The International Asteroid Search Campaign (IASC, fondly nicknamed “Isaac”) is an Internet-based program for high schools and colleges. Within hours of acquisition, astronomical CCD images are made available via the Internet to participating schools around the world. Under the guidance of their teachers, students analyze the images with free software tools, searching for new asteroids and confirmations of near—Earth objects (NEOs). These discoveries are reported to the Minor Planet Center (MPC; Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Harvard), which gives the students published recognition in its MPC circulars. To date, 36 new Main Belt asteroids have been found in one year, and 197 NEOs confirmed.
Date
01/02/2008
Citation
Miller, J. P., Davis, J. W., Holmes, R. E., Devore, H., Raab, H., Pennypacker, C. R., … Gould, A. (2008). An International Asteroid Search Campaign. Astronomy Education Review, 7(1), 57–83. https://doi.org/10.3847/AER2008006
Miller, J. Patrick | Davis, Jeffrey. W. | Holmes, Jr., Robert. E. | Devore, Harlan | Raab, Herbert | Pennypacker, Carlton R. | White, Graeme L. | Gould, Alan
Mathematics Department, Hardin-Simmons University | Honors Program, Hardin-Simmons University | Astronomical Research Institute | Cape Fear High School, Fayetteville, NC | Astrometrica, Linz, Austria | Lawrence Berkeley National & Space Sciences Laboratory | Centre for Astronomy, James Cook University | Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California
