Pro-Am Comet Community (Hybrid) Workshop
February 9, 2022

Pro-Am Comet Community (Hybrid) Workshop

First Announcement and Call for Applications and Abstracts

10 – 12 June 2022, Prague

In cooperation with Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (RI), the British Astronomical Association, Planetum Prague, and the Czech cometary community SMPH, we are pleased to announce that a Pro-Am Workshop, bringing together professional and amateur members of the Cometary Science and Observational Community, will be held in hybrid format from 10-12 June 2022 at the Stefanik Observatory in Prague (and online).  The Workshop will last for two and a half days, starting Friday morning, and will be in English.

The main aims and objectives of the workshop are:

  • To foster stronger working relationships and cooperation within the professional and amateur comet community, based on a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities.
  • To take stock of where cometary science stands post-Rosetta and how Pro-Am observations fit into potential future research. 
  • To draw together the various strands of work currently going on within the community, particularly on coordination, techniques, standards and archiving and agree the way forward.
  • To consider how best to encourage, and equip, more people to become involved in the study of comets, whether directly through observation (including access to the Europlanet Telescope Network), or through analysis of online data sources.  
  • To explore how cometary science can be used in outreach and education.

Workshop Details:

We are delighted that the face-to-face meeting will be hosted by colleagues from Czechia in the Stefanik Observatory in Prague.  Given some covid restrictions, the venue capacity will be around 40 people.  We will also make all the sessions available online, and ensure that virtual attendees can also take a full part in formal and informal discussions. Sponsorship by Europlanet and BAA means that there will be no registration fee, and in person participants may apply for assistance with travel costs. 

Europlanet workshop for amateur and professional astronomers.
A happy memory of professional and amateur astronomers, including the much-missed Mike A’Hearn, talking all things comets at a previous Europlanet comet workshop. Credit: H Usher.
Europlanet workshop for amateur and professional astronomers.
Europlanet workshop for amateur and professional astronomers. Credit: H Usher.

The workshop will be a mix of invited and contributed talks and round-table discussions, addressing the following broad topics:  

  • Cometary Science Overview
  • Pro-Am campaigns
  • Imagining equipment, techniques and standards
  • Processing methodologies
  • Standardisation of methodologies and parameters
  • Archiving of data and simplifying access to datasets
  • Broadening participation/outreach/education

This list has been compiled based on the very helpful responses from the community to our questionnaire – thank you to everyone who took the time to submit their views.

Application Process:

We hope to be able to accommodate all those who wish to attend in person, but given the uncertainty about the number of people who may wish to do so and COVID constraints we have decided on an application process to allow us to effectively manage numbers.  

If you would like to attend in person please can you complete the application form by 19 March 2022.  We will notify you if your application has been successful by end March.

If you wish to attend online only, then the deadline is 13 May 2022

The deadline for submission of an abstract for a talk is also 19 March 2022 – please complete the relevant section on the form .

Organizing Committee:

Helen Usher (helen.usher@open.ac.uk)
Colin Snodgrass (csn@roe.ac.uk)
Nicolas Biver (nicolas.biver@obspm.fr)
Nick James (ndj@nickdjames.com)
Jakub Černý (kaos@kommet.cz)
Filip Walter (walter@planetum.cz)
Gražina Tautvaišienė (grazina.tautvaisiene@tfai.vu.lt)
Günter Kargl (guenter.kargl@oeaw.ac.ateuroplanet-iwf@oeaw.ac.at)