[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Planetary Society Awards Three New Gene Shoemaker NEO Grants

   http://planetary.org/news/articlearchive/headlines/1999/headln-020599.html
 
            Planetary Society Awards Three New Gene Shoemaker NEO Grants
            February 5, 1999

            Three researchers have been selected to receive Planetary
            Society Gene Shoemaker Near Earth Object Grants. Named for one of 
            the pioneers in the field, the grants fund programs in the 
            discovery and tracking of near-Earth objects -- asteroids and 
            comets with Earth-crossing orbits that could impact our planet 
            with devastating results. Special emphasis is given to 
            international and amateur observers.

            Only about 5% to 10% of the estimated total number of
            one-kilometer or larger objects that cross Earth's orbit have
            been discovered.

            "Although the rate of NEO discovery has accelerated recently as
            new professional survey programs have come on line, we are
            still shy of the widely recommended rate needed to find 90% of
            the near-Earth asteroids larger than one kilometer within a
            decade," said Dan Durda, an asteroid researcher at the the
            Southwest Research Institute's Boulder, Colorado office, and
            coordinator of the Planetary Society's Gene Shoemaker NEO Grant
            program.

            Even though various astronomical groups and NASA advisory
            committees have recommended that discovery of NEOs be
            accelerated, government support for searches and follow-up
            programs remains modest.

            The 1999 Gene Shoemaker NEO Grants, totaling $27,000 (US), have
            been awarded to an international collection of researchers:
            Stefan Gajdos of the Slovak Republic, Paulo Holvorcem of
            Brazil, and Frank Zoltowski of Australia.

            Gajdos is a professional astronomer with the Institute of
            Astronomy in Bratislava in the Slovak Republic. His grant
            monies will be used to upgrade his program's equipment and
            software, to fund needed computer services, and to create a
            public outreach program.

            Holvorcem, a teacher at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas
            in Brazil, will use his Gene Shoemaker NEO Grant to upgrade
            automation of equipment at his observatory, freeing a number of
            volunteer observers to spend more time conducting data analysis
            and taking more exposures during each observation session.

            Zoltowski is an amateur astronomer who conducts NEO searches in
            the small town of Woomera in the South Australian outback.
            Grant money will enable Zoltowski to upgrade his charge-coupled
            device (CCD) camera, improving his ability to detect NEOs in
            sky images and confirm their orbits in a series of exposures.

            A Swarm of Near-Earth Objects

            Earth travels through a swarm of near-Earth objects of various
            sizes and orbits. Scientists have only recently begun to
            understand the significant contribution NEOs have made to the
            evolution of Earth -- and life on our planet. It is now
            believed that impacts from comets and asteroids have shaped the
            evolution of all planets in our solar system.

            So far, more than 600 NEOs have been discovered; more than 280
            of these are larger than one kilometer across. Scientists
            estimate, however, that about 2,000 NEOs larger than one
            kilometer and 150,000 to 100 million objects larger than 100
            meters in size exist.

            NEOs have collided with Earth in the past with devastating
            results. The Chicxulub crater off the north coast of Mexico's
            Yucatan Peninsula was created by an Earth-colliding meteor 65
            million years ago, a globally devastating event that is
            believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs. Even relatively small
            objects impacting our planet or exploded in Earth's atmosphere
            can wreak considerable havoc.

            The Gene Shoemaker NEO Grants

            Gene Shoemaker was a leader in the study of impact structures
            and an advocate for NEO discovery and tracking programs before
            his death in 1997. Shoemaker was the first scientist to
            demonstrate that the mile-wide crater in Arizona -- now known
            as Meteor Crater -- was the result of a catastrophic impact by
            an asteroid 50,000 years ago. Prior to Shoemaker's work, Meteor
            Crater was believed to be the remnant of an extinct volcano.

            The Gene Shoemaker NEO Grants are awarded to amateur observers,
            observers in developing countries, and professional astronomers
            who, with seed funding, could greatly increase their programs'
            contributions to this critical research.

            Funding for the Gene Shoemaker NEO Grant program comes from the
            Planetary Society's 100,000 members, whose voluntary dues and
            donations permit targeted support of research and development
            programs in a number of areas.

            An international advisory group recommends candidates to
            receive the grant awards. The advisory group includes grant
            coordinator Daniel D. Durda, as well as noted near-Earth object
            scientists Dr. Richard Binzel of the Massachusetts Institute of
            Technology, Dr. Clark Chapman, also of the Southwest Research
            Institute, Dr. Andrea Carusi of the Spaceguard Foundation, and
            Dr. Brian Marsden of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

            Society-Funded ROTSE Camera Images Gamma Ray Burst  The
            Planetary Society has funded many NEO efforts in the past,
            including start-up money for the Robotic Optical Transient
            Search Experiment (ROTSE) in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Operated
            by a team led by Dr. Carl Akerlof of the University of Michigan
            and including astrophysicists from Los Alamos and Lawrence
            Livermore National Laboratories, ROTSE recently made
            astronomical history on January 23, 1999, when it discovered an
            unusual transient optical signal in images of the sky where a
            gamma ray burst had been reported just 22 seconds earlier.

            ROTSE is a multipurpose instrument, designed to continuously
            map the entire visible evening sky, collecting data that can be
            examined for near-Earth objects, as well as variable stars and
            supernovas as they occur. When a gamma ray burst occurs, such
            as the one detected by orbiting satellites on the morning of
            January 23, ROTSE interrupts its regular sky-mapping activity
            and automatically swings to the sky coordinates provided by the
            satellites. In only a few seconds, ROTSE began taking a new
            series of many images, capturing the first gamma ray burst ever
            recorded in images.

            Astronomers are not certain what produces gamma ray bursts, but
            possible causes include the mergers of two neutron stars, two
            black holes, a neutron star and a black hole, or the explosion
            of a so-called hypernova, which is theorized to be a type of
            supernova or exploding star.
           
            For more information, contact Bill McGovern or Susan
            Lendroth or call The Planetary Society at (626) 793-5100

----------
Archives located at:
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/list_best.html

For help, FAQ's and sub. info. visit:
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing_list.html
----------