Vivian Hom and I have been developing FORGE (Field Observation, Retrieval, Generation, and Evaluation) as a reusable target-to-science workflow within the NASA Fornax Science Console.
The name reflects what we are trying to do: take a field or coordinate, retrieve the available archival data, generate standardized science products, evaluate the most promising structures, and turn the result into something reproducible enough to analyze, compare, and report.
Our first implementation, FORGE-Orion, began with three fields in Orion A. A candidate selected from near-infrared morphology was subsequently found to occupy a distinct molecular-kinematic environment. Using CARMA-NRO 12CO, 13CO, and C18O data, we extracted full spectra, compared one- and two-component models, and produced a three-tracer kinematic ladder. The morphology-selected candidate remains the broadest field across all three isotopologues.
We have now tested FORGE outside Orion using IC 349 / Merope in M45, a very different reflection-nebula environment. After progressively excluding the bright stellar core, FORGE recovered a stable SE–NW asymmetry at three independent mask radii. The signal is strongest in DSS2 Red, measurable in J, and weak in H/K, consistent with the known wavelength-dependent dust-scattering morphology around Merope. NASA/Hubble observations independently show structured dust wisps shaped by the Merope–cloud interaction and radiation pressure.
The current FORGE workflow includes:
- target/coordinate entry
- archival acquisition
- morphology screening
- radial and azimuthal structure analysis
- molecular moment maps
- PPV spectral extraction
- Gaussian model comparison
- tracer-dependent kinematic analysis
- automated figures and technical-report products
- a shared Jupyter dashboard
We have frozen the first Orion result as FORGE-Orion v0.1 and the M45 validation as FORGE M45 Validation v0.1.
We would welcome feedback from the Fornax community on reproducibility, scalable data access, FITS/cube visualization, provenance tracking, and whether user-built workflows like FORGE might eventually be surfaced more directly through the Science Console.
Terry
dennis.trevino@und.edu