The SAG15 report has been compiled between December 2015 and June 2017, based on community input from the EXOPAG, exoplanet, and NExSS communities. This page is an archive of the draft reports and relevant presentations. The final SAG15 report can be found on the SAG15 page.

About SAG15:

The SAG15 study is led by Daniel Apai (University of Arizona). The SAG15 team is charged with studying high-level science questions that can be answered by direct imaging studies of exoplanets and identifying the type and quality of data these studies require. The SAG15 study does not focus on any particular telescope architecture or observational method, but on the fundamental science questions.

 

SAG15 Report: SAG15 Report, June 18, 2017

Status Update

SAG15 Status Summary / EXOPAG 2017 Winter

SAG15 Report Drafts:
SAG15 Report Draft, June 17, 2017

SAG15 Report Draft, May 3, 2017  (Near-final version – please send comments by May 10)

SAG15 Report Draft, May 2

SAG15 Report Draft, April 27, 2017  (High resolution)

SAG15 Report Draft, April 26, 2017

SAG15 Report Draft, April 14, 2017 (High-res figures)

SAG15 Report Draft, April 4, 2017

SAG15 Report Draft, January 2, 2017

SAG15 Report Draft, 2nd December 15, 2016

SAG15 Report Draft, December 15, 2016

SAG15 Draft Report, December 14, 2016

SAG15 Draft Report, November 15

SAG15 Report, Advanced Draft, Oct 11

SAG15 Draft Report, October 6

SAG15 Draft Report, August 19

SAG15 Draft Report, August 16

SAG15 Draft Report, August 15

SAG15 Draft Report, August 10

SAG15 Report Draft, August 8

SAG15 Report Draft, July 13

SAG15 Report Draft, July 13

SAG15 Report Draft – July 12

Versions below typeset in Pages:

SAG15_Report Draft_High Level Science Question – June 11, 2nd

SAG15_Report Draft_High Level Science Questions – June 11

SAG15 Report Draft High Level Science Questions  – May 30

SAG15 Report Draft High Level Science Questions – May 29

SAG15 Report Draft High Level Science Questions – May 28

SAG15 Report Draft High Level Science Questions – May 9

SAG15 Report Draft High Level Science Questions – April 25

SAG15_Report Draft_High Level Science Questions – April 5

SAG15_Report Draft_Report_Feb5-2016

SAG15 Telecon Slides and Telecon summaries:

SAG15_Telecon3_Minutes (April 6, 2016)

SAG15 Telecon 2 slides (Apai, March 2, 2016)   SAG15 Telecon 2 Minutes

SAG15 Telecon 1 (Dec 2015)  SAG15 Telecon 1 Minutes

SAG15 Supporting Documents:

SAG15 Charter

ADS Library for SAG15-related publications

Link to ESA Phase 0 Studies for M4 Cosmic Vision Candidate Missions

The Search for Life, Science Fiction, Society

The current estimate for the number of stars with Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zone is about one in four, according to Dr. Daniel Apai Principal Investigator for Project EOS. Other researchers estimates range from as few as 5 percent to more than 100...

Porosity, Tetris, and de-fluffification

Porosity, Tetris, and de-fluffification

A closer look at dust particles Young planet-forming disks contain trillions of tiny microscopic dust particles. Even in the tenuous protoplanetary disk, these particles bump into each other every now and then, sticking together and growing larger and larger with...

Methods for Hunting Exoplanets

Methods for Hunting Exoplanets

“Usually the first thing you find in astronomy are the freaks,” said Dr. Travis Barman, Project EOS co-investigator and associate professor at the University of Arizona. “And the freaks tell you about the exceptions not the rule.” Exoplanets are illusive objects. They...

Hunting for Exoplanets: Direct Imaging

A strange and new extrasolar system was discovered by graduate research fellow and Project EOS collaborator Kevin Wagner, principal investigator for Project EOS Daniel Apai, and assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona Kaitlin Kratter, announced...

Planet-Forming Disks

The solar system formed when an enormous cloud of gas and dust began to collapse and rotate. As it spun faster and faster, it formed a disk which helped feed into forming the young sun in the center of it all.  From this disk, small particles of dust started sticking...

Climate Stability and a Hike along a Triassic Coral Reef

From the DistantEarths blog of Daniel Apai After two hours of hike up on a rocky trail in the Italian Alps, finally I stand at an elevation just above 2,500 meters, staring at a breathtaking and unique mountain range, the Dolomites, that holds an exciting clue to the...

Taking Pictures of Alien Worlds

We know of a lot of exoplanets. Most, though, we know of only by indirect means – typically via the planet occulting some of the starlight during an eclipse or changing the star’s velocity due to the planet’s own gravity. As of today (June 29, 2016) the exoplanet...

Building Planetary Systems: The Genesis Database

  The planets of our solar system formed out of a swirling disk of gas and dust billions of years ago. The material that accreted to become the Earth lacked water and organic material because it formed at a distance that was too close to the sun for such...