Theoreticians or Observers Alike: Get Ready to submit a successful PLATO Open Time Proposal

20 – 21 Oct 2025, MPA

We are pleased to invite you to this PLATO workshop. This event will be conducted in a hybrid format, allowing for both in-person and virtual participation. The in-person sessions will be hosted by the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) in Garching, Germany. Additional details, such as the meeting schedule, travel and online meeting information, are available on this website.

The number of participants is limited to 50. There is no registration fee. The institute generously provides access to its facilities and staff support without charge. However, participants are responsible for their own meals, accommodations, and travel expenses. If financial constraints are a concern, please mention this in the comment section at the end of the registration form.

There is no registration fee. The institute generously provides access to its facilities and offers staff support at no charge. However, participants are responsible for their own meals, accommodations, and travel expenses. If financial constraints are a concern, please mention this in the comment section at the end of the registration form

Rationale:

ESA's PLATO space mission (Rauer et al. 2025) is in the final assembly stage before its launch, foreseen in December 2026. While its Core Science program concerns the detection and characterization of Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars, PLATO also offers an open time program called PLATO-CS (PLATO Complementary Science), which may cover any topic in astrophysics. Current simulations with PLATOSim (Jannsen et al. 2024) show that a multitude of science cases in time-domain astronomy can be tackled by the mission, from planets to supermassive black holes.

The worldwide community is invited to become a PLATO Guest Observer (GO) by applying for open time, which will cover up to 8% of the overall telemetry of the mission. This 2-day hands-on workshop aims to help the community in getting ready to prepare and apply for competitive open PLATO GO time, by answering ESA's call for proposals in spring 2026 (9 months before launch).

After a general description of the mission and a demonstration of the GO call by an ESA representative, participants will learn how to use PLATO's instruments, its end-to-end simulator, or existing mock simulations, in order to evaluate the feasibility of their science plans. They will be guided to prepare their proposals by key figures in the PLATO-CS leadership, including 2025 Biermann lecturer Conny Aerts, with the aim to maximize the breath and appeal of the PLATO GO program.

Workshop Program: 

Can be found here.

Registration: 

Please register by July 1, 2025 to facilitate necessary administrative checks (also needed for online participation). The number of participants is limited to 50.  Participation, online or in person, is only possible after registering and confirmation by the organizers. We cannot guarantee to process late registrations on time.

Organizing Committee: 

Conny Aerts (KU Leuven, co-chair, PLATO representative)

Selma de Mink  (MPA, co-chair, local host)

Nicholas Jannsen (KU Leuven, PLATO instrument simulator)

Andrew Tkachenko, KU Leuven, Daily Manager PLATO Complementary Science)

Laurence O’Rourke (ESA Science Operations Development Manager PLATO GO call

David Brown (Daily Manager, PLATO Science Management) 

Jakub Klencki (MPA, local host)

Ana Lomidze (MPA, Administrative support) 

We look forward to seeing you in person or online in October!