UH IfA established the first two ATLAS telescopes in Hawaii under a 2013 grant from NASAs Near-Earth Objects Observations Program, now part of NASAs PDCO, and the two facilities on Haleakala and Maunaloa, respectively, became completely operational in 2017. After several years of successful operation in Hawaii, IfA completed for additional NASA funds to build two more telescopes in the southern hemisphere. And picked the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in South Africa and a multi-institutional partnership in Chile ifa sought partners to host these telescopes. The ATLAS presence augments currently substantial astronomical capability in both countries.
Each of the 4 ATLAS telescopes can image a swath of sky 100 times larger than the moon in a single exposure. The conclusion of the two last telescopes, which are located at Sutherland Observing Station in South Africa and El Sauce Observatory in Chile, allow ATLAS to observe the night sky when it is daytime in Hawaii.
To date, the ATLAS system has found more than 700 near-Earth asteroids and 66 comets, along with detection of 2019 MO and 2018 LA, two extremely little asteroids that actually affected Earth. The system is specially designed to find objects that approach really close to Earth– closer than the range to the Moon, about 240,000 miles or 384,000 kilometers away. On January 22, ATLAS-Sutherland in South Africa found its very first NEO, 2022 BK, a 100-meter asteroid that presents no hazard to Earth.
The addition of the new observatories to the ATLAS system comes at a time when the companys Planetary Defense efforts are on the rise. NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)– the worlds very first full-scale objective to check a technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid effects– launched November 24, 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. DART will deflect a known asteroid, which is not a threat to Earth, to slightly alter the asteroids motion in a manner that can be properly determined using ground-based telescopes.
Furthermore, deal with the agencys Near-Earth Object Surveyor area telescope (NEO Surveyor) is underway after getting permission to move on into Preliminary Design, referred to as Key Decision Point- B. As soon as complete, the infrared area telescope will speed up the agencys capability to discover and characterize most of the possibly dangerous NEOs, consisting of those that might approach Earth from the daytime sky.
” We have not yet found any considerable asteroid effect risk to Earth, but we continue to browse for that substantial population we understand is still to be found. Our objective is to find any possible impact years to years ahead of time so it can be deflected with a capability using technology we already have, like DART,” stated Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA Headquarters. “DART, NEO Surveyor, and ATLAS are very important parts of NASAs work to prepare Earth must we ever be faced with an asteroid impact risk.”
NEO Surveyor is being established by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the University of Arizona and managed by NASAs PMPO with program oversight by the PDCO. NASA established the PDCO in 2016 to handle the companys continuous efforts in Planetary Defense.
The NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS)– an advanced asteroid detection system run by the University of Hawaii (UH) Institute for Astronomy (IfA) for the companys Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO)– has actually reached a brand-new turning point by ending up being the first survey capable of searching the entire dark sky every 24 hours for near-Earth items (NEOs) that could position a future impact threat to Earth. Now consisted of 4 telescopes, ATLAS has actually broadened its reach to the southern hemisphere from the 2 existing northern-hemisphere telescopes on Haleakala and Maunaloa in Hawaii to consist of two extra observatories in South Africa and Chile.
Credit: Willie Koorts (SAAO); Chilean engineers and astronomers setting up the ATLAS telescope at El Sauce Observatory. Credit: University of Hawaii; Illustration of NASAs DART spacecraft and the Italian Space Agencys (ASI) LICIACube prior to impact at the Didymos binary system.
” An essential part of planetary defense is discovering asteroids before they discover us, so if required, we can get them prior to they get us” said Kelly Fast, Near-Earth Object Observations Program Manager for NASAs Planetary Defense Coordination Office. “With the addition of these 2 telescopes, ATLAS is now capable of browsing the whole dark sky every 24 hours, making it an essential possession for NASAs continuous effort to find, track, and monitor NEOs.”
UH IfA developed the very first two ATLAS telescopes in Hawaii under a 2013 grant from NASAs Near-Earth Objects Observations Program, now part of NASAs PDCO, and the 2 facilities on Haleakala and Maunaloa, respectively, became completely operational in 2017. After numerous years of effective operation in Hawaii, IfA completed for extra NASA funds to build 2 more telescopes in the southern hemisphere. To date, the ATLAS system has actually discovered more than 700 near-Earth asteroids and 66 comets, along with detection of 2019 MO and 2018 LA, two extremely small asteroids that really affected Earth. NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)– the worlds very first full-scale mission to check an innovation for defending Earth against prospective asteroid impacts– introduced November 24, 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. DART will deflect a known asteroid, which is not a hazard to Earth, to slightly change the asteroids movement in a method that can be precisely measured utilizing ground-based telescopes.
