Launch of the largest European astronomy network

Two astronomy networks are joining forces to form the largest collaborative ground-based astronomy network in Europe : the ORP.

The ORP will facilitate the access of scientists to a wide range of instruments, will promote the training of young astronomers and will eventually lead to new discoveries.

The CNRS will be responsible for the ORP, which is supported by a 15 million euro grant from the H2020 program

Initiated with a €15 million grant from the H2020 program, this program aims to harmonize observing methods and tools, and to promote access to a wider range of astronomical facilities. The CNRS will coordinate the project, along with the University of Cambridge and the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. In France, the network involves three research institutions, three research laboratories, two French observatories and five international partner facilities.

As the knowledge of the Universe progresses, astronomers need a range of complementary techniques to analyze and understand celestial phenomena. Therefore, the European Union has initiated the consolidation of the optical and radio observing networks, OPTICON and RadioNet, which have been successfully running their respective communities for two decades.

With 15 million Euros from H2020 [[This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 101004719], the EU’s research and innovation program, the European astronomical community will now benefit from the creation of Europe’s largest ground-based astronomy network : the OPTICON-RadioNet PILOT (ORP), which brings together some 20 telescopes or telescope networks.

The ORP network must harmonize the methods and tools of observation of the optical astronomy and radio astronomy instruments on the ground, and facilitate the access of researchers to a wider range of installations. It will build on the success and experience of OPTICON and RadioNet.

This new program will facilitate the access of the astronomical community to these infrastructures as well as the training of young generations of astronomers.

For the management team [[The management team includes Jean-Gabriel Cuby, ORP project coordinator at the Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers of the CNRS, and Gerry Gilmore, professor at the University of Cambridge (UK) and Anton Zensus, director of the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (Germany), as ORP scientific coordinators for OPTICON and RadioNet respectively. According to the Director of ORP, Dr. Klaus Schmidt, "It is very exciting to have this opportunity to further develop European integration in astronomy and to develop new scientific opportunities for astronomical research in Europe and worldwide. "

In particular, ORP will enable the development of the rapidly growing field of so-called multi-messenger astronomy, which covers many wavelengths and beyond to gravitational waves, cosmic rays and neutrinos. Overcoming barriers between communities by harmonizing observing protocols and analysis methods between the optical and radio domains will allow astronomers to better work together to observe and monitor variable and transient astronomical events.

Astronomers from 15 European countries, Australia, South Africa and 37 institutions have already joined the ORP consortium. CNRS is the pilot and contributor to several optical and radio telescopes and will be responsible for this coordination.

In France, the consortium includes :

3 research institutions : the CNRS, Onera and the Institut d’optique Graduate School ;

• three research laboratories : Laboratoire Lagrange (CNRS/Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur/Université Côte d’Azur), Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Marseille (CNRS/Aix-Marseille University/CNES) and Laboratoire d’études spatiales et d’instrumentation en astrophysique (Observatoire de Paris - PSL/CNRS/Sorbonne University/Université de Paris)
• two astronomical telescopes in the visible domain : the T19 (Haute-Provence Observatory is part of the Institut Pythéas (CNRS/Aix-Marseille University/IRD) and the Pic du Midi is an observation station managed by the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (CNRS/CNES/Météo-France/IRD/Université Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier)), and the Bernard Lyot Telescope at the Pic du Midi3 ;
• five international partner infrastructures : the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, the Institute for Millimeter Radio Astronomy (IRAM ; CNRS/Max-Planck-Gesellschaft/Instituto Geográfico Nacional) with its 30-meter telescope in Spain and the NOEMA observatory in the French Alps, the LOFAR radio telescope, the SKA observatory and the JIVE consortium (Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC).

List of participants :ORP – OPTICON RadioNet Pilot