Near Earth Asteroid Tracking

The Near Earth Asteroid Tracking program(NEAT) is comprised of two autonomous observing systems. One is the at Maui Space Surveillance Site(NEAT/MSSS) and the other is located at Palomar Observatory(NEAT/Palomar). Both sites utilize 1.2 m telescopes to search for near Earth asteroids(NEAs) and near Earth comets, which are collectively referred to as near Earth objects(NEOs).

The near Earth asteroid tracking program works closely with astronomers to identify new asteroids as they appear. NEAT has a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Air Force to use a GEODSS telescope located on Maui, Hawaii. GEODSS stands for Ground based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance. These wide field Air Force telescopes were originally designed to optically observe Earth orbital spacecraft. The NEAT team designed a CCD camera and computer system for the GEODSS telescope. The CCD camera format is 4096×4096 pixels and the field of view is 1.2°×1.6°. The Air Force had an increased need of the telescope, so NEAT operations were switched to the AMOS 1.2-meter telescope, which allowed for additional nights of usage and an increased number of discoveries.

Beginning in April 2001, the Samuel Oschin telescope (1.2 m aperture Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory) was also drafted into service. This telescope is equipped with a camera containing 112 CCDs each taking advantage of 2400×600 pixels. This is the telescope that produced the images leading to the discovery of 50000 Quaonar in 2002, and 90377 Sedana in 2003 and the dwarf planet Eris.

The Near Earth Asteroid Tracking program has discovered many objects. Some months the telescopes find a single object and others they unveil several. In addition to Apollo, Amor, Aten asteroids, the cameras have captured images of Trans-Neptunian Objects(TNOs). Some of the significant discoveries made by NEAT include the co-discovery of the periodic comet 54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT. This is often called a recovery, since older images have been found, but known placed them as a periodic comet until NEAT became involved. Teegarden’s star and the comet C/2001 Q4(NEAT) are other discoveries made by the program in addition to those mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Spacecraft and launches make the biggest splashes in the public eye, but programs like Near Earth Asteroid Tracking produce the greatest amount of scientific data. The role of the assigned scientists may go overlooked by the general populace, but astronomers know that it is critical to scientific progress.

NASA has a great site that will show you updated images of near Earth asteroids. There is a great article on near Earth asteroid tracking here. Universe Today has a good article on the Neat program and another article on the use of delay dopplar radar.

Sources:
http://neat.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/programs/neat.html

Tagged as: near Earth asteroid tracking, near Earth asteroid tracking program, NEAT program