The author is presently beginning a systematic search for Near Earth Asteroids, and Comets using instruments located at the Hobbs Observatory in Fall Creek, Wisconsin. [The Hobbs Observatory is jointly operated by the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, the Beaver Creek Reserve, and the Chippewa Valley Astronomical Society.] Instrumentation at the Observatory consists of an alta-azimuth, 61cm, f5, Newtonian reflector, with computer controlled steering, a field de-rotator, and a Star I CCD camera. This facility is controlled by three computers. The first controls the telescope steering, tracking, field de-rotation, filter selection, and focusing. The second computer controls the CCD Camera, and the third is used to hold the Guide data base. All three machines are linked together to form a composite system. The hardware and software required for this project has been in a state of upgrade and/or development over the past two years.
The intent of this project is to begin a systematic search for Asteroids and Comets, with an eventual extension to extra-galactic super-novae. The software written for the telescope steering/tracking computer automatically scans a selected area of the sky and commands the camera computer to take and store CCD images to a ZIP disk. The scanning sequence consists of slightly overlapping CCD images so that a fully composite sky area is covered. As the sky is being scanned, the Guide computer steps along with the telescope so that the incoming images may be visually compared with the Guide display.
During the initial runs, three seperate scan sequences will be recorded on a ZIP disk so that they may be blink compared upon completion of the imaging session. As the project progresses, a compressed data base will be constructed of the sky fields previously viewed. In later sessions this data base will be used to mask out the fixed (stationary) portions of sky from the newly received image thereby permitting detection of new or moved objects on the fly.
The telescope steering software is designed so that it may also be operated in a scripted table-driven mode. This mode would be useful to observe a series of sky areas that are non-contiguous. For example, it could be used to search various sky areas where Asteroids are expected, or to do a scan of selected galaxies for the detection of potential super-novae.
The equipment and software has just become operational early in 1999. It is currently being upgraded to operate with improved Image Processing Software and a new and larger aperture CCD Camera System. Hopefully, as the project moves forward it will not only discover new objects, but will also be able to assist others in the confirmation of their discoveries.
For additional information on this project you may contact the author by e-mail, the address is xecon@discover-net.net