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Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van België Observatoire royal de Belgique Royal Observatory of Belgium Jaarverslag 2017 Rapport Annuel 2017 Annual Report 2017 Cover illustration: Above: One billion star map of our galaxy created with the optical telescope of the satellite Gaia (Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC). Below: Three armillary spheres designed by Jérôme de Lalande in 1775. Left: the spherical sphere; in the centre: the geocentric model of our solar system (with the Earth in the centre); right: the heliocentric model of our solar system (with the Sun in the centre). Royal Observatory of Belgium - Annual Report 2017 2 De activiteiten beschreven in dit verslag werden ondersteund door Les activités décrites dans ce rapport ont été soutenues par The activities described in this report were supported by De POD Wetenschapsbeleid De Nationale Loterij Le SPP Politique Scientifique La Loterie Nationale The Belgian Science Policy The National Lottery Het Europees Ruimtevaartagentschap De Europese Gemeenschap L’Agence Spatiale Européenne La Communauté Européenne The European Space Agency The European Community Het Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Le Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique Vlaanderen Royal Observatory of Belgium - Annual Report 2017 3 Table of contents Preface .................................................................................................................................................... 6 Reference Systems and Planetology ....................................................................................................... 7 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) ......................................................................................... 8 European Plate Observing System – EPOS...................................................................................... 8 The ambition ............................................................................................................................... 8 The construction ......................................................................................................................... 8 Link with EUREF........................................................................................................................... 8 Time – Time Transfer ........................................................................................................................ 10 Precise timescale .......................................................................................................................... 10 Earth Rotation, Geodesy and Geophysics of Terrestrial Planets ...................................................... 11 Investigation of the core of Mars from radio links between a Martian lander and the Earth ..... 11 Enceladus’s non-uniform shell ...................................................................................................... 13 In the frame of our work of habitability (5 years in Interuniversity Attraction Pole Planet TOPERS – Planets: Tracing the Transfer, Origin, Preservation, and Evolution of their ReservoirS) .................................................................................................................................... 15 Venus coupled evolution and consequences for magnetic field generation. .......................... 15 Characterization of water-rich exoplanets ............................................................................... 16 Clathrate, climate and habitability of Mars .............................................................................. 16 Modeling of the interaction between the surface and the atmosphere .................................. 18 Venus evolution in a multiple impacts Late Veneer scenarios ................................................. 18 The effect of meteoritic impacts on the early Martian environment ....................................... 18 Seismology and Gravimetry .................................................................................................................. 20 Seismic activity .................................................................................................................................. 21 A Nineteenth‐Century National Prussian Macroseismic Questionnaire ........................................... 22 A new application of a seismic method for monitoring underground water resources .................. 22 Britain’s separation from mainland Europe ...................................................................................... 24 Reviews of geophysics ...................................................................................................................... 26 Astronomy and Astrophysics ................................................................................................................ 27 The variable millimetre emission of Cyg OB2 #8A ............................................................................ 28 U Ant: Ageing Star Blows Off Smoky Bubble ..................................................................................... 29 The photoionization code Cloudy ..................................................................................................... 30 The Belgian Repository of fundamental Atomic Data and Stellar Spectra (BRASS) .......................... 32 Solar Physics and Space Weather ......................................................................................................... 32 Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) ready for launch! ......................................................................... 34 EUI delivery, integration & press conference ............................................................................... 34 Royal Observatory of Belgium - Annual Report 2017 4 The Solar Orbiter mission ............................................................................................................. 34 The EUI telescope onboard Solar Orbiter ..................................................................................... 35 Contribution to an international campaign of coordinated observations of the Sun and an opportunity to test a “lucky imaging” technique.............................................................................. 37 Lucky imaging ................................................................................................................................ 38 Signatures of a not so typical solar eruption .................................................................................... 39 The November 4th 2015 event .......................................................................................................... 41 Detection of Quasi-Periodic Pulsations in Solar EUV Time-series .................................................... 43 Communication and Information service ............................................................................................. 45 Information to public, media and authorities ................................................................................... 46 Website ............................................................................................................................................. 46 Social networks @ ROB ..................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Night of the Shooting Stars (cancelled) ............................................................................................ 47 Exhibitions ......................................................................................................................................... 47 The Planetarium .................................................................................................................................... 48 Highlights in 2017 .............................................................................................................................. 49 Special activities ................................................................................................................................ 49 Annex 1: Publications ............................................................................................................................ 52 Publications with peer review ........................................................................................................... 53 Publications without peer review ..................................................................................................... 62 Other publications (books, book chapters…) .................................................................................... 67 Annex 2: Workforce .............................................................................................................................. 68 Royal Observatory of Belgium - Annual Report 2017 5 Preface This report describes the highlights of scientific activities and public services at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in 2017. A list of publications and the list of personnel are included at the end. Due to lack of means and personnel the report is only in English. If you need more or other information on the Royal Observatory of the Belgium and/or its activities please contact [email protected] or visit our website http://www.astro.oma.be. Ronald Van der Linden Director General Royal Observatory of Belgium - Annual Report 2017 6 Reference Systems and Planetology This Operational Directorate “Reference Systems and Planetology” contributes to the elaboration of reference systems and timescales, integrates Belgium in the international
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