[BAA-ebulletin 00950] Invitation to Exoplanet Observation Workshop in support of the TWINKLE and ARIEL space missions

[BAA electronic bulletins service]

Dear BAA Member,

We would like to invite interested observers to a workshop at the Royal 
Astronomical Society on the afternoon of Monday, 9th January 2017 to explore 
amateur involvement in support of the proposed TWINKLE and ARIEL space 
missions. The workshop will be held in the Council Room of the Royal 
Astronomical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BQ.

The aim of the workshop is to take the first steps in setting up a worldwide 
group of amateur observers able to provide ground-based support for 
measuring photometric variability of space mission target stars, including 
exoplanet transits.

TWINKLE is an independent mission to characterise the atmospheres of around 
100 hot, bright exoplanets observed from Earth-orbit. The mission is led by 
University College London and Blue Skies Space Ltd. It will be built by 
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd involving a consortium of over 15 
institutions across the UK, and scheduled for launch in 2019. ARIEL is a 
more ambitious exoplanet mission in which observations are planned from the 
L2 position in space, due for launch about 2026.

EXOPLANET WORKSHOP Agenda - Monday 9th January

1:30 - Coffee / tea on arrival
2:00 - 2:15 - Welcome, introduction to the Twinkle mission  (Jonathan 
Tennyson, Twinkle Senior Advisor)
2:15 - 2:25 - Twinkle's target list  (Giovanna Tinetti, Twinkle Science 
Lead)
2:25 - 2:40 - Twinkle's instrumentation and ground-based/amateur 
observations required in support of the mission  (Giorgio Savini, Twinkle 
Payload Lead)
2:40 - 2:50 - Groundbased support via the BAA Observing Sections  (Richard 
Miles, Roger Pickard, BAA)
2:50 - 2:55 - Europlanet workshops and ground-based campaign in support of 
Rosetta  (Anita Heward)
2:55 - 3:05 - Connected Telescope Project  (Marco Rocchetto, Konica Minolta)
3:05 - 4:45 - Discussion on next steps
            - Mechanisms for communicating and sharing data
            - Further groups to involve
            - Roles and responsibilities
            - Planning for Europlanet workshop
4:45 - 5:00 - Summary

As a follow-up to this initial UK-focused workshop, the plan is to submit a 
proposal to the Europlanet organisation for funding a 2-day international 
workshop (most probably to be held in London) to progress amateur 
observational support of TWINKLE, ARIEL, Gaia and other exoplanet missions.

Despite the rather short notice, we hope that a good number of interested 
observers will be able to participate in this first workshop. If you are 
planning to attend then do please let us know in advance by e-mailing the 
undersigned (R. Miles). Many thanks.


Richard Miles, BAA Asteroids and Remote Planets Section Director
rmiles [at] baa [dot] u-net [dot] com

pp.
Roger Pickard, BAA Variable Star Section Director
Anita Heward, Communications Manager, Twinkle Space Mission
Giovanna Tinetti, Twinkle Science Lead
Giorgio Savini, Twinkle Payload Lead
Jonathan Tennyson, Twinkle Senior Advisor


Message sent on:  2016 December 16 18:28UT