Clarification from the agency

All qualified candidates First consideration may be made 14 days after the opening date

The primary purpose of the position is to contribute to the confirmation and characterization of transiting planet candidates identified by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). At the developmental trainee level, assignments combine the performance of productive work with orientation and supervised on-the-job training in areas such as computer programming, developing and analyzing algorithms, data reduction and analysis, and documenting and organizing results.

Assignments are expected to allow the trainee to carry out progressively more difficult and responsible tasks.

Duties:

1. Participate in coordinating observations by TFOP Sub Group 1 (seeing limited light curve follow-up). This will involve a review of new photometric observations daily as they are uploaded to ExoFOP and recommending any changes needed to the observing priorities and planet candidate It may also involve regular scheduling and review of observations from the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) and other SAO-affiliated observatories. It will also involve searches of ExoFOP, the SG1 tracking spreadsheet, and the literature for previous follow-up light curve results.
2. Participate in the data reduction of LCO photometric observations. This will involve the analysis of LCO images to extract precise time-series differential photometric data using software tools such as AstroImageJ, uploading results to ExoFOP, and submitting them to the TFOP SG1 team.
3. Participate in maintaining the TFOP SG1 TOI List Google spreadsheet. This will involve updating dispositions, observing priorities, and TOI parameters on the SG1 TOI list. These updates will be from the joint analysis of available TESS data validation reports, TESS FFI data, and TFOP SG1 follow-up light It will also involve updating the SG1 TOI List with new TOI releases.
4. Support publication of the TFOP SG1 results. This will involve a joint assessment of all available SG1 data for potential inclusion in the joint modeling of the planetary system, communicating with lead and other key authors, and writing the supporting SG1 observations descriptions using LaTeX (typically on Overleaf).
5. Write, modify, test, maintain, and document software as needed to support the above duties. Identify needs for improved procedures and software and participate in implementation and Modify existing codes in response to approved needs. Write well-organized and maintainable new code as required to support the above duties. Document code and any modifications.
6. Perform other related duties as assigned.

Conditions of employment

• Pre and Post appointment background investigation.
• Electronic funds transfer/direct deposit is required for salary payment.

Basic Requirements:

A. Degree: in one or a combination of astronomy, physics, mathematics, space science, or electronics. The course work must have included differential and integral calculus and 12 semester hours in astronomy and/or physics.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience -- at least 30 semester hours of courses equivalent to a major in any combination of astronomy, space science, physics, mathematics, and electronics, with required course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

In addition to the basic requirements, candidates for grade 09 must also possess one of the following:

2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree

OR

1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 level in the normal line of progression for this occupation.  Specialized experience is an experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position such as experience with photometric transit observing, data reduction, interpretation of the results, and writing up the results using LaTeX for professional scientific journals. Skills should also include competency in Google Sheets programming, Overleaf, and coding in python. Experience with Java is a plus.

OR

Combination of successfully completed graduate level education and experience equivalent to the above.

Qualifications

Qualification requirements are derived from the Office of Personnel Management's Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on the web at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1300/astronomy-and-space-science-series-1330/ Qualification requirements must be met within 30 days after the closing date of the announcement.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. Applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

• Knowledge of physics or astronomy to be able to understand the basic scientific concepts pertaining to the analysis of transit light curve data, drawing conclusions, and organizing and summarizing results and other information.
• Knowledge of exoplanet transit observing using ground-based telescopes.
• Knowledge of extracting transit light curve data from image data.
• Knowledge of mathematics to develop and analyze algorithms and perform the necessary calculations to update planet candidate parameters and dispositions.
• Knowledge of a higher-level programming language such as Java and a scripting language such as python.
• Skill in oral and written communication, including knowledge of the LaTeX document markup language.