Australian student Mick Todd finds new asteroid

William Atkins
Wednesday, 29 April 2009 23:50

Science - Space

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.

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