[meteorite-list] Planetary Society Calls for New Gene Shoemaker Near Earth Object Grant Proposals

[Ron Baalke]

http://planetary.org/about/press/releases/2006/0726_Attention_Astronomers_Heres_Your.html

NEWS RELEASE

The Planetary Society
65 N. Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106-2301 (626) 793-5100 Fax 
(626) 793-5528
E-mail: tps at planetary.org  Web: http://planetary.org

For Immediate Release:  July 26, 2006                           
Contact: Susan Lendroth
 
Attention Astronomers: Here's Your Chance to Save the World!
The Planetary Society Calls for New Gene Shoemaker Near Earth Object 
Grant Proposals

"Cataclysmic impacts are a fact of life in our solar system," said 
Planetary Society Director of Projects Bruce Betts.  "Asteroids or 
comets have hit the Earth many times in our past, but now we have 
the ability to find and track near-Earth objects (NEOs) to determine 
which - if any - pose a threat."

To that end, The Planetary Society has issued a new call for 
proposals for Gene Shoemaker Near Earth Object Grants, which the 
organization awards to amateur observers, observers in developing 
countries, and professional astronomers who, with seed funding, can 
greatly increase their programs' contributions to NEO research. See 
grant details on the website at 
http://planetary.org/programs/projects/neo_grants/.

NEOs have collided with Earth throughout the planet's history, 
violently releasing enormous amounts of energy.  Many scientists 
believe an impact off the north coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula 
led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.  However, the threat posed 
by objects hurtling through our solar system is not a relic of the 
past.  Just 11 years ago, Earth watched the bombardment of another 
planet when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted Jupiter.  More recently -
 a mere month ago - a several-hundred-meter asteroid passed by Earth 
at about the distance of the Moon.   And in 2029, the asteroid 
Apophis, a few hundred meters in diameter, will come closer to Earth 
than our geosynchronous communications satellites and has the 
possibility of colliding with our planet when it returns in 2036.

The Planetary Society named its NEO Grant program for Gene Shoemaker 
after his death in 1997.   Shoemaker was a highly respected leader 
in the study of impact structures and an advocate for NEO discovery 
and tracking programs. 

Past Shoemaker grant winners have been highly productive in NEO 
studies. A 2005 grant recipient, David Higgins, discovered that 
asteroid (6084) Bascom is a binary.  In an interesting coincidence 
Bascom was originally discovered by Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker in 
1985.  "Small world!"  remarked Higgins, who was one of five 
researchers to receive a Shoemaker grant from the Society in 2005.  

Higgins, of Canberra, Australia, used his funding to purchase a SBIG 
CCD camera with a large pixel array and extremely short readout 
time -- the same camera with which he determined that Bascom was, in 
fact, a binary asteroid.

Grant recipients have also discovered many previously unknown 
asteroids, including John Broughton's April 11, 2004 discovery of 
2004 GA1. This is possibly the first amateur discovery of a 
potentially hazardous NEO exceeding one kilometer in diameter.  
Updates on the accomplishments of past winners can be found at 
http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/neo_grants/updates.html.

Since The Planetary Society's inception in 1980, the organization 
has donated well over a quarter million dollars to asteroid 
research, about half of which was awarded through 22 Shoemaker NEO 
grants to observers around the world.   Society-funded programs have 
yielded several asteroid discoveries. Shoemaker NEO grant money has 
been used for everything from upgrading equipment to purchasing CCD 
cameras to paying the salaries of graduate students involved in 
observing programs.

Grant winners are especially critical in the NEO world for carefully 
measuring positions of recently discovered NEOs.  Once we know a NEO 
is out there, we need to learn whether or not it will hit Earth. 

For example, Peter Birtwhistle of Berkshire, England used his 2005 
grant to upgrade equipment at Great Shefford Observatory, allowing 
much faster image downloads.  Since then, he has published NEO 
follow-up observations in more than 100 Daily Orbit Updates and has 
tracked a number of fast-moving NEOs, including three objects that 
were closer to Earth than the Moon.

Funding for the Gene Shoemaker NEO Grant program comes from The 
Planetary Society's members, whose voluntary dues and donations 
permit targeted support of research and development programs in a 
number of areas.

Nearly 70% of the estimated total number of one-kilometer or larger 
objects that cross Earth's orbit have been discovered.  Government 
support for searches and follow-up programs remains modest so 
programs like The Planetary Society's Gene Shoemaker NEO grants fill 
a vital niche.

As our understanding of the impact threat has grown, we have begun 
to consider in more detail how we might prevent the impact of a 
threatening object.  Advance planning requires that we better 
understand the properties of these objects as miniature worlds, so 
observations that help characterize NEOs are now a growing focus of 
the grant program. 

An international advisory group recommends candidates to receive the 
grant awards. The advisory group includes Planetary Society NEO 
Grant Coordinator Daniel D. Durda of the Southwest Research 
Institute. 


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