The CINEOS program (Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Object Survey), started in 2001, is dedicated to the discovery and follow-up of

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun ( perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit a ...

s (NEOs), namely

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s and

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

s which periodically approach or intersect the

Earth's orbit Earth orbits the Sun at an astronomical unit, average distance of , or 8.317 light-second, light-minutes, in a retrograde and prograde motion, counterclockwise direction as viewed from above the Northern Hemisphere. One complete orbit takes & ...

. In particular CINEOS is addressed to the discovery of Atens and Interior-Earth Objects (IEOs) by extending survey coverage at small solar elongations, and to the discovery of the other kind of NEOs by observing with longer exposures (up to a limiting magnitude of 21) in the opposition region. Between August 2001 and November 2004, CINEOS measured more than 61000 asteroid positions and discovered more than 1500 new objects, including several NEOs and one cometary

centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...

, 167P/CINEOS. In June–September 2003, CINEOS was ranked fifth in the world for the number of discoveries (sixth place in the period June–August 2004) and has been the first Italian professional program to discover a NEO and an asteroid beyond the orbit of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

. The survey is carried out at the

Campo Imperatore Campo Imperatore ("Emperor's Field") is a mountain grassland or alpine meadow formed by a high basin shaped plateau located above Gran Sasso massif, the largest plateau of Apennine ridge. Known as "Little Tibet", it is located in Gran Sasso ...

station of the Rome Observatory near the summit of the

Gran Sasso Gran Sasso d'Italia (; ) is a massif in the Apennine Mountains of Italy. Its highest peak, Corno Grande , is the highest mountain in the Apennines, and the second-highest mountain in Italy outside the Alps. The mountain lies within Gran Sasso ...

Mountain, at about 2,150 meters of elevation. The station is located about 130 km north-east of Rome. The Observatory of Turin has been also involved in this project. Operated at the

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

(60-90–183 cm) available at the station, the program uses between 10 and 14 nights per month, usually around the first and last quarter of the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

Objectives

The science of CINEOS consists of two main observing activities:

NEO discovery

To search for

s (NEOs), concentrating activities at small solar elongations. The objective is to optimize a ground-based system towards the discoveries of: *

Aten asteroid The Aten asteroids are a dynamical group of asteroids whose orbits bring them into proximity with Earth. By definition, Atens are Earth-crossing asteroids . The group is named after 2062 Aten, the first of its kind, discovered on 7 Janua ...

s * Interior-Earth Objects (IEOs) Although the NEO discovery rate grew significantly from 2001 to 2005, knowledge of bodies with small semimajor axis remains largely incomplete (Atens) or totally incomplete (Inner-Earth Objects). Most search programs concentrate their efforts near the opposition region where it is difficult if not impossible to find these objects. Aten asteroids are also very important because numerical simulations have shown that they have the highest frequency of close encounters with the Earth. Sometimes Atens can evolve into orbits completely inside that of the Earth and vice versa. Thus, there are bodies that can come very close to the Earth, but are very difficult to observe from the ground.

Astrometry

The second goal of CINEOS is to provide rapid

astrometric Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way. History ...

data for: * Follow-up of NEOs in urgent need of observations. * Recovery of NEOs at future apparitions. * Follow-up of small bodies belonging to other unusual orbital classes. The survey activity is carried out mostly at the beginning and near the end of the night, while part of the middle of night time is usually available for the follow-up work. As a targeted follow-up system, CINEOS takes advantage of the combination of the relatively faint limiting magnitude and large field of view (probably the largest in the world for this activity). Follow-up can be provided up to magnitude 21, occasionally to 22 on the best nights. Coordination of the follow-up work will be accomplished within the Spaceguard Central Node facilities. An essential side of the work is to choose targets that cannot be done elsewhere very easily during the epoch of the observing run.

List of discovered minor planets

References

External links