[meteorite-list] Recently Reactivated NEOWISE Spacecraft Spots Its First New Asteroid

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/january/recently-reactivated-nasa-spacecraft-spots-its-first-new-asteroid-0 

Jan. 7, 2014

RELEASE 14-008

Recently Reactivated NASA Spacecraft Spots Its First New Asteroid

[Image]
The six red dots in this composite picture indicate the location of the 
first new near-Earth asteroid seen by NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field 
Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE).
Image Credit: NASA

NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) 
spacecraft has spotted a never-before-seen asteroid -- its first such 
discovery since coming out of hibernation last year.

NEOWISE originally was called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer 
(WISE), which had made the most comprehensive survey to date of asteroids 
and comets. The spacecraft was shut down in 2011 after its primary mission 
was completed. But in September 2013, it was reactivated, renamed and 
given a new mission, which is to assist NASA's efforts to identify the 
population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs). NEOWISE 
also can assist in characterizing previously detected asteroids that could 
be considered potential targets for future exploration missions.

NEOWISE's first discovery of its renewed mission came on Dec. 29 -- a 
near-Earth asteroid designated 2013 YP139. The mission's sophisticated 
software picked out the moving object against a background of stationary 
stars. As NEOWISE circled Earth scanning the sky, it observed the asteroid 
several times over half a day before the object moved beyond its view. 
Researchers at the University of Arizona used the Spacewatch telescope 
at the Kitt Peak National Observatory southwest of Tucson to confirm the 
discovery. Peter Birtwhistle, an amateur astronomer at the Great Shefford 
Observatory in West Berkshire, England, also contributed follow-up observations. 
NASA expects 2013 YP139 will be the first of hundreds of asteroid discoveries 
for NEOWISE.

"We are delighted to get back to finding and characterizing asteroids 
and comets, especially those that come into Earth's neighborhood," said 
Amy Mainzer, the mission's principal investigator from NASA's Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "With our infrared sensors that detect 
heat, we can learn about their sizes and reflectiveness."

2013 YP139 is about 27 million miles (43 million kilometers) from Earth. 
Based on its infrared brightness, scientists estimate it to be roughly 
0.4 miles (650 meters) in diameter and extremely dark, like a piece of 
coal. The asteroid circles the sun in an elliptical orbit tilted to the 
plane of our solar system and is classified as potentially hazardous. 
It is possible for its orbit to bring it as close as 300,000 miles from 
Earth, a little more than the distance to the moon. However, it will not 
come that close within the next century.

WISE discovered more than 34,000 asteroids and characterized 158,000 throughout 
the solar system during its prime mission in 2010 and early 2011. Its 
reactivation in September followed 31 months in hibernation.

NEOWISE will continue to detect asteroids and comets. The observations 
will be automatically sent to the clearinghouse for solar system bodies, 
the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., for comparison against the 
known catalog of solar system objects and to determine orbit if the object 
is not known. A community of professional and amateur astronomers will 
provide follow-up observations, establishing firm orbits for the previously 
unseen objects.   Infrared sensors, similar to the cameras on NEOWISE, 
are a powerful tool for discovering, cataloging and understanding the 
asteroid population. Some of the objects about which NEOWISE will be collecting 
data could become candidates for NASA's announced asteroid initiative, 
which will be the first mission to identify, capture and relocate an asteroid 
for astronauts to explore. The initiative represents an unprecedented 
technological feat that will lead to new scientific discoveries and technological 
capabilities that will help protect our home planet and achieve the goal 
of sending humans to an asteroid by 2025.

JPL manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. 
The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. 
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo., built the spacecraft. 
Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing 
and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. 
Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

An image of asteroid 2013 YP139, taken by NEOWISE, is available at: 

http://go.nasa.gov/1cNF9T7

More information about NEOWISE is available online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/wise

-end-

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle at jpl.nasa.gov