Near Earth Asteroid Tracking
Encyclopedia
Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) is a program run by NASA
and Jet Propulsion Laboratory
to discover near-Earth object
s. The NEAT project began in December 1995 and ran until April 2007.
The original principal investigator was Eleanor F. Helin
, with co-investigators Steven H. Pravdo and David L. Rabinowitz
.
NEAT has a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Air Force to use a GEODSS telescope
located on Haleakala
, Maui
, Hawaii
. GEODSS stands for Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance and these wide field Air Force telescopes were 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 pixel
s and the field of view is 1.2° × 1.6°.
Beginning in April 2001, the Samuel Oschin telescope
(1.2 metre aperture Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory
) was also put into service to discover and track near-Earth objects. This telescope is equipped with a camera containing 112 CCDs each 2400 × 600. This is the telescope that produced the images leading to the discovery of 50000 Quaoar
in 2002, and 90377 Sedna
in 2003 (published 2004) and the dwarf planet
Eris.
In addition to discovering thousands of asteroid
s, NEAT is also credited with the co-discovery (recovery) of periodic comet
54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT
and of the high proper motion Teegarden's star
. The C/2001 Q4 (NEAT)
comet was discovered on August 24, 2001 by NEAT.
An asteroid was named in its honour, 64070 NEAT
, in early 2005.
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
and Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
to discover near-Earth object
Near-Earth object
A near-Earth object is a Solar System object whose orbit brings it into close proximity with the Earth. All NEOs have a perihelion distance less than 1.3 AU. They include a few thousand near-Earth asteroids , near-Earth comets, a number of solar-orbiting spacecraft, and meteoroids large enough to...
s. The NEAT project began in December 1995 and ran until April 2007.
History
Eleanor F. Helin
Eleanor Francis "Glo" Helin was an American astronomer. She was principal investigator of the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Some sources give her name as Eleanor Kay Helin...
, with co-investigators Steven H. Pravdo and David L. Rabinowitz
David L. Rabinowitz
David Lincoln Rabinowitz is a researcher at Yale University. He has built CCD cameras and software for the detection of near-Earth asteroids and Kuiper Belt Objects, and his research has helped reduce the assumed number of near-Earth asteroids by half, from 1,000-2,000 to 500-1,000 He has also...
.
NEAT has a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Air Force to use a GEODSS telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
located on Haleakala
Haleakala
Haleakalā , or the East Maui Volcano, is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the Hawaiian Island of Maui. The western 25% of the island is formed by the West Maui Mountains.- History :...
, Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. GEODSS stands for Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance and these wide field Air Force telescopes were designed to optically observe Earth orbital spacecraft. The NEAT team designed a CCD
Charge-coupled device
A charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...
camera and computer system for the GEODSS telescope. The CCD camera format is 4096 × 4096 pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
s and the field of view is 1.2° × 1.6°.
Beginning in April 2001, the Samuel Oschin telescope
Samuel Oschin telescope
The Samuel Oschin telescope is a 48-inch aperture Schmidt camera at the Palomar Observatory in northern San Diego County, California. It consists of a 49.75-inch Schmidt corrector plate and a 72-inch mirror. The instrument is strictly a camera; there is no provision for an eyepiece to look...
(1.2 metre aperture Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is a privately owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, southeast of Pasadena's Mount Wilson Observatory, in the Palomar Mountain Range. At approximately elevation, it is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology...
) was also put into service to discover and track near-Earth objects. This telescope is equipped with a camera containing 112 CCDs each 2400 × 600. This is the telescope that produced the images leading to the discovery of 50000 Quaoar
50000 Quaoar
50000 Quaoar is a rocky trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt with one known moon. Discovered on June 4, 2002 by astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown at the California Institute of Technology from images acquired at the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory, it is thought by...
in 2002, and 90377 Sedna
90377 Sedna
90377 Sedna is a trans-Neptunian object discovered in 2003, which was about three times as far from the Sun as Neptune. For most of its orbit it is even further from the Sun, with its aphelion estimated at 960 astronomical units , making it one of the most distant known objects in the Solar System...
in 2003 (published 2004) and the dwarf planet
Dwarf planet
A dwarf planet, as defined by the International Astronomical Union , is a celestial body orbiting the Sun that is massive enough to be spherical as a result of its own gravity but has not cleared its neighboring region of planetesimals and is not a satellite...
Eris.
In addition to discovering thousands of asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
s, NEAT is also credited with the co-discovery (recovery) of periodic comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT
54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT
54P/de Vico–Swift–NEAT is a periodic comet in the solar system first discovered by Father Francesco de Vico on August 23, 1844. It has become a lost comet several times after its discovery.- First Discovery :...
and of the high proper motion Teegarden's star
Teegarden's star
Teegarden's Star, also known as SO J025300.5+165258, is an M-type red dwarf star or brown dwarf in the constellation Aries, located about 12 light years from the Solar System. Despite its proximity to Earth it is a dim magnitude 15 and can only be seen through large telescopes. This star was found...
. The C/2001 Q4 (NEAT)
C/2001 Q4 (NEAT)
C/2001 Q4 is a comet with an unusual, almost perpendicular retrograde orbit which brings it into the inner solar system by a deeply southward path. It initially emerged from its remote home spending most of its time near the south celestial pole...
comet was discovered on August 24, 2001 by NEAT.
An asteroid was named in its honour, 64070 NEAT
64070 NEAT
64070 NEAT is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 24, 2001, by C. W. Juels and P. R. Holvorcem at Fountain Hills.- External links :*...
, in early 2005.
See also
- List of Near-Earth asteroids by distance from Sun
- Planetary Data SystemPlanetary Data SystemThe Planetary Data System is a distributed data system that NASA uses to archive data collected by Solar System robotic missions and ground-based support data associated with those missions. PDS is managed by NASA Headquarters' Planetary Sciences Division. The PDS is an active archive that makes...
(PDS) - Minor Planet CenterMinor Planet CenterThe Minor Planet Center operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory , which is part of the Center for Astrophysics along with the Harvard College Observatory ....
- Catalina Sky SurveyCatalina Sky SurveyCatalina Sky Survey is a project to discover comets and asteroids, and to search for Near-Earth objects. More specifically, to search for potentially hazardous asteroids , that may pose a threat of impact.-Mission:...
- Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid ResearchLincoln Near-Earth Asteroid ResearchThe Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project is a cooperative project between the United States Air Force, NASA, and MIT's Lincoln Laboratory for the systematic discovery and tracking of near-Earth asteroids. LINEAR was responsible for the majority of asteroid detections since 1998 until...
(LINEAR) - Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object SearchLowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object SearchLowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search ' was a project designed to discover asteroids and comets that orbit near the Earth. The project, funded by NASA, was directed by Dr. Ted Bowell of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona...
(LONEOS) - Pan-STARRSPan-STARRSThe Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System is a planned array of astronomical cameras and telescopes and computing facility that will survey the sky on a continual basis, including accurate astrometry and photometry of detected objects...
- SpaceguardSpaceguardThe term Spaceguard loosely refers to a number of efforts to discover and study near-Earth objects . Asteroids are discovered by telescopes which repeatedly survey large areas of sky. Efforts which concentrate on discovering NEOs are considered part of the "Spaceguard Survey," regardless of which...
- SpacewatchSpacewatchSpacewatch is a project at the University of Arizona led by Robert S. McMillan that specializes in the study of minor planets, including various types of asteroids and comets...