The Roman Coronagraph Community Participation Program: target database and tools

Abstract

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch in Fall 2026, will carry the Coronagraph Instrument, which will, for the first time, demonstrate high-contrast imaging with active wavefront control in visible wavelengths from space. In preparation for execution of the Coronagraph's commissioning and observing programs, the Roman Coronagraph Community Participation Program (CPP) has developed a target database and associated ecosystem of publicly accessible tools for observation planning and scheduling. The target database includes both stars and known sub-stellar companions and disks that may be observed by the Coronagraph instrument during its primary mission. Targets in the database include planet and disk hosts as well as calibration stars, reference stars, and engineering program targets. The database is designed to operate in conjunction with a variety of tools, including an exposure time calculator, a pointing and keepout calculator, and a reference star selection tool. Here, we describe the current schema and contents of the database and demonstrate how it and its associated tools are being used for observation planning.