate and disseminate low-latency alerts from image differencing for every Roman imaging observation to enable timely multi-wavelength follow-up.

In this session, we will showcase prototypes of the RAPID services and products and engage with the AAS attendees to prepare for time-domain science with Roman. We will also seek community feedback to encourage a wide representation of science interests to utilize RAPID services. The session will include talks and demos from the RAPID team and invited speakers followed by a panel discussion.

Presentations

10:00 AM MT - 10:25 AM MT

Program Number: 424.01
Enabling Time-Domain Science for Roman with RAPID
Jacob Jencson, Caltech/IPAC.

10:25 AM MT - 10:35 AM MT
Program Number: 424.02
From Bogus to Real: Foundations for Subclassification in Rom...
Ashish Mahabal, Caltech; Roman RAPID, Caltech/IPAC.

10:35 AM MT - 10:45 AM MT
Program Number: 424.03
Roman hIgh-redshift transient SciencE (RISE): Enabling a Non...
Ori Fox, Space Telescope Science Institute; Lin Yan, California Institute of Technology; David Coulter, Space Telescope ...

10:55 AM MT - 10:55 AM MT
Perspective from an Alert Broker on Roman
Thomas Matheson, NSF's NOIRLab.

10:55 AM MT - 10:55 AM MT
Panel Discussion