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25/10/2004
Queen’s University look to the sky
Astronomers from Queen's University are providing a vital component to the world-wide effort of identifying and monitoring rogue asteroids and comets.
From this month, the UK Astrometry and Photometry Programme (UKAPP) for Near-Earth Objects, based at the University, will track Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and feed their crucial information into the international programme of protecting the Earth from any future impact by a comet or asteroid.
On average 30-40 NEOs are discovered each month - asteroids and comets that could one day collide with the Earth. Over 3,000 NEOs have now been found, and a world-wide effort involving professional and amateur astronomers attempts to keep track of these objects. Now a team of astronomers at Queen's will be tracking these objects each week using large high-performance telescopes.
Project leader Dr Alan Fitzsimmons said: "Previously we used UK-funded telescopes on La Palma, but for various reasons they could only track a couple of objects per month on average. The robotic nature of the Faulkes telescopes means that it is much easier for us to observe numerous NEOs than can be achieved by using conventional telescopes."
UKAPP is using the Faulkes Telescope North, a robotic telescope on the Hawaiian island of Maui built primarily for educational use by the Faulkes Telescope Project. At the end of this year they will also start using the twin Faulkes Telescope South at Siding Spring, Australia.
Once the images of the NEOs are taken, Dr Fitzsimmons and his colleagues transfer them to an astronomical computer network in Northern Ireland via the internet. The positions of the NEOs are then measured and communicated to the Minor Planer Center in Harvard in America; the world's clearing house and repository for measurements of NEOs.
The work is supported by a grant from the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and the Particle Physics Research Council (PPARC).
(MB/GMCG)
From this month, the UK Astrometry and Photometry Programme (UKAPP) for Near-Earth Objects, based at the University, will track Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and feed their crucial information into the international programme of protecting the Earth from any future impact by a comet or asteroid.
On average 30-40 NEOs are discovered each month - asteroids and comets that could one day collide with the Earth. Over 3,000 NEOs have now been found, and a world-wide effort involving professional and amateur astronomers attempts to keep track of these objects. Now a team of astronomers at Queen's will be tracking these objects each week using large high-performance telescopes.
Project leader Dr Alan Fitzsimmons said: "Previously we used UK-funded telescopes on La Palma, but for various reasons they could only track a couple of objects per month on average. The robotic nature of the Faulkes telescopes means that it is much easier for us to observe numerous NEOs than can be achieved by using conventional telescopes."
UKAPP is using the Faulkes Telescope North, a robotic telescope on the Hawaiian island of Maui built primarily for educational use by the Faulkes Telescope Project. At the end of this year they will also start using the twin Faulkes Telescope South at Siding Spring, Australia.
Once the images of the NEOs are taken, Dr Fitzsimmons and his colleagues transfer them to an astronomical computer network in Northern Ireland via the internet. The positions of the NEOs are then measured and communicated to the Minor Planer Center in Harvard in America; the world's clearing house and repository for measurements of NEOs.
The work is supported by a grant from the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and the Particle Physics Research Council (PPARC).
(MB/GMCG)
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