First pre-impact discovery for NEO search!

[Uncwilly]

A fair number of comets, nova, and minor bodies are found by unpaid "amatuers". There are other contributions in astronomy that people can contribute with things as simple as a video camera and access to cable TV (or WWV). I remeber a case where a group of amatures discovered something (SN1987A?), they were local to a major observatory. They had a direct phone number. The confirming telescope turned out to be the 200" Hale at Mt. Palomar. Imagine that.

[davieddy]

The word is spelt "amateur".

[Uncwilly]

I have spelling issues, I know. I can bring a spell chequer to its knees. I often use techincal terms that all the spell checkers can't hack and have to be added.

English has 44 phonems and 1000+ spellings for them.

[Graff]

Originally Posted by Spherical Cow

Here is an interesting local article about the discoverer of the NEO
that vaporized in the atmosphere. Turns out he is not a degreed astronomer,
and has two other part-time, non-astronomy jobs. Note also in the article
that during those hectic hours between discovery and burn-up, the first
prediction that the object would hit the atmosphere came from an amateur.

That last statement needs clarification. While the first *public* notice
of a probable atmospheric entry appeared on the Minor Planet Mailing
List, the Minor Planet Center (which was aware of the event) was
under a NASA-imposed embargo requiring us not to make any
public notification until verifications had been performed and NASA
HQ had approved the wording of any circular/press release.

[Spherical Cow]

Originally Posted by Graff

That last statement needs clarification. While the first *public* notice
of a probable atmospheric entry appeared on the Minor Planet Mailing
List, the Minor Planet Center (which was aware of the event) was
under a NASA-imposed embargo requiring us not to make any
public notification until verifications had been performed and NASA
HQ had approved the wording of any circular/press release.

That's interesting- I should have realized there must be some sort of procedure for verifying and vetting such things to avoid a premature "the-sky-is-falling" announcement. Its one thing for a possibly over-zealous amateur to send out e-mails or post to bulletin boards, but quite another for the Minor Planet Center to make that announcement. Good background. I wonder how high up it goes in NASA for approval of the circular or press release.

Norm

[cheesehead]

"First Images of Asteroid 2008 TC3 Impact Aftermath"

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/11...act-aftermath/

A month after asteroid 2008 TC3 hit the Earth's atmosphere, the first ground-based image of the event has surfaced on the Internet. Admittedly, it's not the fireball everyone has been waiting to see, but it is visual evidence that something hit us above Sudan on October 7th. ...

On the night of the impact, a northward-facing surveillance camera at an Egyptian resort recorded that, at the predicted time, something briefly lit up a (southward-facing) wall in the camera's field of view. Also, there was a KLM airliner crew visual sighting of a distant flash, an infrasound station recording, and an observation of a flash by a weather satellite, but the image in the article above is the first known direct photographic evidence. It's the remnants of the high-altitude persistent smoky train created by the bolide, videoed during the dawn following the event.

[cheesehead]

"Obama's wheels: Secret Service to unveil new presidential limo"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/...ef=mpstoryview

Why am I posting this in this thread?

One news agency, noting its 8-inch-thick doors, says the limo can withstand a "direct hit from an asteroid."

[cheesehead]

Originally Posted by cheesehead

"Obama's wheels: Secret Service to unveil new presidential limo"

... and now, the unveiling, after paint was applied, but with no comment on asteroid resistance:

http://www.secretservice.gov/press/GPA02-09_Limo.pdf

[cheesehead]

"First tracked space rock recovered after impact"

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...er-impact.html

. . .

Students from the University of Khartoum, led by Dr Muawia Shaddad, found the first fragments using data provided by NASA to home in on where fragments were likely to be found.

Scientists involved with the discovery, including Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, have reportedly submitted a study about the find to a scientific journal, and have not responded to interview requests.

But Lindley Johnson, head of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program office at the agency's headquarters in Washington, DC, reported the find on Monday in Vienna, at a United Nations meeting discussing near-Earth object (NEO) impacts. An image of the first fragment found is included in the slides from Johnson's presentation (pdf) (see slide 19).

Donald Yeomans, who manages NASA's efforts to find and track NEOs at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, confirmed that "quite a few" fragments have been found but declined to discuss them further.

. . .

In the PDF (http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pre...09/tech-25.pdf) of the presentation for the UN COPUOS (Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space) Science & Technical Subcommittee, the story of 2008 TC3 starts on page 12. (The first part, especially pp. 5-7, is interesting, too.) The discovery team is shown with the first fragment on page 18. Page 19 has a closeup of the fragment itself.

[Spherical Cow]

Very neat- Thanks for posting that, Cheesehead.

Norm

[xilman]

A very nice observation has been reported: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7964309.stm

Just 20 years ago I visited La Palma. At that time, the WHT was built but not yet in service. A friend of mine was responsible for getting the WHT working and I was fortunate enough to be given a hands-on guided tour of several of the telescopes up there.


Paul