Letters of Intent received in 2019

LoI 2021-2110
GA Focus Meeting: "Synergy of small telescopes, large surveys, and space-borne data for advancing physics and dynamics of Solar System and exoplanetary bodies"

Topics

1) Contemporary and future sky surveys, radar, and space-borne data as a discovery and calibration tool for small ground-based telescopes, calibration of past and future data;
2) Advanced techniques for making contemporary measurements in astrometry, photometry, polarimetry, spectroscopy, occultations using small telescopes;
3) Big data and their methods for characterizing Solar and extrasolar system bodies;
4) Modeling Solar and extrasolar systems and its impact on the past, existent and future measurements.

Rationale

Contemporary and prospective sky surveys (Gaia, LSST, etc.), radar, space-borne data allow using these highly accurate measurements for calibrating data measured at the small telescopes, revealing their potential in time-domain astronomy. While the direct calibration embraces both the past archives of photographic and CCD data, the indirect one, like radar data, encompasses additional modeling orbital motion or/and other physical processes related to the bodies to be compared with the optical measurements made at the small telescopes. The sky surveys, space-borne data provide the discovery data necessary to follow up and confirm which can be done with the small telescopes. Sharing this experience and advanced techniques enlarge efficiency and facilitate using small telescopes and the past photographic data in contemporary planetary sciences. Similarly, smallsats as small space-based satellites (nanosatellites and cubesats) start also to be of interest to support larger missions and surveys, for instance, to improve prevision of exoplanets transits timing. Big data provided by the sky surveys, space probes require an application and development of special methods for detection new objects, classification and analysis data. These methods have the potential to be useful in image processing/analysis of small telescope archives. The Gaia survey also provides better calibrations for future and past observations of Solar System bodies. New methods for corrections of past observations, for census of data-mining in e.g. old photographic plates surveys, needs to be developed. Theoretical developments in the dynamics and physics of Solar System bodies and exoplanetary systems can help emphasize new features and properties to be detected/measured/checked in the measurements made at both small telescopes and large surveys.