Bibcode
Ramirez, C.; Deaver, D.; Martinez, R.; Foster, J.; Kuang, L.; Ates, A.; Anderson, M.; Mijac, M.; Gillam, S.; Hicks, M. D.
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, DPS Meeting #32, #14.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 32, p.1019
Advertised on:
10
2000
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
In the spring of 2000 we began TMAP (Table Mountain Astrometry Project),
a program designed to provide timely astrometric followup of newly
discovered near-Earth asteroids. Relying on undergraduate observers from
the local California State Universities, we have to date been involved
with the over 50 NEO and new comet discoveries. This is a significant
fraction of all near-Earth asteroids discovered over the time period.
All observations are performed at JPL's Table Mountain Facility near
Wrightwood California using the 0.6-meter telescope equipped with a
Photometrics LN cooled 1k CCD mounted at the cassegrain focus. With this
system we can routinely detect objects to R=20.5. We have typically
scheduled two runs per month on weekends bracketing the new moon. The
student observers man the telescope are trained to select and obtain
R-band images of candidates from the Minor Planet Center's NEO
Confirmation Page
(http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/NEO/TheNEOPage.html). The astrometry
is then reduced and submitted to the Minor Planet Center the following
day. TMAP has proven to be an efficient way both to obtain much needed
astrometric measurements of newly discovered small bodies as well as to
involve undergraduate researchers in planetary research. The limiting
magnitudes provided by the 0.6-meter partially fills the gap between the
extremely helpful and dedicated amateur astromitrists and the followup
that the NEO detection programs do themselves. This work is supported by
NASA.