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NEWS RELEASE
 
The Planetary Society
65 N. Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106-2301 (626) 793-5100 Fax (626) 
793-5528 E-mail: tps@mars.planetary.org  Web: http://planetary.org
<http://planetary.org/>  
  
For release: June 10, 1999
Contact: Susan Lendroth 
 
Planetary Society Grant Recipient Tracks Intriguing NEO
 
Frank Zoltowski, a recipient of a Planetary Society Gene Shoemaker Near 
Earth Object (NE0) grant, has helped determine the future orbits for
asteroid 1999 AN10, which is expected to pass within 39,000 kilometers
(about 24,000 miles) of Earth in 2027. The asteroid has excited great
interest since it has the potential to approach Earth even closer in 
2044 and 2046. None of the close approaches are considered threatening.
  
An amateur astronomer, Zoltowski conducts a search for NEOs and 
asteroids in the small town of Woomera in the South Australian outback. 
The Planetary Society grant money enabled him to upgrade his CCD camera
to a more sophisticated system, improving his ability to detect NEOs and
do confirmation of their orbits.
  
"The performance of my new CCD is spectacular. With it I have been able 
to get many objects  1999 AN10 included  that I wouldn't have had a
chance of imaging with my old CCD," said Zoltowski.
  
Zoltowski conducted followup observations of asteroid 1999 AN10 that 
enabled researchers at the Minor Planet Center, the international 
clearing house for data about asteroids and comets, to develop more 
precise future orbital calculations for the object.  The NEO was first 
discovered by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program,
which conducts sky searches using an Air Force telescope at the White
Sands Missile Range  in New Mexico. Researchers in Italy  Andrea
Milani, Steven Chesley and Giovanni Valsecchi established the
asteroid's initial orbital calculations.
  
When researchers in the northern hemisphere were no longer able to 
track the object, Zoltowski in Australia was asked to track the 
object's passage through the southern hemisphere.  He "recovered" 
(found) 1999 AN10 in April, 1999.
  
The object has been a source of interest and concern since its orbit 
intersects Earth's so closely.  However, researchers maintain that the 
chances of 1999 AN10 actually striking Earth are extremely low.
  
Paul Chodas says on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory web site, "We have 
developed a theory which successfully predicts the 25 possible 
[near Earth] returns [of 1999 AN10] up to 2040.  We have also identified 
six more close approaches resulting from the cascade of successive
returns. Because of this extremely chaotic behavior, there is no way to
predict all possible approaches for more than a few decades after any
close encounter, but the orbit will remain dangerously close to the
orbit of the Earth for about 600 years."

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