PLATO Ground-based Observation Program (GOP)

The ESA PLATO mission (expected launch date: January 2027) 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 to the final provision of the best possible complementary photometry, imaging, and spectroscopy data to achieve the mission goals. These include the submission of observation time proposals to secure the obtention of the needed observations (spectra for radial velocities and stellar characterisation, imaging, and photometry) at selected facilities.

The goals of this two-day workshop are to identify the observation needs according to the PLATO data acquisition and processing timelines within the consortium, to reassess more precisely the telescope time needs, to elaborate the strategy to be adopted for the observations over the course of the mission (and in particular in 2026-2027), to clarify the political aspects related to the GOP observations, to establish a timeline for the proposal submissions, and to coordinate the subsequent actions needed for the GOP to prepare for the telescope time proposals. All proposals submitted for GOP-related observations (ESO and non-ESO facilities where required) should follow these guidelines.

The workshop is open to all consortium member or future consortium members. Both on-site and remote participation will be possible, but registration is needed in both cases.