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Searching for Near-Earth Asteroids with the UK Schmidt Telescope at the AAO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

D. I. Steel ,
R. H. McNaught ,
G. J. Garradd ,
K. S. Russell  and
D. J. Asher
D. I. Steel
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, Private Bag, Coonabarabran, NSW2357, Australia
R. H. McNaught
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, Private Bag, Coonabarabran, NSW2357, Australia
G. J. Garradd
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, Private Bag, Coonabarabran, NSW2357, Australia
K. S. Russell
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, Private Bag, Coonabarabran, NSW2357, Australia
D. J. Asher
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, Private Bag, Coonabarabran, NSW2357, Australia

Abstract

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Since 1990 we have operated a program in which all plates and films exposed at the 1.2 m U.K. Schmidt Telescope (UKST) are searched for suspicious trails that may represent fast-moving (Earth-approaching) objects. When a possible near-Earth asteroid is discovered, we obtain follow-up astrometric positions using photography on either the UKST (if the object is faint) or the 0.5 m Uppsala Southern Schmidt at the same site. Further astrometric positions, once a reasonable ephemeris is available, are obtained with a large-format CCD on the 40 inch telescope of the Siding Spring Observatory (SSO).

In the near term we plan to extend our use of the UKST making use of time near bright-of-moon when the telescope is currently underused. We will conduct photographic searching by taking dedicated films in pairs of 5-10 minutes exposure, with 30-60 minutes gaps between. These will then be inspected using electronically blinked video cameras to scan the films and look for objects that have moved between the exposures. We believe that we can better than triple our current discovery rate (which is about 8-10 near-Earth asteroids per year) in this way.

In the longer term clearly the installation of a mosaic of CCDs covering some reasonable fraction of the UKST focal surface is a desideratum, and this is under consideration.

Type
VI. Major Surveys and Archiving
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 148: The Future Utilisation of Schmidt Telescopes , 1995 , pp. 159 - 169
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1995

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