PLATO Ground-based Observation Program (GOP)

The ESA PLATO mission (launch date 2026) aims at finding and characterising extrasolar planetary systems around bright stars, with a particular focus on terrestrial planets in the habitable zone around solar-like stars. The properties of both planets and host stars will be derived, including precise radii, masses and ages.

To achieve these scientific goals, on top of the exquisite space photometry expected from the satellite, a large Ground-based Observation Program (GOP) is set up within the PLATO Consortium. Its role is to provide the complementary data fundamental to establish the nature of the transit events detected in the PLATO light curves, help determine the best stellar parameters of the planet hosts, and provide precise planet mass estimates for the validated candidates. The GOP activities include all aspects necessary to achieve these goals, from the set up of a coherent and efficient organisation of the operations, a help to the development of new class of instruments or analysis tools, to the final provision of the best possible photometry, imaging, and spectroscopy data to achieve the mission goals.

This workshop is the first one of the PLATO GOP. It will present the GOP organisation and its objectives, and discuss the science and techniques foreseen to achieve its goals, in the form of presentations followed by discussions. Sessions will be devoted to exoplanets, including vetting and precise mass determinations, to stellar science, including stellar parameter determination with and without asteroseismology, and to the involvement of the broader community.

The workshop is open to everybody (on registration), but on-site participation in Geneva, Switzerland, will be limited to 50 people.

LOC: Nami Mowlavi (chair), Stéphane Udry (co-chair), François Bouchy, Chantal Tacoy, Myriam Burgener