TY - JOUR
T1 - Solar system science with the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope
AU - Holler, Bryan J.
AU - Milam, Stefanie N.
AU - Bauer, James M.
AU - Alcock, Charles
AU - Bannister, Michele T.
AU - Bjoraker, Gordon L.
AU - Bodewits, Dennis
AU - Bosh, Amanda S.
AU - Buie, Marc W.
AU - Farnham, Tony L.
AU - Haghighipour, Nader
AU - Hardersen, Paul S.
AU - Harris, Alan W.
AU - Hirata, Christopher M.
AU - Hsieh, Henry H.
AU - Kelley, Michael S.P.
AU - Knight, Matthew M.
AU - Kramer, Emily A.
AU - Longobardo, Andrea
AU - Nixon, Conor A.
AU - Palomba, Ernesto
AU - Protopapa, Silvia
AU - Quick, Lynnae C.
AU - Ragozzine, Darin
AU - Reddy, Vishnu
AU - Rhodes, Jason D.
AU - Rivkin, Andy S.
AU - Sarid, Gal
AU - Sickafoose, Amanda A.
AU - Simon, Amy A.
AU - Thomas, Cristina A.
AU - Trilling, David E.
AU - West, Robert A.
N1 - Funding Information:
First and foremost, the authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers who provided comments that helped to significantly improve and focus this paper. We would also like to thank Jeff Kruk for his comments and clarifications, as well as Ed Nelan and Jason Kalirai for their advice. Ray Villard and Lou Strolger at the Space Telescope Science Institute provided the information necessary for evaluating the public impact of solar system observations made with the HST. WFIRST is a NASA Astrophysics Science Division joint project of the Goddard Space Flight Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the California Institute for Technology’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. A portion of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This work made the use of the Minor Planet and Comet Ephemeris Service (IAU Minor Planet Center). M. T. Bannister appreciates support from the UK STFC Grant No. ST/L000709/1.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - We present a community-led assessment of the solar system investigations achievable with NASA's next-generation space telescope, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). WFIRST will provide imaging, spectroscopic, and coronagraphic capabilities from 0.43 to 2.0 μ m and will be a potential contemporary and eventual successor to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Surveys of irregular satellites and minor bodies are where WFIRST will excel with its 0.28 deg2 field-of-view Wide Field Instrument. Potential groundbreaking discoveries from WFIRST could include detection of the first minor bodies orbiting in the inner Oort Cloud, identification of additional Earth Trojan asteroids, and the discovery and characterization of asteroid binary systems similar to Ida/Dactyl. Additional investigations into asteroids, giant planet satellites, Trojan asteroids, Centaurs, Kuiper belt objects, and comets are presented. Previous use of astrophysics assets for solar system science and synergies between WFIRST, Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, JWST, and the proposed Near-Earth Object Camera mission is discussed. We also present the case for implementation of moving target tracking, a feature that will benefit from the heritage of JWST and enable a broader range of solar system observations.
AB - We present a community-led assessment of the solar system investigations achievable with NASA's next-generation space telescope, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). WFIRST will provide imaging, spectroscopic, and coronagraphic capabilities from 0.43 to 2.0 μ m and will be a potential contemporary and eventual successor to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Surveys of irregular satellites and minor bodies are where WFIRST will excel with its 0.28 deg2 field-of-view Wide Field Instrument. Potential groundbreaking discoveries from WFIRST could include detection of the first minor bodies orbiting in the inner Oort Cloud, identification of additional Earth Trojan asteroids, and the discovery and characterization of asteroid binary systems similar to Ida/Dactyl. Additional investigations into asteroids, giant planet satellites, Trojan asteroids, Centaurs, Kuiper belt objects, and comets are presented. Previous use of astrophysics assets for solar system science and synergies between WFIRST, Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, JWST, and the proposed Near-Earth Object Camera mission is discussed. We also present the case for implementation of moving target tracking, a feature that will benefit from the heritage of JWST and enable a broader range of solar system observations.
KW - Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope
KW - infrared imaging
KW - infrared space observatory
KW - infrared spectroscopy
KW - planets
KW - telescopes
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U2 - 10.1117/1.JATIS.4.3.034003
DO - 10.1117/1.JATIS.4.3.034003
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85051776284
SN - 2329-4124
VL - 4
JO - Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
JF - Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
IS - 3
M1 - 034003
ER -