Abstract

Astrophysics facilities have been of tremendous importance for planetary science. The flagship space observatory Hubble Space Telescope has produced ground-breaking Solar System science, but when launched it did not even have the capability to track moving targets. The next astrophysics flagship mission, the James Webb Space Telescope, included Solar System scientists in its science team from the earliest days, with the result that Webb will launch with a diverse program and capabilities for Solar System exploration. The New Great Observatories, as well as future ground-based facilities, offer the opportunity for a robust suite of observations that will complement, enhance, and enable future Solar System exploration. We encourage the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey to overtly acknowledge the prospects for excellent Solar System science with the next generation of astrophysics facilities. We hope the Planetary Decadal will further encourage these missions to continue to formally involve Solar System scientists in the science working groups and development teams.

Highlights

  • There is a rich history of Solar System science using assets initially developed for deep-sky astrophysics

  • The Hubble Space Telescope has gone on to revolutionize many areas of Solar System research, including: evidence for Europa plumes (Roth et al 2014); studies of the Kuiper Belt and distant comets (e.g., Fraser and Brown 2012; Li et al 2020); context imaging and spectra for Mars missions (Bell and Ansty 2007); assessing the stability of atmospheric features on giant planets (e.g., Hueso et al 2020; Hsu et al 2019); imaging aurorae on giant planets (Yao et al 2019); characterizing the ocean interiors of giant planet satellites (Saur et al 2015); and discovering moons and a follow-up target for the New Horizons missions to Pluto and beyond (Porter et al 2018)

  • Whether the traditional path is followed to the increased aperture of an “overwhelmingly large telescope,” or whether a new trail is blazed into optical interferometry, there will undoubtedly be use cases for Solar System observations

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Summary

A Lesson from the James Webb Space Telescope

Endorsers of this white paper include: Geronimo Villanueva Michael DiSanti Katherine de Kleer Padma Yanamandra-Fisher Chick Woodward Agustin Sanchez-Lavega Anne Verbiscer Michael T. Roman Glenn Orton Conor Nixon W.M. Grundy Sushil Atreya Bryan Holler Pablo Santos-Sanz Yan Fernandez. Livengood Michael Kelley Estela FernándezValenzuela Britney Schmidt Dean C. Cartwright Jeff Cuzzi Patrick Fry Justin Garland Michael Sitko Sarah E. Becker Abigail Rymer Matthew Tiscareno Cristina Thomas Thibault Cavalié Adam McKay Laszlo Kestay (Keszthelyi) Max Mutchler

Introduction
Hammel part of JWST Medium-Deep Fields
Conclusion
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