Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège -  Volume 87 - Année 2018  Actes de colloques  First Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy & Astrophysics (BINA) workshop - November 2016 - Nainital, India 

Solar system astronomy with the 3.6-m DOT and the 4-m ILMT

Shashikiran Ganesh
Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, India, shashi@prl.res.in
Kumar Venkataramani
Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, India and Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar
Kiran Singh Baliyan
Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, India
Umesh Chandra Joshi
Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, India

Abstract

Solar system astronomy would be an important field of study with the 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) and the 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT). In this contribution, we highlight the work that could be done in reaching a better understanding of the Solar system and its constituents - particularly the minor bodies and other smaller objects. There may be a large number of very faint objects in the vicinity of the Earth orbit. In fact only recently a 'second moon' of the Earth has been found and has been designated 2016 H03. This is a quasi-satellite with the same period of revolution around Earth and Sun. There could be many such objects and it is important to have a full characterization and understanding of these potentially hazardous objects. They are generally fainter than 18th magnitude and one would need a lot of telescope time to fully characterize these objects using techniques of spectropolarimetry. In a similar fashion, a deep census of the Kuiper Belt Objects and the TNOs is needed. In this census, the concept of pencil beam surveys could be extended to cylindrical transit imaging technique available with the 4-m ILMT.

Keywords : astronomy, astrophysics, observatories, solar system

To cite this article

Shashikiran Ganesh, Kumar Venkataramani, Kiran Singh Baliyan & Umesh Chandra Joshi, «Solar system astronomy with the 3.6-m DOT and the 4-m ILMT», Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège [En ligne], Volume 87 - Année 2018, Actes de colloques, First Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy & Astrophysics (BINA) workshop - November 2016 - Nainital, India, 125 - 131 URL : https://popups.uliege.be/0037-9565/index.php?id=7571.