Palomar Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey

Minor planets discovered: 20 ^[1]
see § List of discovered minor planets

The Palomar Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey (PCAS) was an astronomical survey, initiated by American astronomers Eleanor Helin and Eugene Shoemaker at the U.S Palomar Observatory, California, in 1973.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] The program is responsible for the discovery of 95 near-Earth Objects including 17 comets,^[6] while the Minor Planet Center directly credits PCAS with the discovery of 20 numbered minor planets during 1993–1994.^[1] PCAS ran for nearly 25 years until June 1995. It had an international extension, INAS, and was the immediate predecessor of the outstandingly successful NEAT program.^[6]

Notable discoveries

The first NEO discovered by PACS was (5496) 1973 NA, an Apollo asteroid with an exceptional orbital inclination of 68°, the most highly inclined minor planet known until 1999. In 1976, Eleanor Helin discovered 2062 Aten,^[7] the first of a new class of asteroids called the Aten asteroids with small orbits that are never far from Earth's orbit. As a result, these objects have a particularly high probability of colliding with the Earth. In 1979, Helin discovered an Apollo-type asteroid, that they later identified with the comet 4015 Wilson–Harrington.^[8] It was the first confirmation that a comet can evolve into an asteroid after it has degassed.^[6]

List of discovered minor planets

(7029) 1993 XT2	14 December 1993	list
(9072) 1993 RX3	12 September 1993	list
(9078) 1994 PB2	9 August 1994	list
(10363) 1994 UP₁₁	31 October 1994	list
(10564) 1993 XQ₂	14 December 1993	list
(13594) 1994 PC₂	9 August 1994	list
(14476) 1993 XW₂	14 December 1993	list
(14912) 1993 RP₃	12 September 1993	list
(15344) 1994 PA₂	9 August 1994	list
(18435) 1994 GW₁₀	14 April 1994	list

(18436) 1994 GY₁₀	14 April 1994	list
(24781) 1993 RU₃	12 September 1993	list
(24797) 1994 PD₂	9 August 1994	list
(24798) 1994 PF₂	9 August 1994	list
(26868) 1993 RS₃	12 September 1993	list
(37671) 1994 UY₁₁	31 October 1994	list
(39620) 1994 PE₂	9 August 1994	list
(46623) 1994 GV₁₀	14 April 1994	list
(52418) 1994 GX₁₀	14 April 1994	list
(120503) 1993 RW₃	12 September 1993	list

References

^ ^a ^b "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. 16 November 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
^ Leverington, David (2003). Planetary vistas : a history of planetary astronomy up to the 21st century. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 339–340. ISBN 9780521808408.
^ Gehrels, Tom, ed. (1994). Hazards due to comets and asteroids. Tucson: Univ. of Arizona Press. pp. 129–131, 137. ISBN 9780816515059.
^ Barnes-Svarney, Patricia (2003). Asteroid : earth destroyer or new frontier? (Paperback ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. p. 246. ISBN 9780738208855.
^ Levy, David H. (2002). Shoemaker by Levy: the man who made an impact. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. pp. 167–174. ISBN 9780691113258.
^ ^a ^b ^c Helin, Eleanor F.; Pravdo, Steven H.; Rabinowitz, David L.; Lawrence, Kenneth J. (May 1997). "Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) Program". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: 6. Bibcode:1997NYASA.822....6H. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb48329.x. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
^ "2062 Aten (1976 AA)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
^ "4015 Wilson-Harrington (1979 VA)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 7 January 2017.

Publications

Helin, E.F.; Shoemaker, E.M. (December 1979). "The Palomar planet-crossing asteroid survey, 1973–1978". Icarus. 40 (3): 321–328. Bibcode:1979Icar...40..321H. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(79)90021-6.
Helin, E. F. (1991). "Palomar Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey (PCAS): Recent discovery rate". Asteroids, Comets, Meteors: 235–236. Bibcode:1992acm..proc..235H.

This page was last edited on 11 October 2021, at 01:27

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Notable discoveries

List of discovered minor planets

See also

References

Publications