Call for Survey Feedback

Deadline: 8 September 2023 24:00 Pacific

Submit here using this Google form. 

Context

Exoplanet science was highlighted as a key science area for the 2020s in the Astro2020 Decadal Survey. HST and JWST provide unique technical capabilities that enable precision investigations of planet formation, structure and evolution. These investigations will lay the foundations for the future flagship missions highlighted by the 2020 Decadal Survey, particularly the Habitable Worlds Observatory.

As such, the Director of STScI has formed a working group charged with providing guidance on optimal strategies for maximizing the scientific return from HST and JWST spectroscopic and imaging observations of planetary systems. [link to charter]. This includes general strategic advice, but also the opportunity for a large Director’s Discretionary Time program of ~500 hours. 

This survey

This survey is one avenue for the community to provide input to the working group, through quick anonymized written responses. The accompanying call for white papers is another avenue for longer and more detailed input. STScI will manage this survey, collate demographic information, and send the anonymized responses to the working group. Please note that all responses will be given full consideration and there is no need for members of the community to coordinate multiple, repeated responses. The goal of the survey is to make sure that all ideas from the community are heard and used to inform the effort of this working group. For the DDT program, we are particularly interested in ideas above and beyond what would be able to make it through the normal TAC process.

This survey consists of three sections:

1. Pre-filled options: Demographic and prior HST/JWST use information, to ensure voices from across the astronomical community are represented and heard (with personal identity questions optional)

2. Word-limited responses: Specific prompts for open-ended responses about maximizing the exoplanet science return from HST and JWST as regards:

   • Key science themes that should be prioritized for future JWST and HST observations (e.g. GO, DDT, archival, multi-cycle programs)

   • Advice on optimal timing for substantive follow-up observations and mechanisms for enabling exoplanet science with HST and/or JWST

   • The appropriate scale of resources likely required to support exoplanet science with HST and/or JWST (e.g., number of orbits/hours, financial support, scheduling priority, etc.)

   • A specific concept for a large-scale (~500 hours) Director’s Discretionary exoplanet program to start implementation by JWST Cycle 3.

3. Space for any additional feedback

We expect the survey to take roughly 10-15 minutes to complete, but we welcome more in-depth responses in submissions to the white paper call. This survey will be open until Friday, September 8, 2023. Please share it!