Catalina Sky Survey

01/08/2023

Get to know the discoverer of impacting asteroid 2022 WJ1! We just published a write up and interview with CSS observer David Rankin. We hope you find it interesting!

Once Again the Catalina Sky Survey Discovers an Earth-Impacting Asteroid Today Catalina Sky Survey astronomer David Rankin discovers a near-Earth asteroid a few short hours before its fiery, yet harmless impact into the Earth’s atmosphere. Image Asteroid 2022 WJ1 captured as it passed over Brantfo...

12/25/2022

Sleep soundly on this silent night as the Catalina Sky Survey keeps eyes on the sky through the new year. Wishing you all happy holidays from Mount Lemmon!

11/20/2022

A very eventful morning for residents of Brantford, Ontario as an impactor flew overhead ending in a large explosion in the atmosphere! At 8:26:59 UT asteroid 2022 WJ1 ( ) first imaged by CSS observer David Rankin made contact. Though no damage has been reported from the event, it was loud enough to startle cats, dogs and families awake at what was 3:30am local time. Impactors like this are rare to catch before they hit, more rarely occur over populated areas and even more rarely cause damage. Though the potential for damage is what keeps us vigilant every night doing our best to find these near-Earth objects, working in collaboration with other surveys, follow-up groups and JPL to quickly assess any and all objects discovered to verify that they are harmless.

10/31/2022

We had a great week full of NEO discoveries (about 87 of them!) as well as a few cool images in our survey fields, taken by our Senior Observer David Rankin, we have a wonderful picture of the Rosette nebula! He was also able to capture a phenomenal meteor exploding in our atmosphere. We also got to listen to The Planetary Society's Mat Kaplan interview our Principal Investigator Eric Christensen, about planetary defense, our equipment, "secrets to success", and even our future. You can listen to it at tinyurl.com/38vpvwm9

10/01/2022

This week's look into the WGSBN Bulletin highlights Jim Hamilton with asteroid number 47708. Before his passing in 2021, Jim was known for creating a curating an email list for amateur astronomers to share astrophotography. Asteroid 47708 was discovered by Catalina Sky Survey in 2000. You can find the citation of this and many other asteroids athttps://www.wgsbn-iau.org/files/Bulletins/V002/WGSBNBull_V002_002.pdf

09/12/2022

Today's look at the WGSBN Bulletin gives us many asteroids named for many great people, one of which being asteroid number 25589, now named for Danica McKellar (Danica McKellar ). An amazing actress and author with an extensive filmography and 3 New York Times Bestselling mathematics-based children's books, McKellar is a role model and icon for young women around the world who are looking to pursue STEM. Asteroid 25589 was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in 1999. You can find the dedication and naming of her asteroid, along with many others at www.wgsbn-iau.org (Volume2 #7).

09/03/2022

CSS survey operations specialist Alessandra Serrano performs “Stella Splendens” (“Splendid Star”) at the 1.5-meter Mt. Lemmon Survey telescope, before an evening of near-Earth asteroid observing at the nearby 1-meter telescope. “Stella Splendens” comes from a compendium of musical manuscripts from the 14th century, written down “because the pilgrims wish to sing and dance while they keep their watch at night.” The primary mirror has been removed from the 1.5-m for re-aluminizing at Steward Observatory’s coating facility in Tucson.

09/03/2022

This mission is to the Near Earth Asteroid 2020 GE, which was discovered by our team in 2020. The spacecraft, "NEA Scout" is a giant solar sail that will be launched aboard the Artemis 1 rocket

Giant solar sail will propel tiny spacecraft to intercept and study asteroid September 2, 2022 Clive Simpson Artist’s concept of the NEA Scout mission, powered by aa solar sail, approaching an asteroid. Credit: NASA Catching a ride on Artemis 1 is a miniaturized CubeSat called NEA Scout that will ...

07/13/2022

MPEC 2022-N74 announced new potentially hazardous asteroid 2022 NH1. 2022 NH1 was discovered at our 1.5m survey telescope by observers R. A. Kowalski and J. K. Hogan on July 7th, 2022. It is an Apollo group PHA with a diameter between 181-406m and poses no impact threat to Earth.

Interactive Orbit:
https://catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/css-orbit-view?Namev=2022%20NH1&JDTv=2459772.5&av=1.2221556&Mv=299.10351&ev=0.4090388&Iv=22.72001&Periv=265.41965&Nodev=148.47870&Pv=1.3511070282304851&qv=0&Tv=0&Cx=531&Cy=743&Cz=407&CZ=229

What is a PHA?
https://catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/faq

07/08/2022

MPEC 2022-N30 announced new potentially hazardous asteroid 2022 ME4. 2022 ME4 was discovered at our 1.5m survey telescope by observer D. Rankin on June 29th, 2022. It is an Amor group PHA with a diameter between 116-259m and poses no impact threat to Earth.

Interactive Orbit:
https://catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/css-orbit-view?Namev=2022%20ME4&JDTv=2459767.5&av=2.3829212&Mv=359.27711&ev=0.5572627&Iv=13.47049&Periv=167.64190&Nodev=132.59888&Pv=3.678447157335715&qv=0&Tv=0&Cx=679&Cy=-104&Cz=727&CZ=126

What is a PHA?
https://catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/faq

07/05/2022

MPEC 2022-L43 announced new potentially hazardous asteroid 2022 LB1. 2022 LB1 was discovered at our 1.5m survey telescope by observer A. Serrano on June 4th, 2022. It is an Amor group PHA with a diameter between 118-264m and poses no impact threat to Earth.

Interactive Orbit:
https://catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/css-orbit-view?Namev=2022%20LB1&JDTv=2459764.5&av=2.7280556&Mv=358.12225&ev=0.6250300&Iv=23.88077&Periv=200.72440&Nodev=86.08439&Pv=4.505882122318676&qv=0&Tv=0&Cx=549&Cy=-271&Cz=791&CZ=89

What is a PHA?
https://catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/faq