The TEMPO Survey II: Science Cases Leveraged from a Proposed 30-Day Time Domain Survey of the Orion Nebula with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

TL;DR

The TEMPO Survey II proposes a 30-day infrared observational campaign with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to explore exosatellites, planet formation, star variability, and extragalactic sources in the Orion Nebula.

Contribution

It presents simulated detection yields and outlines scientific goals for a novel deep, high-resolution infrared survey of the Orion Nebula.

Findings

Simulated detection of exosatellites orbiting free-floating planets and brown dwarfs.

Potential to constrain star and planet formation theories.

Deep extragalactic observations reaching magnitude 29.7 mag.

Abstract

The TEMPO (Transiting Exosatellites, Moons, and Planets in Orion) Survey is a proposed 30-day observational campaign using the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. By providing deep, high-resolution, short-cadence infrared photometry of a dynamic star-forming region, TEMPO will investigate the demographics of exosatellites orbiting free-floating planets and brown dwarfs -- a largely unexplored discovery space. Here, we present the simulated detection yields of three populations: extrasolar moon analogs orbiting free-floating planets, exosatellites orbiting brown dwarfs, and exoplanets orbiting young stars. Additionally, we outline a comprehensive range of anticipated scientific outcomes accompanying such a survey. These science drivers include: obtaining observational constraints to test prevailing theories of moon, planet, and star formation; directly detecting widely separated exoplanets orbiting young stars; investigating the variability of young stars and brown dwarfs; constraining the low-mass end of the stellar initial mass function; constructing the distribution of dust in the Orion Nebula and mapping evolution in the near-infrared extinction law; mapping emission features that trace the shocked gas in the region; constructing a dynamical map of Orion members using proper motions; and searching for extragalactic sources and transients via deep extragalactic observations reaching a limiting magnitude of $m_{AB}=29.7$\,mag (F146 filter).