Time-domain and multimessenger astronomy (MMA/TDA) targets demand rapid-response follow-up observations. In many cases, it is the only way to make discoveries and advance our understanding of the astrophysical phenomena, for example, kilonovae accompanying gravitational waves from compact object mergers, shock breakout in supernovae, prompt emission from GRBs, etc. Presently the MMA/TDA follow-up workflow requires wrangling disparate software packages and user interfaces. We present an end-to-end software tool for the community, the Gemini Observation and Analysis of Targets System (GOATS), which unifies and simplifies the workflow, particularly for Gemini follow-up observations. GOATS achieves this by integrating services from Gemini Observatory and its parent organization, NSF NOIRLab. From a single platform, GOATS enables enhanced target selection via NOIRLab's ANTARES alert broker, triggering of Gemini (and other facilities within the Astronomical Event Observatory Network), automated data retrieval from the Gemini Observatory Archive, and interactive data reduction and analysis through Gemini's DRAGONS software and NOIRLab's Astro Data Lab science platform. GOATS was successfully deployed in an end-to-end demonstration of real-time follow-up of Rubin/LSST alerts with NOIRLab facilities. As part of this demonstration, we selected targets from the Rubin alert stream and triggered follow-up observations within minutes of the Rubin detections. We obtained spectra for several targets and classified them as supernova of various types (Ia, IIP, Ib/c) with redshifts ranging from 0.05 to 0.35. By eliminating the need to manually connect tools and automating repetitive tasks, GOATS lowers the entry barrier and allows users to focus on the scientific interpretation of the observation results.

We present a new data reduction technique for unchopped spectroscopic data developed for the Far-Infrared Field Integral Line Spectrometer instrument on-board the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) to reduce spectral artifacts caused by large nod offsets. These large offsets are required to quantify the background without astronomical signal when large regions in the sky are mapped, e.g., in the Large Magellanic Cloud where reference beam offsets up to 1° can be needed. The technique uses the precipitable water vapor overburden derived from re-analyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts to determine the fraction of flux measured in each spatial and spectral pixel contributed by the atmospheric background. With that it is then possible to scale the reference measurement in the off beam to the sky elevation of the on source measurement. These large maps on SOFIA typically use the “on-the-fly” observing mode. The mode is highly efficient, but each point in the final map is integrated with multiple scans. Therefore artifacts from background subtraction do not only generate point by point offsets but can also degenerate the signal to noise ratio in each of the spectra since the sky background is often not spectrally flat.

We present the first astrophysical detection of methanol (CH _3 OH) in the torsional band near 25 μ m. Using high-resolution mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy, we identified over 70 gas-phase CH _3 OH absorption lines between 20 and 28 μ m toward the massive protostar NGC 7538 IRS 1 with the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy/Echelon-Cross-Echelle Spectrograph. We derive a temperature of 180 K and a total column density of 2 × 10 ^17 cm ^−2 , comparable to submillimeter measurements. Complementary analysis of acetylene (C _2 H _2 ) absorption lines is also included. Both CH _3 OH and C _2 H _2 reveal an unresolved second velocity component. These MIR absorption lines likely probe the molecular material in two edge-on disks, supporting the scenario that NGC 7538 IRS 1 consists of multiple protostars. We provide an updated line list for the torsional band of CH _3 OH, which was generated from lab work and model calculations. This discovery and the updated line list will enable the search for CH _3 OH in JWST/MIRI spectra.

We present the [O III ] λ 52 μ m map of the dwarf galaxy IC 10 obtained with the Field-Imaging Far-Infrared Line Spectrometer on board the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. We combine the [O III ] λ 52 μ m map with Herschel and Spitzer observations to estimate the electron density distribution of the brightest H ii regions of IC 10. We find that the line ratio [O III ] λ 88 μ m/[O III ] λ 52 μ m gives electron density ( n _e ) values ( n _e [O III] ) that cover a broad range, while the n _e values obtained using the line ratio [S III ] λ 33 μ m/[S III ] λ 18 μ m ( n _e [S III] ) are all similar within the uncertainties. n _e [O III] is similar to n _e [S III] for the M1, M2, and A1 regions, and it is higher than n _e [S III] for the two regions, A2 and M1b, which are the brightest in the 24 μ m continuum emission. These results suggest that for these regions, the two ions, O ^++ and S ^++ , trace two different ionized gas components and that the properties of the ionized gas component traced by the O ^++ ion are more sensitive to the local physical conditions. In fact, while the gas layer traced by [S III ] does not keep track of the characteristics of the radiation field, the n _e [O III] correlates with the star formation rate, the dust temperature, and the 24 μ m. Therefore, n _e [O III] is an indicator of the evolutionary stage of the H ii region and the radiation field, with higher n _e [O III] found in younger star-forming regions and in more energetic environments.

The Gemini High-resolution Optical SpecTrograph (GHOST) at Gemini South started regular queue operations in early 2024, bringing a long-sought open-access capability to the astronomy community. This research note briefly describes an effort to provide easy-to-access reduced spectra for GHOST programs from all Gemini partner countries and encourage prompt data exploration and analysis. Since March 2024, over 4500 spectra have been reduced and made available to principal investigators (PIs). The aim is to increase demand for GHOST and expedite the publication of scientific results.

We present results of a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) UBVI-band study of star clusters in tidal tails, using new WFC3 and ACS imaging to complement existing WFPC2 data. We survey 12 tidal tails across seven merging systems, deriving ages and masses for 425 star cluster candidates (SCCs). The stacked mass distribution across all systems follows a power law of the form $dN/dM \propto M^{\beta}$, with $\beta = -2.02 \pm 0.15$, consistent with what is seen in other star forming environments. GALEX and Swift UV imaging provide star formation rates (SFRs) for our tidal tails, which when compared with ages and masses of our SCCs, allows for a determination of the cluster formation efficiency (CFE). We find the CFE increases with increasing SFR surface density, matching the theoretical model. We confirm this fit down at SFR densities lower than previously measured (log $\Sigma_\text{SFR} \: (\text{M}_\odot \: \text{yr}^{-1} \: \text{kpc}^{-2}) \approx -4.2$), as related to the CFE. We determine the half-light radii for a refined sample of 57 SCCs with our HST WFC3 and ACS imaging, and calculate their dynamical age, finding the majority of them to be gravitationally bound. We also provide evidence of only low-mass ($< 10^4 \: \text{M}_\odot$) cluster formation in our nearest galaxy, NGC 1487, consistent with the theory that this system is a dwarf merger.

The astronomical community is grappling with the increasing volume and complexity of data produced by modern telescopes, due to difficulties in reducing, accessing, analyzing, and combining archives of data. To address this challenge, we propose the establishment of a coordinating body, an "entity," with the specific mission of enhancing the interoperability, archiving, distribution, and production of both astronomical data and software. This report is the culmination of a workshop held in February 2023 on the Future of Astronomical Data Infrastructure. Attended by 70 scientists and software professionals from ground-based and space-based missions and archives spanning the entire spectrum of astronomical research, the group deliberated on the prevailing state of software and data infrastructure in astronomy, identified pressing issues, and explored potential solutions. In this report, we describe the ecosystem of astronomical data, its existing flaws, and the many gaps, duplication, inconsistencies, barriers to access, drags on productivity, missed opportunities, and risks to the long-term integrity of essential data sets. We also highlight the successes and failures in a set of deep dives into several different illustrative components of the ecosystem, included as an appendix.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is capable of delivering an unprecedented all-sky, high-spatial resolution, multi-epoch infrared map to the astronomical community. This opportunity arises in the midst of numerous ground- and space-based surveys that will provide extensive spectroscopy and imaging together covering the entire sky (such as Rubin/LSST, Euclid, UNIONS, SPHEREx, DESI, SDSS-V, GALAH, 4MOST, WEAVE, MOONS, PFS, UVEX, NEO Surveyor, etc.). Roman can uniquely provide uniform high-spatial-resolution ( 0.1 arcsec) imaging over the entire sky, vastly expanding the science reach and precision of all of these near-term and future surveys. This imaging will not only enhance other surveys, but also facilitate completely new science. By imaging the full sky over two epochs, Roman can measure the proper motions for stars across the entire Milky Way, probing 100 times fainter than Gaia out to the very edge of the Galaxy. Here, we propose NANCY: a completely public, all-sky survey that will create a high-value legacy dataset benefiting innumerable ongoing and forthcoming studies of the universe. NANCY is a pure expression of Roman's potential: it images the entire sky, at high spatial resolution, in a broad infrared bandpass that collects as many photons as possible. The majority of all ongoing astronomical surveys would benefit from incorporating observations of NANCY into their analyses, whether these surveys focus on nearby stars, the Milky Way, near-field cosmology, or the broader universe.

SOFIA was an airborne observatory for far-infrared astronomy stationed at the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA, USA. Although SOFIA flew at altitudes of ∼41,000 ft, any far-infrared observations from within the Earth’s atmosphere are nevertheless hampered by water vapor absorbing the astronomical signal. The primary atmospheric parameter governing absorption at far-infrared wavelengths is the total upward precipitable water vapor (PWV). In this paper we present a method of deriving PWV values directly from low resolution ( R ∼ 100–200) mid-infrared (5–40 μ m) spectroscopic observations and apply it to low resolution grism spectra obtained with the FORCAST instrument on-board SOFIA. We then compare these values with those determined from the fifth European Re-analysis (ERA5) of the global atmospheric parameters provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) for the time and altitude corresponding to the SOFIA observations. In general, we find a very good correlation between the ERA5-ECMWF values and the values derived from the FORCAST grism spectra, especially for high signal-to-noise ratio data. These results indicate that ERA5-ECMWF PWV values can be used to generate the telluric corrections for FORCAST imaging data as well as grism spectra for which the PWV values cannot be determined directly. We also derive the resolving power of the various grism and slit width combinations for FORCAST. Our results will be useful for reprocessing the FORCAST data in the SOFIA archive.

DRAGONS (Data Reduction for Astronomy from Gemini Observatory North and South) is a platform for the reduction and processing of astronomical data. The Python-based, open-source package includes infrastructure for automation and algorithms for the processing of imaging and spectroscopic data, up to the analysis-ready stage. DRAGONS currently focuses on the reduction of Gemini data, although it allows for support of data from other instruments and telescopes through third-party extensions. Its latest release (v3.1) enables automated reduction of all currently-active Gemini imaging facility instruments, as well as optical longslit spectroscopic data, acquired with GMOS.

The heart of the Large Magellanic Cloud, 30 Doradus, is a complex region with a clear core-halo structure. Feedback from the stellar cluster R136 has been shown to be the main source of energy creating multiple parsec-scale expanding-shells in the outer region, and carving a nebula core in the proximity of the ionization source. We present the morphology and strength of the magnetic fields ( B -fields) of 30 Doradus inferred from the far-infrared polarimetric observations by SOFIA/HAWC+ at 89, 154, and 214 μ m. The B -field morphology is complex, showing bending structures around R136. In addition, we use high spectral and angular resolution [C ii ] observations from SOFIA/GREAT and CO(2-1) from APEX. The kinematic structure of the region correlates with the B -field morphology and shows evidence of multiple expanding-shells. Our B -field strength maps, estimated using the Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi method and structure-function, show variations across the cloud within a maximum of 600, 450, and 350 μ G at 89, 154, and 214 μ m, respectively. We estimated that the majority of the 30 Doradus clouds are subcritical and sub-Alfvénic. The probability distribution function of the gas density shows that the turbulence is mainly compressively driven, while the plasma beta parameter indicates supersonic turbulence. We show that the B -field is sufficient to hold the cloud structure integrity under feedback from R136. We suggest that supersonic compressive turbulence enables the local gravitational collapse and triggers a new generation of stars to form. The velocity gradient technique using [C ii ] and CO(2-1) is likely to confirm these suggestions.

We present the characterization and definitive flux calibration of the Far-infrared Field Integral Line Spectrometer (FIFI-LS) instrument on board SOFIA. The work is based on measurements made in the laboratory with an internal calibrator and on observations of planets, moons, and asteroids as absolute flux calibrators made during the entire lifetime of the instrument. We describe the techniques used to derive flat fields, water vapor column estimates, detector linearity, spectral and spatial resolutions, and absolute flux calibration. Two sets of responses are presented, before and after the entrance filter window was changed in 2018 to improve the sensitivity at 52 μ m, a wavelength range previously not covered by PACS on Herschel. The relative spectral response of each detector and the illumination pattern of the arrays of the FIFI-LS arrays are derived using the internal calibrator before each observational series. The linearity of the array response is estimated by considering observations of bright sources. We find that the deviation from the linearity of the FIFI-LS arrays affects the flux estimations by less than 1%. The flux calibration accuracy is estimated to be 15% or better across the entire wavelength range of the instrument. The limited availability of sky calibrators during each observational series is the major limiting factor of the flux calibration accuracy.

High-resolution spectra with iSHELL on IRTF in the K and M bands of the young, heavily accreting B1.5Ve star MWC 297 show numerous double-peaked CO lines. These CO lines originate in an inclined gaseous disk in Keplerian rotation. MWC 297 is the only early B star known to show a Keplerian disk in CO. Analysis of the spectra shows that ^12 CO 1–0 is optically thick for the low excitation lines. Even the ^13 CO 1–0 and ^12 CO 2–1 have somewhat optically thick lines at low J levels. We find that the CO emission in the disk can be fitted with CO being in a narrow ring at a radius of 12 au, with a temperature of 1500 K and a CO column density of 1.6 × 10 ^18 cm ^−2 . This model underestimates the line strength of high- J lines, indicating that they are excited by fluorescence. The CO overtone lines have a similar temperature. The ^13 CO lines are much brighter than expected from interstellar isotope ratios. The ^13 CO lines are wider than the ^12 CO ones, suggesting different excitation conditions. The same is true for ^12 CO 2–1. We see strong absorption in ^12 CO and ^13 CO 1–0 at low J levels, which is due to two cold foreground clouds. These clouds, one with a temperature of 8.3 K and a column density of 6.7 10 ^17 cm ^−2 and the other one colder and with lower column density, can fully account for the observed extinction toward MWC 297.

MWC 297 is a young, early-type star driving an ionized outflow and surrounded by warm, entrained dust. Previous analyses of near-and mid-IR interferometric images suggest that the emission at these wavelengths arises from a compact accretion disk with a moderate (i < 40 degrees) inclination. We have obtained 5-40 mu m images of MWC 297 with FORCAST on SOFIA, as well as near-infrared spectra acquired with SpeX on the IRTF and radio data obtained with the VLA and BIMA, and supplemented these with archival data from Herschel/PACS and SPIRE. The FORCAST images, combined with the VLA data, indicate that the outflow lobes are aligned nearly north-south and are well separated. Simple geometrical modeling of the FORCAST images suggests that the disk driving the outflow has an inclination of 55 degrees +/- 5 degrees, in disagreement with the results of the interferometric analyses. Analysis of the SpeX data, with a wind model, suggests the mass-loss rate is on the order of 6.0 +/-(3.7)(1.7) X 10(-7) M-circle dot; yr(-1)and the extinction to the source is AV similar to 8.1 +/-(2.5)(1.5) mag. We have combined our data with values from the literature to generate the spectral energy distribution of the source from 0.35 mu m to 6 cm and estimate the total luminosity. We find the total luminosity to be about 7900 L-circle dot, if we include emission from an extended region around the star, only slightly below that expected for a B1.5V star. The reddening must be produced by dust along the line of sight, but distant from the star.

iSHELL is a 1.06–5.3 μm high spectral resolution spectrograph built for the 3.2 m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Maunakea, Hawaii. Dispersion is accomplished with a silicon immersion grating in order to keep the instrument small enough to be mounted at the Cassegrain focus of the telescope. The white pupil spectrograph produces resolving powers of up to about R ≡ λ/δλ = 80,000 (0.″375 slit). Cross-dispersing gratings mounted in a tiltable mechanism allow observers to select different wavelength ranges and, in combination with a slit wheel and Dekker mechanism, slit widths ranging from 0.″375 to 4.″0 and slit lengths ranging from 5″ to 25″. One Teledyne 2048 × 2048 HAWAII-2RG array is used in the spectrograph, and one Raytheon 512 × 512 Aladdin 2 array is used in a 1–5 μm slit viewer for object acquisition, guiding, and scientific imaging. iSHELL has been in productive regular use on IRTF since first light in 2016 September. In this paper we discuss details of the science case, design, construction and astronomical use of iSHELL.

Interstellar dust extinction curves provide valuable information about dust properties, including the composition and size of the dust grains, and are essential to correct observations for the effects of interstellar dust. In this work, we measure a representative sample of near-infrared (NIR; 0.8–5.5 μ m) spectroscopic extinction curves for the first time, enabling us to investigate the extinction at wavelengths where it is usually only measured in broad photometric bands. We use IRTF/SpeX spectra of a sample of reddened and comparison stars to measure 15 extinction curves with the pair method. Our sample spans A ( V ) values from 0.78 to 5.65 and R ( V ) values from 2.43 to 5.33. We confirm that the NIR extinction curves are well fit by a power law, with indices and amplitudes differing from sight line to sight line. Our average diffuse NIR extinction curve can be represented by a single power law with index α = 1.7, but because of the sight line-to-sight line variations, the shape of any average curve will depend on the parental sample. We find that most of the variation in our sample can be linked to the ratio of total-to-selective extinction R ( V ), a rough measurement of the average dust grain size. Two sight lines in our sample clearly show the ice extinction feature at 3 μ m, which can be fitted by a modified Drude profile. We find tentative ice detections with slightly over 3 σ significance in two other sight lines. In our average diffuse extinction curve, we measure a 3 σ upper limit of A (ice)/ A ( V ) = 0.0021 for this ice feature.

We describe the data processing of the Survey on extragALactic magnetiSm with SOFIA (SALSA Legacy Program). This first data release presents 33% (51.34 hr out of 155.7 hr, including overheads) of the total awarded time from 2020 January to 2021 December. Our observations were performed using the newly implemented on-the-fly mapping (OTFMAP) technique in the polarimetric mode. We present the pipeline steps to obtain homogeneously reduced high-level data products of polarimetric maps of galaxies for use in scientific analysis. Our approach has a general design and can be applied to sources smaller than the field of view of the HAWC+ array in any given band. We estimate that the OTFMAP polarimetric mode offers a reduction of observing overheads by a factor 2.34 and an improvement in sensitivity by a factor 1.80 when compared to the same on-source time polarimetric observations using the chopping and nodding mode. The OTFMAP is a significant optimization of the polarimetric mode of HAWC+, as it ultimately reduces the cost of operations of HAWC+/SOFIA by increasing the science collected per hour of observation up to an overall factor of 2.49. The OTFMAP polarimetric mode is the standard observing strategy of SALSA. The results and quantitative analysis of this first data release are presented in Papers IV and V of the series.

We present new and archival SOFIA FIFI-LS far-IR spectroscopic observations of the [O III] 52 pm and/or the [N III] 57 mu m lines of 25 local galaxies. Including 31 other galaxies from Herschel-PACS, we discuss a local sample of 47 galaxies, including the H II galaxies, luminous IR galaxies, low-metallicity dwarfs, and Seyfert nuclei. Analyzing the mid- to far-IR fine-structure lines of this sample, we assess the metallicity and compare it with the optical spectroscopy estimates. Using the IR, we find an O/H-N/O relation similar to that known in the optical. Conversely, we find systematically lower N/O IR abundances when compared to the optical determinations, especially at high values of N/O (log(N/O)> -0.8). We explore various hypotheses to account for this difference: (i) difference in ionization structure traced by optical (O+, N+ regions) versus IR lines (O2+, N2+ regions), (ii) contamination of diffuse ionized gas affecting the optical lines used to compute the N/O abundance, and (iii) dust obscuration affecting the optical-based determinations. However, we have not found any correlation of Delta(N/O) = (N/O)(OPT) - (N/O)(IR )with ionization, or electron density, or optical extinction. We speculatively suggest that the accretion of metal-poor gas from the circumgalactic medium could provide an explanation for this difference because the rapid decrease of total abundances during infall is followed by a N/O ratio decrease due to the primary production of young-possibly embedded-massive stars, which are preferentially traced by the IR diagnostics, while optical diagnostics would better trace the secondary production, when both N/O and O/H abundance ratios increase.

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is an airborne observatory for far-infrared astronomy stationed at the Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) in Palmdale, CA, USA. Although SOFIA flies at altitudes of ∼41,000 ft, any far-infrared observations from within the Earth’s atmosphere are nevertheless hampered by water vapor absorbing the astronomical signal. The primary atmospheric parameter governing absorption in the far-infrared is the total upward precipitable water vapor, PWV. In this paper we present global PWV maps derived from re-analyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF, with a geographical resolution of 0.°5, for flight altitudes ranging from 37,000 ft to 45,000 ft and each meteorological season. These maps were validated with FIFI-LS PWV measurements on board SOFIA and allow an investigation of the global morphology and seasonal dependence of the total upward PWV in the stratosphere. We additionally investigate the observing conditions, in terms of PWV, at various locations, especially around SOFIA’s home base, Palmdale, but also around sites in the southern hemisphere like Tahiti, Santiago de Chile (Chile), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Christchurch (New Zealand). From the southern sites investigated Christchurch provides the best conditions in terms of PWV (and efficiency), Tahiti the worst. Using total power sky measurements with FIFI-LS we also derive a mean emissivity of the telescope (primary, secondary and tertiary mirror) of ϵ Tel = 20.5 ± 1.6% around the astronomically significant [C ii] emission line. We finally compare atmospheric re-analyses from GEOS (MERRA-2) and ECMWF (ERA5) to our FIFI-LS PWV measurements. Both re-analyses correlate linearly with our FIFI-LS PWV measurements from all flight altitudes but with different scaling factors. However, MERRA-2 correlates significantly less well than ERA5 especially for flight altitudes below 41,000 ft.