ULTRASAT splinter at winter 2023 AAS meeting

All are invited to attend the hybrid splinter session, “Introducing ULTRASAT”, which will be held on January 11th 2023, 9:30-11:30 PST, in conjunction with the 241st American Astronomical Society meeting.  In-person AAS participants can join us in room 401 of the Seattle Convention Center.  Remote participation instructions will be posted under “Related Sessions” at https://pcos.gsfc.nasa.gov/physpag/meetings/AAS_Jan2023/

ULTRASAT is a near-ultraviolet imaging satellite with a wide field of view (200 square degrees) and a planned 2025 launch.  It is an international partnership led by Israel (Israeli Space Agency & Weizmann Institute of Science) in partnership with the United States (NASA) and Germany (DESY).   ULTRASAT will provide high cadence observations and rapid target-of-opportunity response, providing a powerful capability for time-domain and multimessenger astrophysics (TDAMM), and will have scientific applications from solar system studies to cosmology.  The goal of this splinter session is to introduce the mission to the US astronomical community by providing an overview of its scientific goals, its technical capabilities, its planned operations modes, and its current status.  We will further discuss aspects of US involvement.  These include the role of ULTRASAT in the NASA mission portfolio, and in fulfilling Decadal Survey recommendations including time-domain and multimessenger astrophysics; the US ULTRASAT archive; potential synergies with the Vera Rubin Observatory and other facilities; and finally the NASA proposal call for ULTRASAT Participating Scientists.