Catalina Sky Survey (CSS; obs. code:

703 __NOTOC__ Year 703 (Roman numerals, DCCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 703rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 703rd year of the 1st mi ...

) is an

astronomical survey An astronomical survey is a general map or image of a region of the sky (or of the whole sky) that lacks a specific observational target. Alternatively, an astronomical survey may comprise a set of images, spectra, or other observations of ob ...

to discover

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

s and asteroids. It is conducted at the

Steward Observatory Steward Observatory is the research arm of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona (UArizona). Its offices are located on the UArizona campus in Tucson, Arizona (US). Established in 1916, the first telescope and building were f ...

Catalina Station Catalina Station (CS), also known as Steward Observatory Catalina Station, is an astronomical observing facility located on Mount Bigelow in the Santa Catalina Mountains approximately northeast of Tucson, Arizona. The site in the Coronado Nati ...

, located near

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, in the United States. CSS focuses on the search for

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

s, in particular on any

potentially hazardous asteroid A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. They are ...

that may pose a threat of

impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Impac ...

. Its counterpart in the southern hemisphere was the

Siding Spring Survey The Siding Spring Survey (SSS) was a near-Earth object search program that used the 0.5-metre Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales, Australia. It was the southern hemisphere counterpart of the Catali ...

(SSS), closed in 2013 due to loss of funding. CSS supersedes the photographic Bigelow Sky Survey.

Mission

The NEO Observations Program is a result of a United States 1998 congressional directive to

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

to begin a program to identify 1 kilometre (0.62 mile) or larger objects to around 90 percent confidence level or better. The Catalina Sky Survey, located at the

Mount Lemmon Observatory Mount Lemmon Observatory (MLO), also known as the Mount Lemmon Infrared Observatory, is an astronomical observatory located on Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains approximately northeast of Tucson, Arizona (US). The site in the Corona ...

in the

Catalina Mountains The Santa Catalina Mountains, commonly referred to as the Catalina Mountains or the Catalinas, are north and northeast of Tucson in Arizona, United States, on Tucson's north perimeter. The mountain range is the most prominent in the Tucson area, w ...

north of

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, carries out searches for near-earth objects, NEOs, contributing to the congressionally mandated goal. In addition to identifying impact risks, the project also obtains other scientific information, including: improving the known population distribution in the main belt, finding the cometary distribution at larger

perihelion An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any elli ...

distances, determining the distribution of NEOs as a product of collisional history and transport to the

inner Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

, and identifying potential targets for flight projects.

Techniques

The Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) uses three telescopes, a 1.5 meter (60 inch) f/1.6 telescope on the peak of

Mount Lemmon Mount Lemmon, with a summit elevation of , is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains. It is located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona, United States. Mount Lemmon was named for botanist Sara Plummer Lemmon, who ...

(MPC code G96), a 68 cm (27 inch) f/ 1.7

Schmidt Schmidt may refer to: * Schmidt (surname), including list of people with the surname * Schmidt (singer) (born 1990), German pop and jazz singer * Schmidt (lunar crater), a small lunar impact crater * Schmidt (Martian crater), a List of craters on ...

telescope near Mount Bigelow (MPC code 703), and a 1-meter (40 inch) f/2.6 follow-up telescope also on

(MPC code I52). The three telescopes are located in the

Santa Catalina Mountains The Santa Catalina Mountains, commonly referred to as the Catalina Mountains or the Catalinas, are north and northeast of Tucson in Arizona, United States, on Tucson's north perimeter. The mountain range is the most prominent in the Tucson area, w ...

near Tucson, Arizona. The CSS southern hemisphere counterpart, the

(SSS), used a 0.5 meter (20 inch) f/3 Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. The 1.5 meter and 68 cm survey telescopes use identical, thermo-electrically cooled cameras and common software written by the CSS team. The cameras are cooled to approximately −100 °C (−148 °F) so their dark current is about 1 electron per hour. These 10,560 x 10,560 pixel cameras provide a

field of view The field of view (FoV) is the extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment. In the case of optical instruments or sensors it is a solid angle through which a detector is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation. Human ...

of 5 square degrees with the 1.5-m telescope and nearly 20 square degrees with the Catalina Schmidt. Nominal exposures are 30 seconds and the 1.5-m can reach objects fainter than 21.5 V in that time. The 1 meter follow-up telescope uses a 2k x 2k CCD detector which provides a

of 0.3 square degrees. Starting 2019, CSS started using the 1.54 meter (61 inch) Kuiper telescope situated on Mt. Bigelow for targeted follow-up for 7–12 nights per lunation. CSS typically operates every clear night with the exception of a few nights centered on the

full moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This means ...

. The southern hemispheres' SSS in Australia ended in 2013 after funding was discontinued.

Discoveries

In 2005, CSS became the most prolific NEO survey surpassing

Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research The Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project is a collaboration of the United States Air Force, NASA, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory for the systematic detection and tracking of near-Earth objects ...

(LINEAR) in total number of NEOs and potentially hazardous asteroids discovered each year since. As of 2020, the Catalina Sky Survey is responsible for the discovery of 47% of the total known NEO population. CSS discovered 310 NEOs in 2005, 396 in 2006, 466 in 2007, 564 in 2008, 573 in 2009, 607 in 2010, 572 in 2011, 626 in 2012, 600 in 2013, 616 in 2014, 576 in 2015, 929 in 2016, 989 in 2017, 1054 in 2018, and in 2019, 1067 NEOs were found.

Notable discoveries

List of discovered minor planets

For a complete listing of all minor planets discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey, ''see the index section in

list of minor planets The following is a list of numbered minor planets in ascending numerical order. With the exception of comets, minor planets are all small bodies in the Solar System, including asteroids, distant objects and dwarf planets. The catalog consists ...

''.

CSS/SSS team

The CSS team is headed by Eric Christensen of the

Lunar and Planetary Laboratory The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) is a research center for planetary science located in Tucson, Arizona. It is also a graduate school, constituting the Department of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona. LPL is one of the wo ...

of the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. The full CSS team is: * Eric J. Christensen (principal investigator) * Gregory Farneth * Stephen M. Larson * Alex R. Gibbs * Albert D. Grauer *

Richard E. Hill This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 num ...

(Retired) * Richard A. Kowalski * Joshua Hogan * Hannes Gröller * Frank Shelly * David Rankin * D. Carson Fuls * Gregory J. Leonard * Rob Seaman * Theodore Pruyne * Kacper Wierzchos

SSS

Robert H. McNaught Robert H. McNaught (born in Scotland in 1956) is a Scottish-Australian astronomer at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National University (ANU). He has collaborated with David J. Asher of the Armagh Observator ...

Gordon J. Garradd Gordon John Garradd (born 1959) is an Australian amateur astronomer and photographer from Loomberah, New South Wales. He has discovered numerous asteroids and comets, including the hyperbolic comet C/2009 P1, and four novae in the Large Magell ...

Educational outreach

The CSS has helped with

Astronomy Camp Astronomy Camp is a science summer camp hosted by the University of Arizona's Alumni Association, and run by astronomer Don McCarthy. Many of the early camps took place at the Mount Lemmon Station Observatory atop Mount Lemmon, near Tucson, Arizona ...

showing campers how they detect NEOs. They even played a role in an astrophotography exercise with the 2006 Adult Astronomy Camp ending up with a picture that was featured on Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Catalina Outer Solar System Survey

The

Zooniverse Zooniverse is a citizen science web portal owned and operated by the Citizen Science Alliance. It is home to some of the Internet's largest, most popular and most successful citizen science projects. The organization grew from the original Gal ...

project Catalina Outer Solar System Survey is a citizen science project and it is listed as a

citizen science project. In this project, the volunteers search for

trans-Neptunian objects A trans-Neptunian object (TNO), also written transneptunian object, is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune, which has a semi-major axis of 30.1 astronomical units (au). Typicall ...

(TNOs) in pre-processed images of the Catalina Sky Survey. Computers can detect the motion of TNOs, but humans have to check if this motion is real. Upon agreement with the volunteers, they will be cited as "measurers" in the submission of the astrometry to the Minor Planet Center. The project already found previously known TNOs, including

47171 Lempo 47171 Lempo, or as a binary (47171) Lempo–Hiisi (also known as ), is a trans-Neptunian object and trinary system from the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost regions of the Solar System. It was discovered on 1 October 1999, by American astr ...

, , and .

References

External links

Catalina Sky Survey Website

Overview and history
{{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System Astronomical surveys Discoverers of asteroids Near-Earth object tracking Discoveries by the Catalina Sky Survey