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Lunar impact flash results and space surveillance activities at Kryoneri Observatory

Alexios Liakos1,Alceste Bonanos1,Emmanuel Xilouris1,Detlef Koschny2,Panayotis Boumis1,Ioannis Bellas-velidis1,Richard Moissl2,Athanasios Marousis1,Sryros Basilakos1,Charalampos Kontoes1
National Observatory of Athens1ESA, ESTEC2

Document details

Publishing year2023 PublisherESA Space Debris Office Publishing typeConference Name of conference2nd NEO and Debris Detection Conference
Pagesn/a Volume
2
Issue
1
Editors
T. Flohrer, R. Moissl, F. Schmitz

Abstract

We present current and future activities regarding impact flash and NEO observations and satellite tracking from Kryoneri Observatory. In particular, we present results from the ESA-funded NELIOTA program, which has been monitoring the Moon for impact flashes since early 2017. Using the 1.2m Kryoneri telescope, which is equipped with two frame-rate cameras recording simultaneously at two optical bands, NELIOTA has recorded over 165 validated lunar impact flashes, while another ~90 have been characterized as suspected. We present statistical results concerning the dimensions, the masses and the appearance frequency of the meteoroids in the vicinity of the Earth, as well as the temperatures developed during the impacts. Moreover, we present the abilities of the Kryoneri telescope as a sensor for satellite tracking and the future plans regarding the provision of high quality services to the SSA/NEO and SST programs.

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