Related papers: Capturing Near Earth Objects
Thermal infrared measurements of near-Earth objects provide critical data for constraining their physical properties such as size. The NEOWISE mission has been conducting an all-sky infrared survey to gather such data and improve our…
We present a detailed observational strategy for finding Near Earth Objects (NEOs) with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) telescope. We investigate strategies in normal, unbinned mode as well as binning the CCDs 2x2 or 3x3, which affects…
We analyzed data from the first year of a survey for Near Earth Objects (NEOs) that we are carrying out with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the 4-meter Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. We implanted…
The continuing monitoring and surveying of the nearby space to detect Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) are essential because of the threats that this kind of objects impose on the future of our planet. We need more…
Asteroids with low orbital perihelion distances experience extreme heating from the Sun that can modify their surfaces and trigger non-typical activity mechanisms. These objects are generally difficult to observe from ground-based…
The discovery of 1991 VG on 1991 November 6 attracted an unprecedented amount of attention as it was the first near-Earth object (NEO) ever found on an Earth-like orbit. At that time, it was considered by some as the first representative of…
Very low Earth orbits (VLEO), typically classified as orbits below approximately 450 km in altitude, have the potential to provide significant benefits to spacecraft over those that operate in higher altitude orbits. This paper provides a…
Studies on Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) throw light on discoveries, identification, orbit prediction and civil alert capabilities, including potential asteroid impact hazards. Due to various new observational programs, the discovery rate of…
In this work, we analyzed the orbits of more than 35,000 (for 2024) near-Earth objects (NEOs) for the possibility of successive approaches to all pairs of planets: Earth, Venus, and Mars in the time range from 2020 to 2120. We have selected…
The number of planetary satellites around solid objects in the inner Solar System is small either because they are difficult or unlikely to form, or that they do not survive for astronomical timescales. Here we conduct a pilot study on the…
The focus of this work is the current distribution of asteroids in co-orbital motion with Venus, Earth and Jupiter, under a quasi-coplanar configuration and for a medium-term timescale of the order of 900 years. A co-orbital trajectory is a…
We propose to use a modest fraction of the re-purposed Kepler mission time and apertures to greatly increase the quantity and quality of our knowledge of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) rotation and shape. NEAs are important for understanding…
Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) that orbit the Sun on or within Earth's orbit are tricky to detect for Earth-based observers due to their proximity to the Sun in the sky. These small bodies hold clues to the dynamical history of the inner solar…
Single-binary scattering may lead to an exchange where the single object captures a component of the binary, forming a new binary. This has been well studied in encounters between a star--planet pair and a single star. Here we explore the…
This paper reports the discovery and orbital characterization of two extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs), 2016 QV$_{89}$ and 2016 QU$_{89}$, which have orbits that appear similar to that of a previously known object, 2013 UH$_{15}$. All…
Among the near-Earth object (NEO) population there are comets and active asteroids which are sources of fragments that initially move together; in addition, some NEOs follow orbits temporarily trapped in a web of secular resonances. These…
The survey of the nearby space and continuous monitoring of the Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and especially Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) are essential for the future of our planet and should represent a priority for our solar system research…
The Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) is a Canadian-led 15 cm Earth-orbiting telescope originally designed to detect asteroids near the Sun. Its design is however also suitable for the observation of exoplanetary transits…
Missions to rendezvous with or capture an asteroid present significant interest both from a geophysical and safety point of view. They are key to the understanding of our solar system are as well stepping stones for interplanetary human…
The orbital dynamics of a spacecraft orbiting around irregular small celestial bodies is a challenging problem. Difficulties to model the gravity field of these bodies arise from the poor knowledge of the exact shape as observed from the…