Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
are Mars-crossing asteroids. That was the fifth place in the world at that
time. Among them Asteroids 2077 (Jiangsu) and 2078 (Nanjing) are Mars-
crossing asteroids. In 1990, together with a French astronomer Alain Maury,
Professor Q. Wang found a Near Earth Asteroid 1990 AD in France.
The Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program (SCAP) of Beijing Astronomical
Observatory (BAO) was put in practice in 1995. The telescope used is a
60/90 cm Schmidt telescope with 2 K
×
2 K CCD detector. In 1997, near-
Earth Asteroids 1997 BR and 1997 TT25 and a Mars-crossing asteroid
1997 LY4 were found by this scheme. In 1990s, 575 asteroids were found by
SCAP, and the observational quantity and the number of asteroids found
headed the list in the world in successive years in that period.
To commend the Chinese astronomer contributing to asteroid research,
Harvard College Observatory named Asteroids 2051 and 4760 as Chang
(C. Y. Chang) and Jia-Xiang (J. X. Zhang).
In 1994, Professor J. X. Zhang with his colleagues did the prediction
work of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) impacting on Jupiter. In the sit-
uation of lacking the last key observational data, the precision of impact
time we predicted reached high level in the world compared with the actual
impact time observed by Galileo spacecraft.
After the event of comet SL9 impacting on Jupiter, Chinese promised to
build a NEO Search Telescope to take part in the international NEO joint
survey at the meeting for discussion how to safeguard our earth in 1995.
2. 1.0/1.2 m Schmidt Telescope for Asteroid Survey
Our NEO search telescope construction was started in 1999 and has been
finished. It is a 1.0/1.2 m Schmidt telescope with 4 K
4 K shift scanning
CCD detector. The telescope can also inspect space debris.
Figure 1 is the main building for the telescope and Fig. 2 is the telescope
mounted on the dome.
×
2.1.
Scientific objectives
The scientific objectives of the telescope are as follows:
(i) survey NEOs,
(ii) determine the orbits of asteroids and comets, so that
(iii) to predict the possible collision events,
(iv) research the dynamical evolution of the orbits of asteroids and comets.
