Spacewatch is a name of a group at the University of Arizona’s Lunar Planetary Laboratory (LPL) founded in 1984 by Prof. Tom Gehrels and Dr. Robert S. McMillan. Today it is led by Dr. Robert S. McMillan.It uses two telescopes (0.9m and 1.8m) at the Kitt Peak observatory to scan the sky to explore small objects in the solar system and investigate the evolution of the solar system. It also provides potential targets for interplanetary spacecraft missions and find potential hazardous objects to Earth.Scans of the sky are done 20 days each lunar cycle with both telescopes. Each scan studies Centaur, Trojan, Main-Belt, Trans-Neptunian and Earth-approaching asteroid populations.

 

SPACEWATCH uses two telescopes, a 0.9 meter and a 1.8 meter, both based at Kitt Peak observatory, Arizona.

 

0.9 meter: The 0.9 meter telescope at the Steward Observatory is the oldest telescope at Kitt Peak. Latitude: 31° 57' 43" N Longitude: 111° 35' 58" W Elevation: 2091mI AU Observatory Code: 691

 

1.8 meter: The 1.8 meter telescope is the latest addition to SPACEWATCH beginning in 2001. Latitude: 31° 57' 42.2" N Longitude: 111° 35' 56.8" W Elevation: 2075mI AU Observatory Code: 291

 

Here are some of the distinctions from the SPACEWATCH project:

• First to use CCDs to survey for comets and asteroids

• First Near-Earth asteroid detected with a CCDFirst to discover a Near-Earth asteroid using software

• First to discover a comet using CCD, was also the faintest at time of discovery

• Identified to new asteroid types: small NEAs and distant Centaurs

 

This information is courtesy of Thomas Harris, University of South Wales.