William Atkins
Thursday, 30 April 2009 00:50
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 2
Mick Todd, a student at Curtin University of Technology, discovers new asteroid (“Asteroid 2009 FH19”) while searching for potentially dangerous near-Earth objects using the University of Western Australia’s Zadko Telescope.
Curtin University’s website is
http://www.curtin.edu.au/.
The Curtin News article “
Zadko Telescope discovers new real estate” states,
“Mick was practising his search techniques when he captured an image of an unidentified faint object. After checking the major astronomical data-bases, it became clear that the Zadko Telescope had imaged a new asteroid.” [Curtin University]
It added,
“Unlikely comets, asteroids are numbered not named. So instead of a Mick Todd asteroid, it will be known as asteroid 2009 FH19.”
The
Zadko Telescope is a robotically-controlled one-meter Ritchey-Chretien telescope.
The telescope is located 70 kilometers north of Perth on Wallingup Plain near the town of Gingin in Western Australia.
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are objects in our Solar System whose orbits bring them close to the Earth’s orbit about the Sun. Sometimes a NEO impacts the Earth.
It is for this reason that it is important for astronomers around the world to keep track of these potentially dangerous space objects.
Page two concludes.
