[ASA] Planetary science and the Hubble Space Telescope

[Michele Bannister]

Dear ASA colleagues,

Solar System observations have played a major role in HST’s science program since its launch in 1990.  Planetary observations continue to figure prominently in HST’s annual schedule, particularly through Director’s Discretionary time, but the overall proposal pressure at the TAC has decreased in recent years. After consultation with the Space Telescope Users Committee, the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Director, Matt Mountain, has constituted an advisory committee to examine this issue and provide advice on future strategies for planetary science programs with HST. The committee is chaired by Prof. Phil Nicholson (Cornell) and the committee members are Michele Bannister (U. Victoria), Bonnie Buratti (JPL), Marc Buie (SWRI), Jean-Luc Margot (UCLA), Stefanie Milam (GSFC) and Glenn Orton (JPL).

The committee is charged with:
·      Reviewing the evolution of HST usage by the planetary community;
·      Soliciting input on the future role that HST can play in planetary science and on methods for increasing participation by the solar system community; and
·      Investigating potential mechanisms for coordinating HST science programs with priorities among the planetary community.

At the present juncture, we would like to solicit suggestions from the community on ways that HST could better support planetary science, including changes in the way that proposals are reviewed, observing time is allocated and how scientific priorities within the planetary regime could be defined and refined. 

Please submit your suggestions either in text form or as short (1-2 page) white papers to hstsolarsys at stsci.edu, or contact any of the committee members directly.

Best regards,

Michele.

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Michele Bannister
Postdoctoral Fellow, Outer Solar System Origins Survey
NRC Herzberg | University of Victoria
Victoria BC, Canada
http://www.astro.uvic.ca/~micheleb/