We are developing a new near-infrared high-resolution (R[max] = 100,000) and high-sensitive spectrograph WINERED, which is specifically customized for short NIR bands at 0.9–1.35 μm. WINERED employs an innovative optical system; a portable design and a warm optics without any cold stops. The planned astrometric space mission JASMINE will provide precise positions, distances, and proper motions of the bulge stars. The missing components, the radial velocity and chemical composition will be measured by WINERED. These combined data brought by JASMINE and WINERED will certainly reveal the nature of the Galactic bulge. We plan to complete this instrument for observations of single objects by the end of 2008 and to attach it to various 4–10m telescopes as a PI-type instrument. We hope to upgrade WINERED with a multi-object feed in the future for efficient survey of the JASMINE bulge stars.

The orbits and theoretical tidal radii for a sample of 45 Galactic globular clusters are calculated. The orbital phase dependence between the theoretical and observed tidal radii is noted.

Astrometry and Celestial Mechanics have entered a new era with the advent of Micro-arcsecond positions, parallaxes and proper motions. Cutting-edge science topics will be addressed that were far beyond our grasp only a few years ago. It will be possible to determine definitive distances to Cepheid variables, the center of our Galaxy, the Magellanic Clouds and other Local Group members. We will measure the orbital parameters of dwarf galaxies that are merging with the Milky Way, define the kinematics, dynamics and structure of our Galaxy and search for evidence of the Dark Matter that makes up most of the mass in the universe. Stellar masses will be determined routinely to 1% accuracy and we will be able to make full orbit solutions and mass determinations for Extrasolar planetary systems. If we are to take advantage of Micro-arcsecond astrometry, we need to reformulate our study of reference frames, systems and the equations of motion in the context of special and general relativity. Methods also need to be developed to statistically analyze our data and calibrate our instruments to levels beyond current standards. As a consequence, our curricula must be drastically revised to meet the needs of students in the 21st Century. With the above considerations in mind, we developed a syllabus for an introductory one-semester course in Astrometry and Celestial Mechanics. This course gives broad introductions to most topics in our fields and a base of knowledge from which a student can elect areas for self-study or attendance at centers where advanced courses, workshops or internships are available.

The optical ground-based astrometry of solar system objects may have its accuracy strongly improved by using new methods for making observations and reductions of them. New photometric methods of observating the mutual phenomena occurring in the solar system, may provide astrometric data with a higher precision than the classical direct imaging. In order to help preparing observers for the future campaigns of observations (2008–2010) and to promote this kind of high-accuracy astrometry, we plan to organize a spring school in 2008 in Beijing, China, for PhD and post-doctoral students, and for interested young astronomers.

The astrometry course at Department of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, is reviewed as an example of educational efforts for top-class students, the possible candidates of professional astronomers, in Japan. The method of teaching is unique in the sense that it gives lectures by using incomplete text books both as MS Powerpoint slides posted at a web site, http://chiron.mtk.nao.ac.jp/~toshio/education.html, and as printed materials in the form of self-study notebooks. Also there are self-study notebooks on the related issues; the courses of relativistic astrometry, of rotational motions, of numerical astronomy, and of orbital motions, the last of which is under development.

With measuring precision on the order of milli-arcseconds for ground-based survey facilities or even micro-arcseconds for space astrometric satellites, the importance of astrometric education continues to be important. The content of astrometric courses in China during the past fifteen years is reviewed and the current astrometric courses for undergraduate and graduate students at universities and observatories in China are presented. Finally the improvements of astrometric education in content and teaching methods are suggested.

The present system of astrometric education in the Saint-Petersburg State University is presented. The general courses, specific programs, seminars and observations that a student takes during a 5-year educational program are described.

ELSA (European Leadership in Space Astrometry) is an EU-funded research project 2006–2010, contributing to the scientific preparations for the Gaia mission while training young researchers in space astrometry and related subjects. Nine postgraduate (PhD) students and five postdocs have been recruited to the network. Their research focuses on the principles of global astrometric, photometric, and spectroscopic measurements from space, instrument modelling and calibration, and numerical analysis tools and data processing methods relevant for Gaia.

We show how loud-speakers, home digital recorders, and a common personal computer can be used to emulate VLBI observations on a small scale. These audio-VLBI observations allow for single-field astrometry (sources within the same interferometric field), differential group-delay astrometry, etc. These experiments can be set up very easily and in many possible configurations. Students may find these experiments very useful to learn about the innermost details of the interferometric technique.

The Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues are ideal data sources for classwork since they provide real data illustrating fundamental astronomical concepts in a simple and easy to manipulate format. In this poster we describe how some of this data is used as support material within the International Baccalaureate (IB) science curriculum. The preparation and deployment of a series of Teacher Notes, specifically constructed to support the IB but applicable to other curricula, is described. Specific attention is given to the Teacher Notes on Stellar Distances which employs data from the Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues.

Space science missions, and astronomy missions in particular, capture the public imagination at all levels. ESA's Gaia mission is no exception to this. In addition to its key scientific goal of providing new insight into the origin, formation, and evolution of the Milky Way, Gaia also touches on many other scientific topics of broad appeal, for example, solar system objects, stars (including rare and exotic ones), dark matter, gravitational light bending. The mission naturally provides a rich resource for outreach possibilities whether it be to the general public, or to specific interest groups, such as scientists from other fields or educators. We present some examples of possible outreach activities for Gaia.

Major advances in our understanding of the Universe have historically come from dramatic improvements in our ability to accurately measure astronomical quantities. The astrometric observations obtained by modern digital sky surveys are enabling unprecedentedly massive and robust studies of the kinematics of the Milky Way. For example, the astrometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), together with half a century old astrometry from the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS), have enabled the construction of a catalog that includes absolute proper motions as accurate as 3 mas/year for about 20 million stars brighter than V=20, and for 80,000 spectroscopically confirmed quasars which provide exquisite error assessment. We discuss here several ongoing studies of Milky Way kinematics based on this catalog. The upcoming next-generation surveys will maintain this revolutionary progress. For example, we show using realistic simulations that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will measure proper motions accurate to 1 mas/year to a limit 4 magnitude fainter than possible with SDSS and POSS catalogs, or with the Gaia survey. LSST will also obtain geometric parallaxes with accuracy similar to Gaia's at its faint end (0.3 mas at V=20), and extend them to V=24 with an accuracy of 3 mas. We discuss the impact that these LSST measurements will have on studies of the Milky Way kinematics, and potential synergies with the Gaia survey.

When astrometric data can be extracted from archives, this generally allows us to get very strong constraints for the orbital modeling of Solar System objects. This is particularly important for Near-Earth Asteroids. We have developed tools in the Virtual Observatory framework in order to carry out such a task. We have applied them to the DENIS survey. This survey has been performed from 1995 to 2001 in the I, J, K' spectral bands with a 1m telescope at ESO La Silla. Many sources associated to Solar System Objects have been identified and we present our preliminary results.

Several astronomical databases were created at Nikolaev Observatory during the last years. The databases are built by using MySQL search engine and PHP scripts. They are available on NAO web-site http://www.mao.nikolaev.ua.

The Pan-STARRS pathfinding telescope PS1 will begin a major set of surveys starting in 2008, and lasting for 3.5 years. One of these, the PS1 3π Survey, will repeatedly observe the entire sky north of −30 degrees, visiting every position 12 times in each of 5 filters. With single-epoch astrometry of 10 milliarcseconds, these observations will yield parallaxes for stars within 100 pc and proper motions out to several hundred pc. The result will be an unprecedented view on nearby stellar populations and insight into the dynamical structure of the local portions of the Galaxy. One exciting science product will be a volume-limited sample of nearby low-mass objects including thousands of L dwarfs, hundreds of T dwarfs, and perhaps even cooler sub-stellar objects. Another project will use proper-motion measurements to improve the membership of nearby star forming regions.

The PMOE planetary/lunar ephemeris framework was established in 2003, and has been improved in recent years. In the framework of the post-Newtonian effects, the figure perturbation effects arising from the a finite size of the Sun, Moon and the Earth, and the effect of the Earth tide were taken into account. The accuracy of using the PMOE ephemeris to predict the positions of the planets in the solar system are the same as that of JPL DE 405. Based on this framework, the orbit optimization for the LISA, ASTROD and ASTROD I missions, and the computation of celestial phenomena and lunar phases in the Xia Shang and Zhou period of ancient China have been completed.

Virtual Observatory (VO) is a data intensive online astronomical research and education environment, taking advantages of advanced information technologies to achieve seamless and uniform access to astronomical information. The concept of VO was introduced in the late 1990s to meet the challenges brought up with data avalanche in astronomy. In the paper, current status of International Virtual Observatory Alliance, technical highlights from world wide VO projects are reviewed, a brief introduction of Chinese Virtual Observatory is given.

In recent years, there has been an increasing appreciation for the hazards posed by Near Earth Objects (NEOs), those asteroids and periodic comets whose motions can bring them into the Earth's neighborhood. An NEO Survey Telescope (NEOST) was built in China to be taken part in the international NEO joint survey. This telescope is a 1.0/1.2m Schmidt telescope, equipped with a 4K by 4K CCD detector with a drift-scanning function. After adjusting the telescope and test observations, in December 2006 the NEOST began its NEO survey program. We have found 188 new asteroids including an NEO – 2007 JW2 and one periodic comet –P/2007 S1 (Zhao).

As the title of this symposium implies, one of the aims is to examine the future of astrometry as we move from an era in which thanks to the Hipparcos Catalogue everyone has become familiar with milliarcsecond astrometry to an era in which microarcsecond astrometry will become the norm. I will take this look into the future by first providing an overview of present astrometric programmes and how they fit together and then I will attempt to identify the most promising future directions. In addition I discuss the important conditions for the maximization of the scientific return of future large and highly accurate astrometric catalogues; catalogue access and analysis tools, the availability of sufficient auxiliary data and theoretical knowledge, and the education of the future generation of astrometrists.