NEWS ITEMS

The International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) provides images and software for schools to participate in a large asteroid-finding research project.
Lists of their recent asteroid discoveries are at http://iasc.hsutx.edu/index_files/Page786.htm.
Their 2008 near Earth asteroid discoveries are at http://iasc.hsutx.edu/Discoveries.

2009 Mar 11 The latest round of virtual impactor observations (VIOs) and observations of near-Earth objects (NEOs) are now fully listed at the IASC web site. Go to http://iasc.hsutx.edu/index_files/Page786.htm for the complete list. To date there have been 4 Main Belt asteroid discoveries, 1 NEO discovery, 7 VIOs, 4 NEO confirmations, and 148 NEO observations. The NEO observations are reported to the Minor Planet Center (Harvard) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA) as part of the NASA Near-Earth Object Program. This is truly an impressive list of discoveries and observations!!
Dr. Patrick Miller

2009 Feb 2 Patrick Miller of the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) reports that Steven Kirby, a high school science teacher at Ranger High School (Ranger, TX), discovered a near-Earth object during the Texas Region 14 Big Country Math & Science Symposium. To be more precise, it was co-discovered by the ARI Observatory director Bob Holmes, Steven Kirby, and Kolyo Dankov (a graduate student at the Bulgarian Academy of Science and a participant of the IASC NEO Confirmation Campaign). This is the first time anyone in IASC has discovered an asteroid crossing or near Earth's orbit. Two other observatories have confirmed the sighting and the orbit for this object is being built by the Minor Planet Center at Harvard - http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K09/K09C09.html. It is not unusual to discover a Main Belt asteroid because they number in the hundreds of thousands. The NEOs number in the thousands, and are a much rarer find. Bob Holmes of the Astronomical Research Institute (ARI) observatory adds: "This is not just and NEO. You might be interested to know that the discovery is a 'Virtual Impactor.' ...It was placed on the NASA/JPL risk page...." This discovery has received national attention on both the Sky & Telescope and Universe Today web sites. For more information, you can check out the story on the Universe Today site. This asteroid is 0.3 km in size and in 2042 will pass within 32,000 km of Earth (5.5 Earth radii), and even closer in 2046. Keep in mind that 32,000 km is actually closer to Earth than the geosynchronous satellites. At 0.3 km in size, it is as large as 3 football fields, and has a mass of 3.5 x 1010 kg. If it were to hit the Earth it would release the energy equivalent to 1000 MT of TNT (i.e., 1000 simultaneous hydrogen bomb explosions). So...you never know what your students may discover as they analyze the many image sets available in their school folders.

Nov 2008 The number of new asteroid discoveries remains at 23 but the list of NEO observations is long and includes many of IASC students. The current campaign continues until December 5, 2008, and we expect still more original discoveries and important contributions to the measurements of the impact threatening near-Earth objects.

2008 Jul 2 HOU/Spitzer Student Project: Alekzandir Morton and Thomas Travagli presented their research on determining the redshift of S5 0716+714 at the California State Science Fair and were awarded first place in the Senior Division of Physics and Astronomy. They were mentored by SSC scientist Mark Lacy. The students were awarded a $1000 scholarship each. Articles about them were published by the Contra Costa Times and in the Antioch Press. John Michael Santiago, who assisted with the data reduction on the WZ Sge project, received a 4th place award at the Contra Costa Science and Engineering Fair. ---Jeff Adkins [HOU teacher]

HOU is resource of the Digital Library for Earth Science Education (DLESE).   You may submit a review of HOU resources for inclusion in the DLESE Reviewed Collection at DLESE. Thank you for taking the time.

NOTEWORTHY HOU IMAGES

NGC 2070 (the Tarantula Nebula) image by Glenn Reagan, HOU TRA, Cordova H.S., Rancho Cordova, CA. Telescope: RCOP. Located some 179,000 LY distant in the Large Magellanic Cloud, NGC 2070 represents the largest and most active new star formation region we know about in the Local Group of galaxies. With image FOV about 15 arc min by 15 arc min, students could measure the dimensions of some of the HII region knots.

[Click for larger image]

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