Department of Physics AstroLab

References: Main-Belt Asteroids

  • LSST science book has an excellent chapter of what the new generation of wide-field survey telescopes like Pan_STARRS, LSST, etc will learn about the Solar System.

  • Asteroid Discovery From 1980 - 2010

  • "A New Century for Asteroids" by Richard P. Binzel, Sky & Telescope, July 2001.

  • IAU Minor Planet Center : much useful information can be found here.

  • 157 FAQs about Asteroids, Meteors and Comets ( The Astronomy Cafe)

  • Why Study Asteroids? A short article by Donald Yeomans.

  • "Ida and Company" by J.K.Beatty, Sky & Telescope, January 1995, p20.

  • "Fleeting Expectations: The Tale of an Asteroid" by J.V. Scotti, Sky & Telescope, July 1998, p30

  • "

    Impact Hazards: Truth and Consequences" by G.L. Verschuur, Sky & Telescope, June 1998, p63.

  • Spaceguard UK

  • UK NEO report

  • The book, "The System of Minor Planets" by Gunter Roth. (copy available in the Astrolab).

  • Nova Astronomics' ECU (available on AstroLab PCs) can be used to find the positions of specified asteroids and produce finding charts.

  • Very accurate positions can be found at JPL's HORIZONS System via their Ephemeris Generator. Note the different types of positions listed, i.e. ICRF/J2000.0 and apparent.

  • A finding chart of the target area can be produced several different ways. The Lowell Observatory has an excellent web site with a set of tools, i.e. Asteroid Observing Services. The program ASTFINDER generates a star chart around a given asteroid on a given date. A size of 900 x 900 arcseconds is recommended. Durham is Observatory Number 995.

  • A finding chart of the target area can be produced using images from the Digital Sky Survey. Retrieve an image from the DSS ( LEDAS, STScI, ESO). Save the images in FITS format and display on the PC with the FITSVIEW program.

  • Astrolab's Astrometry References

  • Astrolab's Orbital Determination References

  • Chapter 7 of "The Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing" by Richard Berry and James Burnell is an excellent introduction to astrometry. This book also contains very good general information about the reduction of CCD data. A copy is available in the AstroLab and in the University's Main Library

  • Christian Buil's CCD Astronomy is also another excellent book. A copy is available in the AstroLab and in the University's Main Library

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