We are delighted to announce the “ULLYSES: Continuing the Voyage of Discovery“ workshop, to be held at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, USA March 11-14, 2024.

Abstraction submission is now open at the event webpage, with a deadline of January 5, 2024.

Registration will open in mid-December 2023 and close on February 12, 2024.

The workshop will follow a hybrid format, with in-person participation encouraged. For more information, please contact the organizing committee at ULLYSESWorkshop2024@stsci.edu.

Important dates:

• December 5, 2023: Abstract submission opens
• Mid-December, 2023: Registration opens
• January 5, 2024: Abstract submission closes
• February 12, 2024: Registration closes

Workshop rationale and goals

The observational phase of the HST Ultraviolet Legacy Library of Young Stars as Essential Standards (ULLYSES) program initiated by the STScl Director in 2019 was completed in 2023. ULLYSES provides a legacy spectroscopic UV dataset for studying star formation both locally and across the universe. The program consists of two components: ultraviolet-optical-infrared spectroscopy of T Tauri stars in star-forming regions of the Milky Way, and ultraviolet spectroscopy of metal-poor OB stars in the Magellanic Clouds and other nearby low metallicity dwarf galaxies. The dataset will establish a foundation for studying the final stages of low-mass star formation, and obtaining fundamental stellar parameters as a function of metallicity for high-mass stars. Although ground-based data contain much information necessary to advance understanding of these phenomena, ultraviolet spectroscopy provides powerful diagnostic information that cannot be obtained in any other way. This ambitious, multi-faceted project used 986 HST orbits in Cycles 27-29, making it the single largest program ever executed by HST. 

With the completion of the ULLYSES observations and ancillary programs, a variety of data products are now available, both from STScl and from the community. Initial results based on ULLYSES data are beginning to appear in the refereed literature. The time is ripe to review plans for scientific exploitation of the data, and launch new research initiatives for research in additional areas that utilize these foundational data, e.g., interstellar medium, star and galaxy formation at high redshift, and star-planet interactions.

Consequently, this workshop is conceived as a celebration of the "end of the beginning" of ULLYSES and a forum for the community to decide next steps. Its goals are to provide:

• A review of (and an advertisement for) the data collected under the auspices of ULLYSES;
• A status update on current on-going work;
• A forum for developing a roadmap to fulfill the promised goals of ULLYSES, and for planning community involvement in the analyses, through existing collaborations or otherwise;
• A forum to discuss what other data should be collected in the near term to further enhance the legacy value of the ULLYSES dataset 

In keeping with the workshop format, discussion of planning and practicalities will be emphasized. The importance of UV spectroscopy will be highlighted throughout, as well as its synergistic role in multi-wavelength analyses. Of special interest will be how the advances described in the HST Ultraviolet Legacy Science Definition WG report will be realized. 

SOC Members: 

Julia Roman-Duval (Chair), Sarah Betti, Catherine Espaillat, Will Fischer, Alex Fullerton, Miriam Garcia, Calum Hawcroft, Greg Herczeg, Sally Oey, Charles Proffitt, Ravi Sankrit, Jo Taylor