Spaceguard
The term Spaceguard loosely refers to a number of efforts to discover and study near-Earth objects (NEO). Asteroids are discovered by telescopes which repeatedly survey large areas of sky. Efforts which concentrate on discovering NEOs are considered part of the "Spaceguard Survey," regardless of which organization they are affiliated with.
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[edit] History
Arthur C. Clarke coined the term in his novel Rendezvous with Rama where SPACEGUARD was the name of an early warning system created following a catastrophic asteroid impact.[1] This name was later adopted by a number of real life efforts to discover and study near-Earth objects. A 1992 US Congressional study produced a "Spaceguard Survey Report"[2] which led to a mandate that NASA locate 90% of large near-Earth asteroids within 10 years. This is often referred to as the "Spaceguard Goal." A number of efforts which receive money through NASA are all considered to be working on the "Spaceguard Project."
The impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 to Jupiter in July 1994 created a greater perception of importance to the detection of near Earth objects. As David Levy stated in an interview "The giggle factor disappeared after Shoemaker-Levy 9." He was referring to the then attitude that extinction level events were so improbable that those advocating for research for detection and possible deflection methods were only paranoid alarmists. The impact of one of its fragment created a giant dark spot over 12,000 km across, and was estimated to have released an energy equivalent to 6,000,000 megatons of TNT (600 times the world's nuclear arsenal). After the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, asteroid detection programs all over the world received greater funding.
The Working Group on Near-Earth Objects (WGNEO) of the International Astronomical Union held a workshop in 1995 entitled Beginning the Spaceguard Survey[3] which led to an international organization called the Spaceguard Foundation. Subsequently there have been Spaceguard associations or foundations formed in countries around the world to support the ideas of discovering and studying near-Earth objects. Generally, the Spaceguard organizations formed within individual countries are associated with the international foundation or with the NASA efforts only by name, common interests, and similar goals.
[edit] Observations
Neither the Eastern Mediterranean event (June 2002) nor the Vitim event (Sept 2002) were detected in advance by any Spaceguard effort, however on October 6, 2008, the 2008 TC3 meteoroid was detected by the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) 1.5 meter telescope at Mount Lemmon, and extensively monitored until it hit the Earth the next day.
[edit] Issues
Lack of master plan and dangers of false alarms have been pointed out by Lovgren.[4]
[edit] See also
- Asteroid mitigation strategies (includes list of survey projects)
[edit] References
- ^ Michael Paine (2000-04-26), "Bigger Telescopes Seek Killer Asteroids", Space.com (accessed on 2010-06-26)
- ^ David Morrison (1992), "The Spaceguard Survey Report", NASA Studies at Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards, NASA Ames Research Center.
- ^ Beginning the Spaceguard Survey, Vulcano Workshop (1995), IAU Working Group on Near-Earth Objects. (accessed on 2010-06-26)
- ^ Stefan Lovgren (2004-03-08), "Asteroid False Alarm Shows Limits of Alert Systems, National Geographic News. (accessed on 2010-06-26)
[edit] External links
- Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards at NASA Ames Research Center
- NEO News: Spaceguard Survey of Near Earth Asteroids David Morrison Tuesday, August 1, 2000 (Discovery statistics by 2000)
- Progress in the Spaceguard Survey Saturday, February 9, 2002 (Status report by 2002)
- Spaceguard Central Node
- UK Spaceguard Centre
- Don't wrong the meteorite at Geoscientist Online October 2008
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