Going on right now: the EU-ESA Workshop on Astrometric and Radar Observations of NEOs
https://indico.esa.int/event/590/
Oct 6–8, Frascati, Italy: European Space Research Institute (ESRIN)
Asteroids are distinguished from stars because they move; near-Earth asteroids are distinguished from Main Belters because they move fast. It is then our job to track these objects, derive an orbit (inward from the Main Belt, potentially intersecting Earth’s orbit), and derive it well enough to say something with confidence. This is astrometry: not just spotting a light in the sky, but measuring positions with a goal in mind. The experience of 2024 YR4 shows the challenges and importance of this job.
Modern telescopes get high image resolutions, but in just two dimensions (‘plane of sky’, or spherical astronomy), while orbits are in three dimensions. Radar, then, is quite complementary to our optical telescopes: a radar ping will get that third dimension, producing a unique solution, and dramatically speeding up the job of orbit determination. But we lost one of the world’s leading radars, Arecibo, in 2020. Europe has no official planetary radar, but many experiments have happened.
This meeting brings together some of the world’s best minds on the subject of astrometry, planetary radar, and in turn, orbit determination and hazard assessment:
Key Objectives
Assess current methodologies used to estimate and propagate astrometric and timing uncertainties
Promote the development of community guidelines on how to report and quantify uncertainties
Investigate new observational techniques and technologies (e.g., synthetic tracking, CMOS sensors, AI-assisted processing) and assess their impact
Discuss other sources of astrometry/asteroid position measurement such as radar, stellar occultations, and negative or precovery observations
Identify facilities and instruments that could contribute to precise astrometry
The meeting program fills out three days for a reason:
https://indico.esa.int/event/590/timetable/
Orbit determination and impact monitoring
Francesco Gianotto et al.- Asteroid orbit determination and impact monitoring at ESA: the Aegis software
Marco Fenucci- Advancing orbit determination and impact monitoring with ADES and high-precision astrometry: an example on 2024 YR4
Peter Veres- Identifying and Understanding Bad Tracklets: Inaccurate and Mis-Attributed Astrometry
Astrometric Observation Uncertainties
Dave J. Tholen- Computing Astrometric Uncertainties
Federica Spoto- On the uncertainties of astrometric observations
Joseph Masiero- Predicted astrometric uncertainty for NEO Surveyor tracklets
Francisco Ocaña- NEOCC side-activities enabling precision astrometry
Marco Micheli- High-precision astrometry at ESA NEOCC
Nicolo Stronati- Influence of the dynamic classification of asteroids on observation astrometric errors
Davide Bracali Cioci- Impact of Observation Time Uncertainty on Orbit Determination: An experiment with real data
Software and new technologies
Szabolcs István Velkei- NEODetect: An AI-based real-time system for faint NEO trail detection – latest enhancements for improved accuracy and usability
Herbert Raab- Astrometrica: Basic functions and practical application
Daniel Parrott- Exploring the Impact of Camera Timing on NEO Astrometry
Miguel R. Alarcon- sCMOS Detectors for NEO Observations: Opportunities and Challenges
Dora Fohring- Commissioning and First Light Results of ESA’s Flyeye-1 Telescope
Malin Stanescu- Synthetic Tracking on Umbrella (STU): Real-Time Near-Earth Object Detection Using GPU-Accelerated Processing
Astrometry from Space
Bryan Holler- The James Webb Space Telescope as a Planetary Defense Asset
Marc Buie- High-precision astrometry of moving targets with HST
Oscar Fuentes-Muñoz- Including Gaia FPR astrometry in the estimation of Main Belt Asteroid Masses
Tobias Hoffmann- Space-based NEO targets: opportunities and challenges
Margherita Maria Revellino- Analysis of NEOMIR’s detection capabilities given an astrometric precision of 0.2”
Stellar Occultation
Marc Buie- Occultation-based astrometry
Paolo Tanga- The role of stellar occultations in NEO astrometry
Radar observations
Anne Virkki- Physical characterisation of near-Earth objects using planetary radar observations
Alexander Kraus- The Effelsberg 100-m telescope and its potential for NEO observations
Giuseppe Pupillo- The ESA “NEO Observation Concepts for Radar Systems” Project and Beyond
Marco Alessandrini- Towards a European Planetary Radar: Concepts, Architectures, and Trade-offs