The Population of Near-Earth Objects Discovered by Spacewatch
Abstract
In the past three years the Spacewatch program at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory has discovered ~45% of the new Earth Approaching asteroids and found evidence for an unheralded population of small (~10m) objects in the inner solar system. This success is due to the automated Moving Object Detection Program (MODP) which searches successive scans over the same region for objects showing consistent motion. Highlights of recent discoveries, an update on research, and the development and potential of the new 1.8m Spacewatch facility will be discussed.
- Publication:
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Earth Moon and Planets
- Pub Date:
- February 1996
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 1996EM&P...72..233G
- Keywords:
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- Solar System;
- Object Detection;
- Earth Approach;
- Detection Program;
- Successive Scan