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 Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) located in the Santa Catalina Mountains on Mount Bigelow, near Tucson, Arizona, USA. The survey was the only professional search for dangerous asteroids being made in the Southern Hemisphere.
SSS was jointly operated by the University of Arizona and the Australian National University, with funding from NASA. SSS (IAU observatory code E12) was located at Siding Spring Observatory (IAU observatory code 413) at 31°18′S 149°06′E / 31.3°S 149.1°E, approximately 400 km (250 mi) north-west of Sydney at an altitude of about 1,150 metres (3,770 ft).
Images of 30 seconds' exposure time were collected using a 4×4K charge-coupled device at intervals and then compared with software.
The survey ended in July 2013 after funding was discontinued.
Discoveries
Since 2004 the survey has discovered 400 potentially hazardous objects with a diameter greater than 100 m. In early January 2013, Robert H. McNaught discovered a new comet named C/2013 A1 using data collected while searching for asteroids.
List of discovered minor planets
See also
- List of minor planet discoverers § Discovering dedicated institutions
- List of near-Earth object observation projects