One of the most important populations of Near Earth Objects are asteroids of size larger then 1 kilometer. According to the NEOWISE survey, it is predicted that there are 981 +/- 18 of these mammoth primordial rocks in the NEO region. As of this time, 860 of these objects have been found. New discoveries are therefore becoming increasingly rare. Although the majority of these were discovered early in the history of modern observing because of their size and magnitude, Catalina Sky Survey has been a major contributor to the known catalog of these objects with 71 discoveries in the last 9 years. In the last year, 4 new 1km+ NEOs have been discovered, 3 of which were found by CSS: 2013 AP60, discovered by astronomer Al Grauer at the Schmidt telescope, Mt. Bigelow, H=16.8 (1.05 - 2.4 km), Earth MOID=0.1741 AU, so NOT a PHA. 2013 GJ35, discovered by astronomer Robert McNaught at the Uppsula Schmidt telescope, Siding Spring, H=15.6 (2.1 - 4.7 km), Earth MOID = 0.3391 AU, so NOT a PHA. 2013 LB1, discovered by astronomer Jess Johnson at the 1.5m Cassegrain telescope, Mount Lemmon, H=17.5 (.84 - 1.9 km), Earth MOID = .3330 AU, so NOT a PHA. For more information on the WISE mission, of which NEOWISE is a part, see the following: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-field_Infrared_Survey_Explorer
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:53:38 +0000
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