ExoClock project: a pro-am collaboration to monitor the exoplanet ephemerides for the Ariel space mission

<p>ExoClock (exoclock.space) is a project aiming to monitor transiting exoplanets through regular observations using small and medium scale telescopes. The project is part of the ephemerides working group of ESA's Ariel space mission and the main scope is to maximise the mission efficiency. This effort was launched in EPSC2019 and we are actively collaborating with both professional and amateur astronomers coming from various countries across the world. In this talk, I will talk about the organisation of the project and the main tools that are used to achieve an effective pro-am collaboration. I will also present the current status of the project and the results of the publications we have produced so far. Our research includes a collective analysis of light-curves aquired by ground telescopes most of which belong to amateur astronomers. This data are used in combination with other resources (literature data, space data and light curves from other networks) to update the ephemerides of exoplanets that are candidates for the Ariel space mission. The ExoClock network currently consists of 550 participants out of whom 420 are amateur astronomers, a number that highlights the significant contribution of amateurs in our project. </p>