Cercetarea in domeniul astronomiei se axeaza pe studiul asteroizilor apropiati de Pamant (NEA) cat si pe studiul asteroizilor potential periculosi pentru viata de pe planeta noastra (PHA). Aceasta cercetare se desfasoara in cadrul EURONEAR. EUROpean Near Earth Asteroids (EURONEAR) este un proiect care vizeaza imbunatatirea contributiei Europene cu privire la Asteroizii Aproapiati de Pamant (NEA). A fost infiintat in mai 2006 de Ovidiu Vaduvescu și Mirel Birlan (fosti astronomi romani) la IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, Franta. In prezent, include 35 de membri din 9 tari si peste 100 de colaboratori (numarand multi amatori si studenti) care au contribuit in ultimii ani la acest proiect.

Pana la 2 mai 2020, urmatoarele 37 de persoane din 9 tari participa la proiectul EURONEAR (lista ordonata pe tari):

• Ovidiu Vaduvescu - Isaac Newton Group (ING), La Palma, Spain;
• Javier Licandro, Marcel Popescu, Julia de Leon - Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife, Spain;
• Amadeo Aznar - Isaac Aznar Observatory (private), Spain;
• Rene Duffard, Jose Luis Ortiz, Pablo Santos Sanz, Fran Aceituno - Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (IAA), Granada, Spain;
• Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, Raul de la Fuente Marcos - Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain;
• Josep M. Trigo-Rodríguez, Damya Souami - Institute of Space Sciences (CSIC-IEEC), Barcelona, Spain;
• Eduardo Unda-Sanzana, Farid Char, Penelope Longa - Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile
• Lucian Curelaru - Software developer, Brasov, Romania;
• Adrian Sonka, Ruxandra Toma - The Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy (AIRA), Bucharest, Romania;
• Marian Predatu (AstroED), Costin Boldea, Alina Boldea, Viktoria Pinter - University of Craiova, Romania;
• Ovidiu Tercu - Galati Astronomical Observatory of the Natural Sciences Museum Complex Galati, Romania;
• Roxana Sichitiu, Marc Frincu - West University of Timisoara, Romania;
• Adrian Galad, Juraj Toth, Jiri Silha - Modra Observatory, Bratislava University, Slovakia;
• Tomasz Kwiatkowski - Poznan Observatory, Poland;
• David Asher - Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom;
• Bringfried Stecklum - Karl Schwarzschild Observatory, Tautenburg, Germany;
• Monica Lazzarin, Ivano Bertini, Fiorangela La Forgia, Vasiliki Petropoulou, Padova University, Italy;
• Jean-Pierre Rivet - Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur and Universite de Nice, France;

In observatiile EURONEAR au fost utilizate urmatoarele 26 de telescoape de la observatorii din Europa și Chile. Includem numarul de nopti (in regim de vizitare complet sau ore suplimentare adaugate in modul serviciu, modul de inlocuire sau DM (data mining) si tehnica de observare (astrometrie, fotometrie si spectroscopie. Impreuna, aproximativ 420 de nopti timp total echivalent au fost dedicate proiectelor EURONEAR.

• Mauna Kea, Hawaii - Subaru 8m (2n 1999-2013 astr DM)
• Cerro Tololo, Chile - Blanco 4m (2n 2011 astr)
• Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma - WHT 4.2m (5n 2011-2017 phot, astr & spec)
• Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma - INT 2.5m (50n 2009-2017 astr, phot & spec; 1998-2009 astr DM)
• La Silla, Chile - ESO/MPG 2.2m (4n 2008 astr & 1n 1999-2009 1n DM astr)
• Karl Schwarzschild Observatory, Tautenburg, Germany - Schmidt 2m (30n 2012-2017 astr)
• Sierra Nevada Observatory, Telescope 1.5m, Spain (5n 2014-2017 astr & phot)
• Las Campanas Observatory, Chile - Swope 1m (15n 2008 astr & phot)
• Cerro Tololo, Chile - Yale 1m (5n 2008 astr)
• Cerro Tololo, Chile - 0.9m (10n 2009, 2014 phot)
• La Silla Observatory, Chile - ESO 1m (2n 2007, tests)
• Cerro Armazones Observatory, Chile - 0.84m (1n 2007 tests & astr)
• Haute Provence Observatory, France - 1.2m (15n 2007-2011 astr)
• Pic du Midi Observatory, France - T1m 1m (30n 2006-2015 astr)
• Teide Observatory, Tenerife - IAC80 (30n 2010-2016 phot)
• Teide Observatory, Tenerife - ESA-OGS 1m (20n 2015 phot & astr)
• Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma - Mercator 1.2m (15n 2014-2015 phot)
• Las Cumbres LCOGT Network - 1m and 2m (6n 2014-2015 phot)
• Modra Observatory - 0.6m Telescope (50n 2011-2016 phot)
• Space San Pedro de Atacama Observatory, Chile - SON/UAUA 0.5m (5n 2014 phot)
• AIRA Bucharest Observatory, Romania - 0.5m (10n 2014-2015 phot)
• Argelander Institute for Astronomy Bonn, Germany - 0.5m (2n 2011-2013 astr)
• AstroEd – University of Craiova, Craiova – 0.36m(2018-2020 astr)
• Isaac Aznar Observatory, Spain - 0.36m (80n 2015-2017 phot)
• Galati Astronomical Observatory, Romania - 0.40m (30n 2011-2016 astr)
• Bucharest Urseanu Observatory, Romania - 0.3 and 0.25m (3n 2006-2015 astr)

Pana in decembrie 2019, urmatoarele publicatii au rezultat din proiectul EURONEAR:

Articole stiintifice:

• Ready for EURONEAR NEA surveys using the NEARBY moving source detection platform, submitted to Astronomy and Computing (May 2019)
• Mega-Archive and the EURONEAR Tools for Datamining World Astronomical Images, Astronomy and Computing, Vol 30, 100356, January 2020
• NEARBY plaform for automatic asteroids detection and EURONEAR surveys, Proc. 1st ESA NEO and Debris Detection Conference, Darmstadt, Germany, 22-24 January 2019
• Near-Earth asteroids spectroscopic survey at Isaac Newton Telescope, A&A 627, 124, 2019
• The EURONEAR Lightcurve Survey of Near Earth Asteroids - Teide Observatory, Tenerife, 2015, submitted to EM&P (Dec 2018)
• Physical properties of PHA 2014 JO25 from a worldwide observational campaign, MNRAS 483, 4, 4820, 2019
• 280 one-opposition near Earth asteroids recovered by the EURONEAR with the Isaac Newton Telescope, A&A 609, 105, 2018
• Teaching students about informatics and astronomy using real data for detection of asteroids, Eur. J. Phys. 38, 055706, 2017
• The EURONEAR Lightcurve Survey of Near Earth Asteroids, EM&P 120, 41, 2017
• EURONEAR - First Light Curves and Physical Properties of Near Earth Asteroids, RoJPhys 62, 904, 2017
• Data mining of near-Earth asteroids in the Subaru Suprime-Cam archive, AN 338, 527, 2017
• Characterization of (357439) 2004 BL86 on its close approach to Earth in 2015, A&A 581, 3, 2015
• First EURONEAR NEA discoveries from La Palma using the INT, MNRAS 449, 2, 1614, 2015
• 739 observed NEAs and new 2-4 m survey statistics within the EURONEAR network and Appendix, P&SS 85, 299, 2013
• Mining the ESO WFI and INT WFC archives for known Near Earth Asteroids. Mega-Precovery software, AN 334, 7, 718, 2013
• EURONEAR - Recovery, follow-up and discovery of NEAs and MBAs using large field 1-2m telescopes and Appendix, P&SS 59, 13, 1632, 2011
• Mining the CFHT Legacy Survey for known Near Earth Asteroids, AN 332, 6, 580, 2011
• More than 160 near Earth asteroids observed in the EURONEAR network, A&A 511, 40, 2010
• High-Precision Astrometry of NEAs via EURONEAR Observations, RoAJ 20S, 119, 2010
• EURONEAR: Data mining of asteroids and Near Earth Asteroids, AN 330, 698, 2009
• EURONEAR: First results, P&SS 56, 14, 1913, 2008
• Planning Near-Earth Asteroid Observations on a 1-Meter Class Telescope, RoAJ 16, 201, 2006
• Observing Near Earth Asteroids with a Small Telescope, RoAJ 14, 199, 2004 and 15, 171, 2005

Alte contributii selectate:

• Digital Tracking Cloud Distributed Architecture for Detection of Faint NEAs, SYNASC 21st Ed. Conf, Timisoara, Romania, 4-7 Sep 2019
• Eliminating Virtual Impactors with Mega-Precovery (VIMP), EPSC-DPS 2019, Geneva, Switzerland, EPSC Abstracts Vol. 13, EPSC-DPS2019-867-1, 2019
• Asteroides cercanos a la Tierra y el proyecto EURONEAR, Asteroid Day, Planetario de Castellon, Spain, 22 June 2019
• Platform for Automatic Asteroids Detection and EURONEAR Surveys, ESA NEO and Space Debris Conference - Exploiting Synergies, ESA/ESOC Darmstadt, Germany, 22-24 Jan 2019
• NEARBY Platform for Detecting Asteroids in Astronomical Images Using Cloud-based Containerized Applications, IEEE 14th Ed. ICCP Conf, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 6-8 Sep 2018
• Asteroids Detection Technique: Classic "Blink" An Automated Approch, IEEE AQTR Conf, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 24-26 May 2018
• NEARBY Platform: Algorithm for Automated Asteroids Detection in Astronomical Images, IEEE 14th Ed. ICCP Conf, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 6-8 Sep 2018
• The EURONEAR contribution to the European NEA Research, Jornadas Astronomicas de Castellon, Spain, 2018
• Automated Prototype for Asteroids Detection, IEEE 13th Ed. ICCP Conf, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 7-9 Sep 2017
• The EURONEAR and its Romanian contribution to the European NEO Research, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Targoviste, Romania, 2016
• The EURONEAR contribution to the European NEO Research, ESA/ESRIN meeting, Frascati, Italy, 1 Feb 2016
• Around 1500 Near Earth Asteroid Orbits Improved via EURONEAR, ACM 2014, Helsinki, Finland, 30 Jun - 4 Jul 2014
• Physical Properties of NEAs are Scrutinized via EURONEAR, ACM 2014, Helsinki, Finland, 30 Jun - 4 Jul 2014
• Mega-Precovery and data mining of NEAs and other solar system objects, ACM 2014, Helsinki, Finland, 30 Jun - 4 Jul 2014
• The EURONEAR Project, IPEWG 2013 Meeting, Nice, France, 29-31 May 2013
• Exploring the solar system with Mega-Precovery data mining server: strengthening our database and functionalities, Boletín de la Asociacion Argentina de Astronomia, vol.56, p. 411, 2013
• The EURONEAR project and its successful collaboration with students and amateurs, ING-Mercator-NOT Seminar, La Palma, 11 Dec 2012
• Mega-Precovery, a dedicated project for data mining worldwide image archives for poorly known asteroids, IMCCE Journees Scientifiques, Observatoire de Paris, pag.71, 2010