![]() ![]() This wealth of data presents a unique opportunity to study the meteoroid flux of the Earth-Moon environment, and in recent years the physical properties of the impactors. In the last 20 years, over 600 impact flashes have been documented on the lunar surface. Moreover, we present the capabilities of the Kryoneri telescope as a sensor for satellite tracking and the future plans regarding the provision of high-quality services for both the Planetary Defense activities of ESA (S2P/PDO) and the European Union's Space Surveillance and Tracking programme (EU/SST). We present statistical results concerning the sizes, the masses and the appearance frequency of the meteoroids in the vicinity of the Earth, as well as the temperatures developed during the impacts. Using the 1.2 m Kryoneri telescope, which is equipped with two high frame-rate cameras recording simultaneously in two optical bands, NELIOTA has recorded over 170 validated lunar impact flashes, while another ~90 have been characterized as suspected. In particular, we present results from the ESA-funded NELIOTA program, which has been monitoring the Moon for impact flashes since early 2017. We present current and future activities regarding lunar impact flash and NEO observations and satellite tracking from Kryoneri Observatory. Our observations suggest a detection rate of 1.96×10⁻⁷ events km⁻² h⁻¹. The faintest flash was at 11.24 mag in the R-band (about two magnitudes fainter than ever observed before) at lunar phase 0.32. We report 31 NEO impact flashes detected during the first year of the NELIOTA campaign. Considering the varying background level on the Moon's surface we demonstrate that the NELIOTA system can detect NEO impact flashes at a 2.5 S/N level of ∼12.4 mag in the I-band and R-band for observations made at low lunar phases (∼0.1). The wide field-of-view ensures that a large portion of the Moon is observed, while the simultaneous, high-cadence, monitoring in two photometric bands makes possible the determination of the temperatures of the impacts on the Moon's surface and the validation of the impact flashes from a single site. ![]() This makes it a unique instrument that can be used for the detection of NEO impacts on the Moon, as well as for any astronomy projects that demand high-cadence multicolor observations. The system provides a wide field-of-view (17.0′ × 14.4′) and simultaneous observations in two photometric bands (R and I), reaching limiting magnitudes of 18.7 mag in 10 s in both bands at a 2.5 signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) level. ![]() For the purposes of this project a twin camera instrument was specially designed and installed at the 1.2 m Kryoneri telescope utilizing the fast-frame capabilities of scientific Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor detectors (sCMOS). We present the technical specifications and first results of the ESA-funded, lunar monitoring project "NELIOTA" (NEO Lunar Impacts and Optical TrAnsients) at the National Observatory of Athens, which aims to determine the size-frequency distribution of small near-Earth objects (NEOs) via detection of impact flashes on the surface of the Moon. ![]()
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