Amateur Skywatchers Help Space Hazards Team
ScienceDaily (Oct. 13, 2011) — For the first time, observations coordinated by the European Space Agency’s space hazards team have found an asteroid that comes close enough to Earth to pose an impact threat. The space rock was found by amateur astronomers, highlighting the value of ‘crowd-sourcing’ to science and planetary defence.
he discovery of asteroid 2011 SF108 was made by the volunteer Teide Observatory Tenerife Asteroid Survey (TOTAS) team during an observation slot sponsored by ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme in September.
The four-night survey used the 1m-aperture telescope at ESA’s Optical Ground Station at Teide on Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
This is not the first asteroid found under SSA sponsorship, but it is the first that qualifies as a ‘near Earth object’ — an object that passes close enough to Earth during its orbit around the Sun that it could pose an impact threat.
Images require human evaluation
During TOTAS observations, the telescope runs automated asteroid surveys for several hours using software developed by amateur astronomer and computer scientist Matthias Busch from the Starkenburg Amateur Observatory in Heppenheim, Germany.
However, potential sightings must still be evaluated by humans.
The team comprises 20 volunteers, most of whom took part in the manual evaluation of images captured during the session on 28/29 September.
Safe distance: 30 million km
“Images are distributed to the entire team for review, and any one of them could be the discoverer of a new asteroid,” says Detlef Koschny, Head of NEO activity for SSA. “This time, the luck of the draw fell to Rainer Kracht.”
“As volunteer work, it is very rewarding. When you do spot something, you contribute to Europe’s efforts in defending against asteroid hazards.”
The orbit of asteroid 2011 SF108 brings it no closer than about 30 million km to Earth — a safe distance.
to read more, go to: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111012083630.htm