Summary
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled for launch by October 2026, will revolutionize astronomy with its widefield slitless spectroscopy capabilities. This technique captures spectra from every object in the field of view, enabling detailed studies of stars, galaxies, black holes, and the large-scale structure of the universe. As the mission approaches, the scientific community must be prepared to effectively handle and analyze this data, with the first call for proposals anticipated in fall 2025.
This session is the first part of a Roman spectroscopic data challenge, and offers a gentle introduction to slitless spectroscopy, with a focus on the Roman Space Telescope's spectroscopic capabilities. This data challenge aims to:
1) Familiarize the community with Roman's powerful spectroscopic capabilities.
2) Develop, utilize, and enhance data simulation and analysis methods, including combining spectroscopy and imaging data, and using a variety of postprocessing techniques.
3) Train and foster collaborations among future users of Roman.