British astronomers are providing a vital component to the world-wide
effort of identifying and monitoring rogue asteroids and comets. From
this month, the UK Astrometry and Photometry Programme (UKAPP) for
Near-Earth Objects, based at Queens University, Belfast, will track
Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and feed their crucial information into the
international programme of protecting the Earth from any future impact
by a comet or asteroid.

On average 30-40 NEOs are discovered each month – asteroids and comets
that could one day collide with the Earth. Over 3000 NEOs have now been
found, and a world-wide effort involving professional and amateur
astronomers attempts to keep track of these objects. Now a team of
astronomers at Queen’s University Belfast will be tracking these
objects each week using large high-performance telescopes.

UKAPP is using the Faulkes Telescope North, a robotic telescope on the
Hawaiian island of Maui built primarily for educational use by the
Faulkes Telescope Project. At the end of this year they will also start
using the twin Faulkes Telescope South at Siding Spring, Australia. The
telescopes’ mirror size of 2-m allows astronomers to see fainter NEOs
than most other facilities regularly used for this task. Test
observations took place in September, and the full programme begins in
October. The work is supported by a grant from the British National
Space Centre (BNSC) and the Particle Physics Research Council (PPARC).

Dr. Alan Fitzsimmons, the project leader, said “Previously we used
UK-funded telescopes on La Palma, but for various reasons they could
only track a couple of objects per month on average. The robotic nature
of the Faulkes telescopes means that it is much easier for us to observe
numerous NEOs than can be achieved by using conventional telescopes.”
Once the images of the NEOs are taken, Dr Fitzsimmons and his colleagues
transfer them to an astronomical computer network in Northern Ireland
via the internet. The positions of the NEOs are then measured and
communicated to the Minor Planer Center in Harvard in America; the
world’s clearing house and repository for measurements of NEOs.

Although most of the time will be spent tracking NEOs, some of the time
will also be spent studying their physical make-up. Dr Fitzsimmons said
“This is not only scientifically interesting. If we are going to be
hit by one of these things in the future, we need as much information as
possible to allow us to plan any course of mitigation”.

An important aspect is that school classes and science centres around
the country can also do this work. In a separate endeavour from UKAPP,
the Faulkes Telescope Project assists school children to track NEOs
using specially designed educational projects.

Dave Bowdley, Faulkes Telescope Educational Programmes Manager said,
“This project provides a fantastic opportunity for schools to work
alongside the professionals in an exciting area of research.”

Notes for Editors

Images

Pictures of Dr Fitzsimmons and the Faulkes Telescope are available from
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/ft_neo.asp

UKAPP Web site : http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/~ukapp/

Faulkes Telescope Project web site: http://www.faulkes-telescope.com

Contact Details

Julia Maddock
PPARC Press Office
Tel 01793 442094
Email Julia.maddock@pparc.ac.uk

Dr. Alan Fitzsimmons
Queens University Belfast
Tel: +44 (0) 2890-973124
e-mail: a.fitzsimmons@qub.ac.uk
WWW: http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/~af/

Lucie Green
Faulkes Telescope Project
+44 (0)29 20875121
Email: lucie.green@faulkes-telescope.com

PPARC

The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) is the
UK’s strategic science investment agency. It funds research,
education and public understanding in four broad areas of science –
particle physics, astronomy, cosmology and space science.

PPARC is government funded and provides research grants and
studentships to scientists in British universities, gives researchers
access to world-class facilities and funds the UK membership of
international bodies such as the European Organisation for Nuclear
Research, CERN, the European Space Agency and the European Southern
Observatory. It also contributes money for the UK telescopes overseas on
La Palma, Hawaii, Australia and in Chile, the UK Astronomy Technology
Centre at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh and the MERLIN/VLBI National
Facility.