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[Fwd: Asteroid hunters bring telescope into new age]

> 
> MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
> JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
> CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
> NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
> PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
> http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
> 
> Contact: Jane Platt     (818) 354-0880
> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                          June 21, 1999
> 
> ASTEROID HUNTERS BRING OLDIE-BUT-GOODIE INTO NEW AGE
> 
>      NASA astronomers searching for asteroids headed toward Earth
> are expanding their sky-watching repertoire by adding high-tech,
> computerized electronic upgrades to the classic 1.2-meter-
> diameter (48-inch) Oschin telescope atop Palomar Mountain near
> San Diego, California.
> 
>      Right now, NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) system
> uses a fully automated charge-coupled device (CCD) camera mounted
> on a 1-meter-diameter (39-inch) telescope atop Mt. Haleakela on
> Maui, HI.  The U.S. Air Force operates the telescope.
> 
>      NEAT scientists will computerize the pointing system of the
> 1.2-meter (48-inch) Oschin telescope, which currently uses a
> human operator exclusively, and replace photographic plates with
> a modern electronic camera.  The refurbished telescope will
> enable them to peer deeper into the sky than they can from
> Haleakela - they'll see 20 percent farther, and their field of
> view will be 10 times wider.
> 
>      "Imagine watching the Super Bowl on your 25-inch TV and
> then switching to an 80-inch giant screen TV," said Dr. Steven
> Pravdo, NEAT project manager and co-investigator.  "But in this
> case, it's even better than the TV analogy because, with the
> wider field, we'll see many more asteroids in each picture -
> those that would be on the 'sidelines' of other telescopes."
> 
>      The NEAT-Oschin alliance got a test run on June 9 and 10,
> when Pravdo and two other JPL astronomers, Dr. David Rabinowitz
> and Jeffrey Schroeder, took the NEAT camera to the Oschin
> telescope.  They obtained the first-ever electronic images from
> that venerable sky eye.
> 
>      "This experiment proved that the Oschin telescope will be a
> powerful tool in our hunt for near-Earth objects," Pravdo said.
> "We'll spruce up this gentle giant and put it to excellent use
> helping us find asteroids,"
> 
>      "For ten years, I've dreamed and mapped out plans for adding
> electronic detectors to this telescope," said Eleanor Helin,
> principal investigator for NEAT, which has been operating since
> December 1995.  "We've been able to study only a fraction of the
> sky so far, and we've been looking for ways to cover the entire
> sky."
> 
>      NASA's goal is to find all asteroids larger than 1 kilometer
> (0.6 mile) across within 10 years.  "This will achieve one-third
> of that goal, with the remaining two-thirds filled by the
> Haleakela camera and other viewing sites," Helin explained.  "The
> Oschin telescope at Palomar may become the premier finder of
> near-Earth objects in the world."
> 
>      It's estimated there are 1,000 to 2,000 asteroids larger
> than 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) that approach within 48 million
> kilometers (30 million miles) of Earth.  Less than 20 percent
> have been detected so far.  Although the vast majority are
> harmless and will never pose a threat to Earth, scientists want
> to keep track of the tiny percentage whose orbits could
> eventually put them on a collision course with Earth.
> 
>      The Oschin telescope, operated by the California Institute
> of Technology, Pasadena, CA, has served as a world-class
> telescope since it was built in 1949.  Helin used the telescope
> to discover near-Earth asteroids and comets from the late 1970s
> to the early 1990s.  The instrument is currently completing the
> second of two sky surveys that serve as a resource to astronomers
> worldwide.  The Oschin telescope has done yeoman's duty for
> astronomers through the years, but it has been surpassed in many
> ways by newer, more advanced telescopes.  Nonetheless, it remains
> the telescope with the largest field of view.
> 
>      NASA will fund the Oschin upgrade, estimated to cost
> $300,000 to $500,000, and Caltech will provide the use of the
> facility and the infrastructure.  Within about two years,
> astrophysicists from Yale University in New Haven, CT, may
> provide further high-tech upgrades to maximize the potential of
> the Palomar telescope.
> 
>      Images gathered by NEAT using the Oschin telescope, along
> with general information on NEAT, are available at the following
> web site:
> 
>      http://neat.jpl.nasa.gov/
> 
> Information on the Palomar Observatory is available at:
> 
>      http://astro.caltech.edu/observatories/palomar/public/
> 
>      The NEAT project is managed by JPL for NASA's Office of
> Space Science, Washington, DC.  JPL is a division of Caltech.
> 
>                          #####
> 6-18-99 JP
> #99-053


-- 
41.087N  80.714W 305 meters

Mike DiMuzio    mdimuzio@cisnet.com

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