[AZ-Observing] Re: How many Asteroids?

Hi Rick,

The IAU Minor Planets Center at Harvard U. is the main official source 
of information on the ongoing asteroid (mnor planets) discovery 
programs.  They maintain a daily-updated database of the latest 
discoveries, as well as a number of other interesting lists, such as 
numbered asteroids, named asteroids, asteroid discoverers, etc. and 
various statistics.
IAU Minor Planets Center (MPC)
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html
IAU Minor Planets Names List
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/MPNames.html
Numbered Minor Planets - Discovery circumstances list
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/NumberedMPs.html

The three main modern research and discovery programs are LONEOS, at 
Lowell Observatory, LINEAR in New Mexico, and CSS on Mt. Lemmon, near 
Tucson.

You could review the materials on minor planets at Lowell Observatory.  
Brian Skiff is the principal operator for the LONEOS automated survey 
instrument at Anderson Mesa.
http://asteroid.lowell.edu/asteroid/loneos/loneos.html

Check on information from the NASA-USAF funded Lincoln Labs LINEAR 
observatory (in New Mexico),
http://www.ll.mit.edu/mission/space/linear/

The Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) observatory is on Mt. Lemmon, operated by 
the U. of AZ Lunar and Planetary Lab.
Well-known amateur-professional Rick Hill is the main observer at the CSS.
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/
It is rapidly becoming the leading discovery center for minor planets.

The main modern books on the subject are the three Asteroids Conference 
proceedings, from the U. of AZ LPL, edited by Dr. Tom Gehrels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroids

Dr. Gehrels also participates in the Spacewatch program at Kitt Peak, 
which operates two large telescopes equipped with CCD  cameras for 
discoveries.
The Spacewatch Project
http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/

Older books that will give you some historical perspective include:
Earth, Moon, and Planets by Fred Whipple (1958)
The System of Minor Planets by Gunter D. Roth (1962)
And of course, older textbooks on astronomy such as Duncan and Stewart, 
Hoyle, Shapley, etc.

Asteroid discoveries - history
http://www.geocities.com/zlipanov/asteroid_intro/asteroid_intro.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Asteroid_discoverers

The three top >amateur< discoverers of asteroids are all located in 
Arizona....  (Dr. Paul Comba,  Bill Yeung, and Dr. Charles Juels).  Dr. 
Paul Comba, in Prescott, has been at it the longest.  He might be 
willing to discuss the history with you.

Too many asteroids being discovered? (2001 article)
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/asteroid_toomany_011019-1.html

Have fun!!
Gene Lucas (17250) my IAU asteroid number -- look me up!

There are two other members of SAC with numbered asteroids.... and one 
deceased member... can you name them?
GL

Rick Tejera wrote:
> All,
> Lindsay's Science curriculum this year has an astronomy unit that will focus
> on the Solar System. I've offered to do a presentation for the class when
> they get to that unit. My working title is "Not Your Dad's Solar System".
> The theme will be the advances in what we know about the solar system now
> compared to when I was in 7th grade (1972, yeah, I'm old). One of the
> comparisons is the growth in how many asteroids there are now vs. how many
> were know back then. Any ideas where I can dig this up?
>
> Thanks
> Clear Skies
>
> Rick Tejera
>   
--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please 
send personal replies to the author, not the list.

Other related posts: