Related papers: Near Earth Asteroids:The Celestial Chariots

It is known that the shape of a planet (oblateness, rings, etc.) slightly modifies the shape of the transit light curve. The forthcoming space missions (Corot, Kepler), able to detect the transit of Earth-like planets, could a fortiori also…

Exoplanetary science has reached a historic moment. The James Webb Space Telescope will be capable of probing the atmospheres of rocky planets, and perhaps even search for biologically produced gases. However this is contingent on…

We propose a low-cost robotic optical survey aimed at $1-300$ m Near Earth Objects (NEO) based on four state-of-the-art telescopes having extremely wide field of view. The small Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA) represent a potential risk but also…

An outstanding, multi-disciplinary goal of modern science is the study of the diversity of potentially Earth-like planets and the search for life in them. This goal requires a bold new generation of space telescopes, but even the most…

Neutrinos may offer a unique opportunity to explore the far Universe at high energy. The ANTARES collaboration aims at building a large undersea neutrino detector able to observe astrophysical sources (AGNs, X-ray binary systems, ...) and…

Astroparticle experiments have provided a long list of achievements both for particle physics and astrophysics. Many of these experiments require to be protected from the background produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere. The main…

Future space-based direct imaging missions are poised to search for biosignatures in the atmospheres of potentially habitable planets orbiting nearby AFGKM stars. Although these missions could conduct a survey of high-priority target stars…

Our ability to explore the cosmos by direct contact has been limited to a small number of lunar and interplanetary missions. However, the NASA Starlight program points a path forward to send small, relativistic spacecraft far outside our…

We will discuss some specific applications to the rotation state and the shapes of moderately large asteroids, and techniques of observations putting some emphasis on the HST/FGS instrument.

To date the search for habitable Earth-like planets has primarily focused on nuclear burning stars. I propose that this search should be expanded to cool white dwarf stars that have expended their nuclear fuel. I define the continuously…

(abridged) A complete census of planetary systems around a volume-limited sample of solar-type stars (FGK dwarfs) in the Solar neighborhood with uniform sensitivity down to Earth-mass planets within their Habitable Zones out to several AUs…

The Gaia satellite, planned for launch by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2013, is the next generation astrometry mission following Hipparcos. While mapping the whole sky, the Gaia space mission is expected to discover thousands of Solar…

One of the major issues to be solved is the protection from the effects of ionizing radiation. Exploration mission, lasting two to three years in space, represents a very significant step from the point of view of radiation protection: both…

Accurate measurements of osculating orbital elements are essential in order to understand and model the complex dynamic behavior of Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs). ESA's Gaia mission promises to have great potential in this respect. In this…

A radio telescope placed in lunar orbit, or on the surface of the Moon's farside, could be of great value to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). The advantage of such a telescope is that it would be shielded by the body of…

The catalog of km-sized near-Earth objects (NEOs) is nearly complete. Typical impact monitoring analyses search for possible impacts over the next 100 years and none of the km-sized objects represent an impact threat over that time…

Terrestrial planets in the habitable zone around nearby stars are of great interest and provide a good sample for further characteristics of their habitability. In this paper, we collect a nearby star catalog within 20 pc according to the…

Even from a light polluted city it is possible to observe Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) at opposition using a small telescope equipped with a CCD camera. In this paper, we will overview first the major NEA programs, continuing with planning…

Old, digitized astronomical images taken before the human spacefaring age offer a unique view of the sky devoid of known artificial satellites. In this paper, we have carried out the first optical searches ever for non-terrestrial artifacts…

Locating planets in circumstellar Habitable Zones is a priority for many exoplanet surveys. Space-based and ground-based surveys alike require robust toolsets to aid in target selection and mission planning. We present the Catalog of…