The Venus ground-based image Active Archive: a database of amateur observations of Venus in ultraviolet and infrared light

Abstract: The Venus ground-based image Active Archive is an online database designed to collect ground-based images of Venus in such a way that they are optimally useful for science. The Archive was built to support ESA's Venus Amateur Observing Project, which utilises the capabilities of advanced amateur astronomers to collect filtered images of Venus in ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light. These images complement the observations of the Venus Express spacecraft, which cannot continuously monitor the northern hemisphere of the planet due to its elliptical orbit with apocentre above the south pole. We present the first set of observations available in the Archive and assess the usability of the dataset for scientific purposes.