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.