2025/03/19 by Thomas Lacroix, Lacroix, Thomas Rahab, Pierre Lemaire +1
Computer Science · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #Advanced Multi-Objective Optimization Algorithms #FOS: Physical sciences #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Satellite Communication Systems
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2504.03666
openalex publication_date 2025/03/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The observation of celestial objects is a fundamental activity in astronomy. Ground-based and space telescopes are used to gather electromagnetic radiation from space, allowing astronomers to study a wide range of celestial objects and phenomena, such as stars, planets, galaxies, and black holes. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) charges each night 83 kEUR (Milli et al. 2019), so the schedules of the telescopes are really important in order to optimize every second. Ground-based telescopes are affected by meteorological conditions, such as clouds, wind, and atmospheric turbulence. Accurate scheduling of observations in the presence of such uncertainties can significantly improve the efficiency of telescopes use and support from automated tools is highly desirable. In this paper, we study a mathematical approach for scheduling ground-based telescope observations under an uncertain number of clear nights due to uncertain weather and atmospheric conditions. The model considers multiple targets, uncertain number of nights, and various observing constraints. We demonstrate the viability and effectiveness of an approach based on stochastic optimization and reactive strategy comparing it against other methods.