EIU Astro

School Teachers Aid in the Search for Killer Asteroids July 29, 2009

My graduate class in astronomy for science teachers just completed its summer course.

Teachers learning the ins and outs of asteroid hunting

One of the last thing we do is to have some outside speakers come in. On Monday, Bob Holmes head of the Astronomical Research Institute based here in Charleston, Illinois, spoke to the students about one of his NASA projects that he involved with. Searching for NEO’s (Near Earth Objects)

bd81 asteroid discovered

ARI’s telescopes can take more than 1000 photos a night, while hunting for objects that can cross Earth’s orbit, like the movie above. So high school teachers and their students are needed to to go through and hunt for objects that may hit us. The software is free, and if a new object is found,  the student get credit and published in the minor planet circular at Harvard University. For more information, if you, and your students might be interested in this search contact ARI: http://ari.home.mchsi.com/contact_astro_research.htm

or

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL SEARCH COLLABORATION

http://iasc.hsutx.edu/index.htm

And for information about the software used Astrometrica:

http://iasc.hsutx.edu/index_files/Page389.htm