Spaceguard links

Comments from Duncan Steel and others
Report on the work of AANEAS/Spaceguard Australia from 1990 to 1996 - a highly successful program until cut short by the politicians.
Impacts and mass extinctions - possible links
Correspondence with Australian politicians
More comments by Duncan Steel (external site). Some quotes: "Not to carry out the necessary search is foolhardy and irresponsible. It's almost like turning down car insurance offered at $1 a year as being too costly". "The dinosaurs were not smart enough to see their nemesis coming, but we are; the question is whether we're going to be too dumb to do anything about it." [Given the magnitude of the northern hemisphere program, the lack of a southern hemisphere NEO program is like] "throwing the needles back into the haystack".
Gordon Garradd's Astronomy Page (changed URL) - mentioned in the Nov/Dec 97 issue of The Planetary Report. Other asteroid follow-up sites in Australia include Frank Zoltowski(426) of Woomera S MacAndrew of North Ryde(423), J Broughton of Reedy creek(428) and Jack Child of Hawker(429). From the April 11 MPC report - information supplied by Tony Beresford.
University of Adelaide Department of Geology and Geophysics - research on impact structures
University of Wollongong Dept of Engineering Physics - mining asteroids, impact structures and Dept of Geosciences - tsunami
James Cook University Centre for Disaster Studies - tsunami
ANU MSO
Dr Andrew Glikson - ANU Climate Change Institute - Andrew carries out research on ancient impact structures andf environmental effects.
Brisbane Astronomical Society.
30 Jul 03 RASNZ: Occulations page - This website exists to promote and encourage occultation observing in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific.
Minor Planet Mailing List - Yahoo group
Australian Minor Planet Workshop - July 2003.
PLANETARY DEFENCE AT LEARMONTH SOLAR OBSERVATORY - Western Australia
ASTRONOMERS TAKE SEARCH FOR EARTH-THREATENING SPACE ROCKS TO SOUTHERN SKIES - Rob McNaught's project comes online.
CLIMATE, COMETS AND HUMAN HISTORY by Dr Vic Gostin
11 May 2013: Astronomer and author Duncan Steel now has a website.
Fireballs in the Sky is a citizen science initiative that allows everyone to share the discoveries of the Desert Fireball Network
Grove Creek Observatory - Online Remote Telescope Science Facility. Now part of NEODyS - the vital search and monitoring of Near Earth Orbit Objects.
BoM Web links on planetary defence

International Spaceguard & NEO Research

International Spaceguard Foundation

Japan Spaceguard Association
Spaceguard UK
German Spaceguard Foundation e.V.
Spaceguard Croatia
Spaceguard Canada
Spaceguard South America has recently been announced. Run by Dr Gonzalo Tancredi of Montevideo University, Uruguay.
Tumbling Stone Newsletter.
Address to Unispace III (UN) by Arthur C Clarke.

Council of Europe Resolution supporting the spaceguard concept
European Asteroid Research Node
Yaroslavl' Astronomical Society - Russian NEO site with a database of NEOs
Spaceshield Foundation - started by Russian scientists in 1994.
Cambridge Conference - forum for exchange of information and ideas about NEO impacts and related subjects. There is also a great searchable archive. Report on the 1997 Conference by Mark Bailey. The moderator is Benny Peiser.
NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office
NEO Space Missions (Rossetta, MUSES-C, NEAR, Stardust etc)
Armagh Observatory - Northern Ireland. Staff include Bill Napier and David Asher (former member of Anglo-Australian Near-Earth Asteroid Survey (AANEAS))
International Meteor Organisation
European Science Foundation - IMPACT
EUNEASO - EUropean Near-Earth Asteroids Search Observatories, is a cooperation between European institutes
GDIN - Global Disaster Information Network
British Astronomical Association, Comet Section.
IAU Research on Near Earth Objects (Asteroids or Comets). Press Release 11 Oct 2000.
IAU Working Group on NEOs.
Claudio Elidoro - Italian researcher.

Major NEO Search Programs

Bigger telescopes seek killer asteroids

Primarily Discovery

NASA's list.
Alan Maury's technical comparison of the search programs.
Evaluation of ground-based optical surveys for near-Earth asteroids (abstract), by Alan W. Harris, Planetary And Space Science (46)2-3 (1998) pp.283-290

MIT's LINEAR Project (funded by USAF)
LONEOS
NEAT Homepage (Near Earth Asteroid Tracking - NASA). Including some animated GIFs of supernova discoveries which demonstrate the technology and a great FAQ.
Europe's OCA-DLR Asteroid Survey - suspended!
Spacewatch by the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
Catalina Sky Survey (CSS)
SCAP Beijing Astronomical Observatory, China
Feb 2000: Japan Spaceguard underway!
Campo Catino - Italy
Goodricke-Pigott Observatory in Arizona: Spaceguard for amateur astronomers
Etscorn Campus Observatory - New Mexico - remote observing program
ASIAGO DLR ASTEROID SURVEY (ADAS)
Cichocki Sky Survey Telescope - Slovenia
Australia's....! watch this space for watching space - (Rob McNaught is making some discoveries with a 1m telescope at Siding Spring and is doing significant follow-up work with that telescope and, in 2004, his new telescope began operation. John Kennewell and Graham Steward are also searching, part-time under Project Wormwood in Western Australia)

In the Pipeline (thanks New Scientist)

Discovery Channel Telescope - 4.2m telescope in Arizona
Pan-STARRS -- the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System -- is an innovative design for a wide-field imaging facility being developed at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy. Four 1.8m telescopes linked by software.
Dark Matter Telescope, also referred to as the LSST (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope), is a proposed ground-based 8.4m telescope. NEO detection will piggy-back on the main work of the telescope.

Primarily Follow-up

in no particular order.

Jeremy Tatum's Planetary Report article "Tracking Asteroids".
Mario Carpino's Astrometry links page.
List of observatory codes - Minor Planet Center
Starkenburg Observatory - Germany. Also has a more comprehensive list of IAU observatorycodes with links.
Astronet's list of amateur astronomers (add your name).
Rob McNaught describes NEO followup observations.

Spaceguard Canada/University of Victoria - important follow-up observations using the 1.85m Plaskett telescope (see also Chris Aikman's homepage).
Klet - Czech Republic - the most prolific NEO follow-up programme in recent years
Southern Hemisphere Survey - Australia (Rob McNaught)
Gordon Garradd - Australia
Ondrejov Observatory - Czech Republic
Hadano Observatory - Japan (updated URL)
Universidade Estadual de Campinas - Brazil
VdS-Fachgruppe Kometen - Germany
Stull Observatory - USA
Stony Ridge Observatory - USA
Farpoint Observatoty - USA
BCC Observatory - Florida, USA
Quail Hollow - USA
ASKC - Kansas, USA
Grasslands Observatory - USA
Quail Hollow Observatory - USA
Rock Finder Observatory - USA
Visnjan Observatory - Croatia
Auckland Observatory and Planetarium Trust - New Zealand
Osservatorio Astronomico di Sormano - Italy
Astronomycal Observatory of Mallorca - Spain
Sunflower Observatory - USA
Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, France.

From the Shoemaker NEO Grants for 2001

Crni Vrh Observatory - Slovenia
Los Molinos Astronomical Observatory - Uruguay
The Klet Observatory - Czech Republic (also listed above)
Jornada Observatory - USA
CEAMIG Observation Program - Brazil

Suggest a link

Research & reports

IAU NEO status sites: "List Of The Potentially Hazardous Asteroids" and "PHA Close Approaches To The Earth"
IAU report PHYSICAL STUDY OF COMETS, MINOR PLANETS AND METEORITES (comprehensive status report and 0.5Mb of references!)

NEAR EARTH OBJECTS DYNAMIC SITE (NEODyS)

Earth Impact Possibilities

AstDyS

Sormano Astronomical Observatory: Minor Body Priority List and Small Asteroids Encounters List
Skeptical Inquirer article by David Morrison
NASA's Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazard site:

NEO FAQs
The 1995 AIAA Report includes the following quotes: "If some day in the future we discover well in advance that an asteroid that is big enough to cause a mass extinction is going to hit the Earth, and then we alter the course of that asteroid so that it does not hit us, it will be one of the most important accomplishments in all of human history...If some day an asteroid does strike the Earth, killing not only the human race but millions of other species as well, and we could have prevented it but did not because of indecision, unbalanced priorities, imprecise risk definition and incomplete planning, then it will be the greatest abdication in all of human history not to use our gift of rational intellect and conscience to shepherd our own survival, and that of all life on Earth."
Comments on the impact hazard, including the Australian situation
NASA's NEO research fact page
NASA's Spaceguard Report.
NASA's planetary science abstract database - huge number of scientific papers, including full copies of older papers. Once you find an interesting article try the "related articles" search system.
NASA's History Office Cosmic Earth Impacts
NASA HQ library bibliography on NEOs
Dr. Odenwald's ASK THE ASTRONOMER page: Meteors and Comets
NASA's Orbital Debris Research
Orbit Visualization Tool Online - an interactive 3D orbit viewer written in Java, and you can view the orbit of any asteroid or comet.
Goddard Space Flight Center - Asteroids and Comets.
New JPL: SENTRY - An Automatic Near-Earth Asteroid Collision Monitoring System
JPL Comet Observation Home Page - detials about observing the latest comets (thanks Nick Williams)

NASA Astrobiology Institute: Great Impact Debates.
NSS Asteroid Site
DLR (German Aerospace Center), Berlin
Space Frontier Foundation's NEO Page
IAU Minor Planet Center.

Extract from NASA movie from NEAR
mission to Eros

NEAR missions to asteroids Mathilde and Eros > > > [pic] > >
NEAP Spacedev Corp prospecting mission.
Planetary Science Research Discoveries, Hawaii University "Damage by Impact the case at Meteor Crater, Arizona" Written by Linda M.V. Martel
Probability of collisions with Earth by Calvin J. Hamilton.
NEO News article THE IMPACT OF "IMPACT!" by Benny J Peiser (notes about a book by Gerrit Verschuur).
NASA's Stardust comet sample return mission.
Mark Elowitz's NEO page with info about mining asteroids (Mark is a member of the LINEAR team)
THE COMET/ASTEROID IMPACT HAZARD: A SYSTEMS APPROACH - paper by Chapman and Durda.
24 Jun 04: Asteroid Toutatis to pass near (but will definitely MISS) Earth in late September - The July/August issue of Sky & Space magazine had some good news for southern hemisphere observers. Asteroid Toutatis should be bright enough to be seen with binoculars near Alpha Centauri (one of the Southern Cross "Pointers"), when it makes a "close" fly by of the Earth late in September (26-30th). Its closest approach is 1.6 million km (about 4 times the distance to the Moon or 200 Earth diameters) on 29 Sept 2004. Since Toutatis has a major axis of 4.6km it would make quite a mess if it ever collides with Earth. No collision is possible this time or in coming centuries. No doubt as the encounter approaches there will be doomsday reports and misinformation spreading around the internet. Here are some links with sound information about this object:

Space.com article
Solar Views
NASA
RASNZ - sky maps and viewing guide (thanks Sky & Space)
Sydney Observatory has a viewing night on Tue 28/9.
Earthfiles report

Sky & Space has a guide to observing Toutatis in its Sep/Oct 04 issue.

Scott Manley: Asteroid density plots (thanks Duncan Steel)

Craters

National Geographic - interactive map of Earth
The Crater Page by OSR
Uni Tennessee: Suspected Earth Impact Sites - new (2006) online database.
Planetary and Space Science Centre, University of New Brunswick, Canada - Earth Impact Database (formerly hosted by Natural Resources Canada)
George Mason Uni Lecture notes about cratering.
Uni of Hawaii lecture notes about cratering
Encycl of the Solar System Impact Cratering
Impact Crater Collapse - simulations by Gareth Collins
LPL Crater "calculator" for determining impactor or crater characteristics
Cross-section of Chicxulub crater by UA.
Terrestrial impact craters and interactive global map by Uni Arizona (discontinued)
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Woodleigh impact structure- WA
Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater - WA.
Gosses Bluff - Central Australia
Impacts and mass extinctions.
Catastrophic events conference 2000.
Terrestrial Impact Craters.
Timeline of craters and extinctions.'
Keith Milam - University of Tennessee
Dallas Abbott - Columbia University
Christian Koeberl - University of Vienna
Betty Pierazzo - Planetary Science Institute
Andrew Glikson - Australian impact craters
David Carlson's images of possible impacts
Disaster Down-Under - Australian Impact Craters

Other resources

IOWA University Small Comets"Every few seconds a "snowball" the size of a small house breaks up as it approaches Earth and deposits a large cloud of water vapor in Earth's upper atmosphere.". See also this ABC News article and recent (Sept 1998) criticism by Space Sciences Laboratory at Berkley. Update

Jan 1998: Reality of Atmospheric Holes in NASA Images Validated..."
July 1999: Radar observations make the small comet hypothesis unlikely (CCNet 5 July 99).
18 Dec 1999 SpaceDaily: No Evidence For Mini-Comets.
3 Mar 01 SpaceDaily: New Evidence For Small Comet Theory.

Bob Kobres - NEO impact information, historical items and views. He proposes a space-based NEO search program.
Erik Asphaug's Asteroids - includes simulations of asteroids colliding with each other.
Sam Kimpton's NEO page (Vernonia Peak Observatory).
Asteroid Restraint Alliance.
Paddy's comments on the KT event
The Space Frontier Foundation supports NEO research and the site has a speech Spaceguard Revisited by Arthur C Clark (May 1998).
Sandia National Laboratories computer simulations of impacts (see image)
Bigrock Near Earth Objects - web resources.
ODAS - European NEO search.
University of Calgary Proposal to Save the Baker-Nunn Camera for NEO work.
Stellar Research Group- Dr David Johnson
Scott Manley's Map of NEOs (plan view of the solar system)
Wetumpka impact crater and the Late Cretaceous impact record: Alabama, USA - about 3km across.
Planetary Defense Watch
Article Asteroids shrug off Nuclear Missiles
LANL Paper A solution for the Tunguska event by Luigi Foschini
Impact cratering on Earth - course at Carleton University, Canada (another impact research group cut by bureaucrats).
The Apollo Program detected impacts on the Moon
Earth impact by an asteroid: prospects and effects by PERMANENT
Proceedings of the Planetary Defense Workshop 1995 - dozens of papers downloadable in PDF format.
Proceedings of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conferences are available in interactive PDF format from the Lunar & Planetary Institute: 1997-PDF abstracts, 1998-PDF abstracts, 1999-PDF Abstracts, 2000-PDF abstracts,
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Uni Arizona. Recent publications.
SPACE ENGINEERING RESEARCH CENTER - NASA/Uni Arizona.
Journal of Planetary and Space Science, Elsevier Science,( available in PDF format )
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute "Asteroids, Comets, and Meterorites: Their Intimate Relation with Life on Earth" by Stephen P. Broker (course notes)
www.torinoscale.com - the impact risk scale
Asteroid.net
NearEarth.Net.
Correspondence with UK politicians.
Natural Resources Canada: IMPACT CRATERING ON EARTH including a database with images.
Meteor Crater "official" web site
Description of radar imaging of NEOs.
Comets and Catastrophes by Robert Burnham
Panther Mountain impact website - New York State.
Large scale planetary impacts by Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute.
Bard College, NY: Course on Catastrophe/Apocalypse
HALIFAX The (man made) Explosion that Leveled a City - similar in size to a small asteroid airburst explosion.
Impact by James A. Marusek - includes plans for surviving and recovering from an major impact.
GaiaShield - The Sky is Falling Now!
Doomsday Guide - The Ultimate Guide to the Ultimate END!
USAF: Planetary Defense: Eliminating the Giggle Factor.
B612 Foundation - NEO deflection
My Aerial Explorations of Terrestrial Meteorite Craters by Charles O'Dale - great introduction to crater formation and dating techniques.
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Dec98: Impact cratering through geologic time by Gene Shoemaker (3Mb PDF) - a landmark paper.
Skytools software: Current orbital elements for all known minor planets from Ted Bowell at Lowell Observatory.
Orbit@home - Like SETI@home, the mission of orbit@home is to apply distributed computing to the study of Solar System dynamics.
SpaceViz: Planetary Defense documentary with excellent reviews (no longer online)
CosmoSparks Reports "give quick views of big advances in cosmochemistry" - by Planetary Science Research Discoveries (PSRD), University of Hawai'i
The Panets Org: Asteroid Belt Facts: Interesting Facts about the Asteroid Belt - e.g. the typical distance between asteroids is about 1 million km. Movies showing star fighters dodging multiple asteroids are somewhat misleading!

Media and magazines

Spaceviz: DVD Planetary Defense
Discovery Channel - Big hits from space
Scientific American - now requires payment for achives :<(. Most URLs no longer work and will have to use the search function.

Deep Impact "... may represent the most lavish effort yet of Hollywood's trying to get the science right." May 1998.
The Day the Sands Caught Fire Nov 1998.
Tsunami May 1999.
Double Whammy:An asteroid striking land would be catastrophic, but the damage might be far worse if it crashed into the sea. Nov 1998.
Collisions with Comets and Asteroids by Tom Gehrels. March 1996.
Impact Cratering on Earth by Richard Grieve, April 1990.
Ground Zero simulation of 1km comet hitting the ocean. Note that comets usually impact at higher speeds than asteroids.
Asteroids and Comets
Ask the experts -astronomy
Letter to the Editor about a possible giant impact on Venus 800 million years ago.
Deeper Impact - Was yet another mass extinction the work of an asteroid? - May 2001.
Repeated Blows (payment required) - by Luann Becker. Extraterrestrial impacts ended the age of the dinosaurs. New research shows that they could have been the culprits behind other mass extinctions - March 2002.

National Geographic:

Asteroids: Deadly Impact (for kids - interactive)

Sept 1986, p390 "Meteorites: Invaders from Space" including the discovery of meteorites in Antartica, Tunguska, early detective work on the K-T extinctions (e.g. tektites in the Caribbean - oh so close!), an illustration of the global effects of a major impact (modelling by LANL), an estimate of 1,000 earth crossers 1km or larger and this quote: Can theEarth be saved from such cataclysms in the future? Gene Shoemaker thinks maybe it can, although the hazard for mankind is remote. His scheme involves careful observations of the Earth crossers to determine when one is on a collision course with Earth. Then spacecraft sent under international auspices to rendezvous with the asteroid would attach a future mass driver - just adequate to nudge the object into a non-threatening orbit.
June 1989, p662 "Extinctions" includes more evidence of a K-T impact (but still no crater), an excellent illustration of the effects of a large impact (immediate to long-term) and the case for cycles in mass extinctions (Raup & Sepkoski, Rampino) including the oscillation of the Sun through the galactic plane (also mentioned by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan in the 1985 book "Comet").