Strengthening Pro-Am Comet Community Cooperation: Report on Europlanet Pro-Am Workshop (10-12 June 2022)  

Abstract

<p>Comet observation and analysis is an area where amateur observers can make a significant contribution.  Their observations allow regular monitoring of comets, alerting the professional community to interesting events, and providing raw data to supplement professional data.  The links between the professional and amateur communities are therefore very important.  </p> <p>Comet analysis is challenging.  Encouraging the community to agree consistent methodologies, and parameters for analysis, will result in a more robust data set for monitoring and analysis.</p> <p>The last comet workshop was held in 2015 and the comet community welcomed the opportunity to meet again.  </p> <p>The main <strong>aims and objectives</strong> of the workshop were agreed, following consultation, to be:</p> <ul> <li>To foster stronger working relationships and cooperation within the professional and amateur comet community, based on a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities.</li> <li>To take stock of where cometary science stands post-Rosetta and how Pro-Am observations fit into potential future research. </li> <li>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.</li> <li>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.  </li> <li>To explore how cometary science can be used in outreach and education.</li> </ul> <p>It was also agreed that speakers should include a wide range of amateurs, students and professional astronomers, and that allowing ample time for panel-led discussions was very important.  The panels should include specialists and society representatives.</p> <p>An accessible location was chosen, the Stefanik Observatory in Prague, along with online access. </p> <p>We will report on the outcomes from the hybrid workshop and the proposed next steps.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Acknowledgements</strong></p> <p>The workshop has been organised in cooperation with Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (RI), the British Astronomical Association, Planetum Prague, and the Czech cometary community SMPH. </p> <p>Europlanet 2024 RI has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149.  </p>