PEGASE
Planetology
Environments from
Ground-based
Astrometry and
Space
Exploration
Presentation
The PEGASE team is composed of astronomers, professors, PhD students and postdoctorates working on the problematics related to the dynamics of the solar system objects, from the terrestrial environment to the Trans-Neptunian objects. Pégase brings together astronomical observers, celestial mechanics theorists and specialists in numerical modeling, experts in the dynamics of natural satellites, artificial satellites, space debris, asteroids, meteors and planet formation.
Research activities
Our scientific problematics
- Dynamics and planetology
- Tidal effects (V. Lainey)
- Asteroids and Yarkovsky effect (J. Desmars, D. Hestroffer)
- Co-evolution of moons and planet spin axes (M. Saillenfest)
- Planet and satellite formation (K. Baillié & V. Lainey)
- Planetary rings and small satellites (S. Renner & K. Baillié)
- Natural satellites observations (V. Robert, J. Desmars, K. Baillié & J.-E. Arlot)
- Asteroids and Gaia (W. Thuillot)
- Comets and Trans-Neptunian Objects (M. Fouchard, M. Saillenfest)
- Meteoroids and meteors (J. Vaubaillon, K. Baillié & J. Desmars)
- NAROO (New Astrometric Reduction of Old Observations) (V. Robert, J. Desmars)
- RAPAS (Réseau Amateurs Professionnels pour les Alertes Scientifiques) (W. Thuillot)
- Analytical planetary theories (J.-L. Simon)
- History of astronomy (J.-E. Arlot, J.-L. Simon)
Resources
- Numerical modeling: N-Body codes, hydrodynamical codes, statistical approaches, frequency analysis, analytical developments, perturbation methods
- Ground observations: Gaia-FUN-SSO network, NAROO, Mutual Phenomenons, Meteor networks, OHP, Subaru
- Airborne based observations: 2007 Aurigids, 2008 Quadrantids, 2008 ATV reentry, 2011 Draconids
- Space observations: CASSINI, Gaia, HST, JWS, JUICE, Mars Express, PLATO, Spitzer, etc
- Objects of interest: Asteroids, natural satellites, planets and rings, comets, NEO, artificial satellites, space debris, exoplanetary systems
The team

- Jean-Eudes Arlot (emeritus astronomer)
- Kevin Baillié
- Ariane Courtot (PhD student) : "Determination of the existence of meteor showers"
- Ryan Dahoumane (PhD student) : "Long-term dynamical evolution of Jupiter and Saturn’s outer moons."
- Josselin Desmars
- Marie Fayolle (PhD student) : "Dynamics of the Galilean satellites in the Juice and Clipper era"
- Marc Fouchard
- Daniel Hestroffer
- Valéry Lainey (team leader)
- Andrea Magnanini (PhD student) : "Dynamics of the Galilean satellites in the Juice and Clipper era"
- Anne-Charlotte Perlbarg (PhD student) : "NAROO-AST Pre-discovery observations and impact probabilities of Near-Earth Asteroids"
- Eliaz Pitavy (engineer)
- Giulio Quaglia (PhD student) : "Application of AI to the analysis of Cassini ISS images"
- Stéfan Renner
- Vincent Robert
- Melaine Saillenfest
- Patrick Shober (postdoc) : "Dynamical origin and age of meteorites"
- William Thuillot (emeritus astronomer)
- Jérémie Vaubaillon
- Dmitrii Vavilov (postdoc) : "NEOForcCE"
- Alain Vienne
Associated with PEGASE
Affiliated researchers and visitors
- David Capek (Ondrejov Observatory, Czech Republic)
- Benoît Carry (Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur)
- Hongru Chen (Kyushu University, Japan)
- Apostolos Christou (Armagh Observatory, N.Ireland, UK)
- Nicholas Cooper (Queen Mary University London, UK)
- Yann Duchemin (ESIGELEC)
- Sergey Efimov (MIPT, Moscow, Russia)
- Auriane Egal (Western University London, Canada), affiliated
- Siegfried Eggl (University of Washington, Seattle, USA), affiliated
- Nikolai Emelyanov (SAI Lomonosov Moscou, Russia), affiliated
- Grigori Fedorets (University of Helsinki, Finland)
- Anatoliy Ivantsov (Akdeniz University Antalya, Turkey), affiliated
- Pavel Koten (Ondrejov Observatory, Czech Republic)
- Maxim Khovritchev (Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory, Pulkovo, Russia)
- Giacomo Lari (Department of Mathematics, Pisa University, Italy)
- Bruno Morgado (Observatório Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil)
- Altair Ramos Gomes (Observatório Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil)
- Paul Sanchez (CU Boulder, USA)
- Roberto Vieira Martins (Observatório Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil)
Former PhD students and postdoctorates
- Nilton Araújo : “Um estudo de objetos perturbados e capturados pela ressonância de corrotação e Lindblad” / “A study of objects disturbed and captured by corotation and Lindblad resonance” (PhD def. 07/07/2017)
- Jérôme Daquin : “Essais sur le mouvement résonant à long terme des débris spatiaux” (PhD def. 12/10/2015)
- Yann Duchemin : “La navigation astronomique d’une sonde autonome, pour l’exploration du Système solaire à l’ère de Gaia” (thèse soutenue le 01/28/2019)
- Auriane Egal : “Sur la complexité de la recherche de corps parents de pluies de météores” (PhD def. 15/09/2017)
- Siegfried Eggl : “Project NEOshield”
- Fatoumata Kébé : “Étude de l’influence des incréments de vitesse impulsionnels sur les trajectoires de débris spatiaux” (PhD def. 12/06/2016)
- Irina Kovalenko : “Caractérisation orbitale et physique des astéroïdes binaires” (PhD def. 09/28/2016)
- Maria Kudryashova : “Project Gaia GENIUS”
- Shanna Li : “A new reduction of the old observations of Phoebe and the orbit update” (PhD def. 09/23/2016)
- Bruno Morgado : “Observations and dynamics of the galilean satellites”
- Alexis Petit : “Space debris modeling and radiation pressure effects”
- William Polycarpe : “Nouvelle étude de l’évolution orbitale des huit principaux satellites de Saturne” (PhD def. 10/29/2018))
- Altair Ramos Gomes : “Observations and dynamics of Neptune satellites”
- Luc Sagnières : “Modeling and Simulation of Long-term Rotational Dynamics of Large Space Debris” (PhD def. 02/26/2019)
- Melaine Saillenfest : “Théories séculaires et dynamique orbitale au-delà de Neptune” (PhD def. 07/03/2017)
- Ali Sammuneh : “Contributions à l’étude du bilan radiatif global de la Terre, par l’analyse des données de GRACE”
- Éléonore Saquet : “Photométrie et Astrométrie des Satellites de Jupiter : Application à la campagne de phénomènes mutuels 2015” (PhD def. 09/26/2017)
- Federica Spoto : “Project Gaia validation DR2”
- Delphine Thomasson : “Réflexions sur la régularité de dispersion des débris spatiaux et applications à la détermination de la probabilité de collision en orbite” (PhD def. 06/24/2019)
- Daniel Villegas-Pinto : "Trajectory Design in Strongly Perturbed Three-Body Problems" (thèse soutenue le 16/09/2022)
- Xiaojin Xi : “Analytical representation for ephemeris with short timespan: Application to the longitude of Titan” (PhD def. 12/17/2018)
Working groups
Science highlights
- Baillié K., Noyelles B., Lainey V., Charnoz S., Tobie G., 2019. Formation of the Cassini Division - I. Shaping the rings by Mimas inward migration. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 486, Issue 2, p.2933-2946
- Baillié K., Charnoz S., Pantin E., 2015. Time evolution of snow regions and planet traps in an evolving protoplanetary disk. Astronomy & Astrophysics 577, A65
- Carry, B., Thuillot, W., Spoto, F and 42 others, 2021. Potential asteroid discoveries by the ESA Gaia mission: Results from follow-up observations. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 648, A96
- Cooper N.J., Lainey V., Meunier L.-E., Murray C.D., Zhang Q.-F., Baillié K., Evans M.W., Thuillot W., Vienne A., 2018. The Caviar software package for the astrometric reduction of Cassini ISS images: description and examples. Astronomy & Astrophysics 610, A2
- Lainey V., Jacobson R.A., Tajeddine R., Cooper N.J., Murray C., Robert V., Tobie G., Guillot T., Mathis S., Remus F., and 8 coauthors, 2017. New constraints on Saturn’s interior from Cassini astrometric data. Icarus, 281, 286
- Renner S., Cooper N.J., El Moutamid M., Sicardy B., Vienne A., Murray C.D., Saillenfest M., 2016. Origin of the Chaotic Motion of the Saturnian Satellite Atlas. Astronomical Journal, 151
- Robert V., Desmars J., Lainey V., Arlot J.-E. and 15 co-authors 2021. The NAROO digitization centre: Overview and Scientific program. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 652, A3
- Robert V., Pascu D., Lainey V., Arlot J.-E., De Cuyper J.-P., Dehant V., Thuillot W., 2016. New astrometric measurement and reduction of USNO photographic observations of the main Saturnian satellites: 1974-1998. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 596
- Saillenfest M., Lari G., Boué G., 2021. The large obliquity of Saturn explained by the fast migration of Titan. Nature Astronomy, 5, 345
- Saillenfest M., Lari G., 2021. Future destabilisation of Titan as a result of Saturn's tilting. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 654, A83
- Saillenfest M., Fouchard M., Ito T., Higuchi A., 2019. Chaos in the inert Oort cloud. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 629, A95
- Gaia Collaboration, Spoto F., et al. 2018. Gaia Data Release 2: Observations of solar system objects. Astronomy & Astrophysics 616, A13
- Gaia Collaboration, Mignard F., et al. 2018. Gaia Data Release 2. The celestial reference frame (Gaia-CRF2). Astronomy & Astrophysics 616, A14
- Soubiran C., et al. 2018. Gaia Data Release 2. The catalogue of radial velocity standard stars. Astronomy & Astrophysics 616, A7
- Gaia Collaboration, Brown A. G. A., et al. 2018. Gaia Data Release 2. Summary of the contents and survey properties. Astronomy & Astrophysics 616, A1
Software and database
- CAVIAR: CAssini Visual Image Analysis Release
- DynastVO: Virtual Observatory orbital asteroid database
- NSDB: Natural Satellites DataBase
- Multisat: Natural satellites online ephemerides
- Astersat: Asteroidal satellites online ephemerides
Contact
- Email : pegase.imcce at sympa.obspm.fr
Last update Monday 06 March 2023