The Indiana Asteroid Program was a photographic

astronomical survey An astronomical survey is a general celestial cartography, map or astrophotography, image of a region of the sky (or of the whole sky) that lacks a specific observational target. Alternatively, an astronomical survey may comprise a set of image ...

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 during 1949–1967, at the U.S.

Goethe Link Observatory The Goethe Link Observatory, observatory code 760, is an astronomical observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States. It is owned by Indiana University and operated by the Indiana Astronomical Society https://iasindy.org/about.html, which eff ...

near

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, Indiana. The program was initiated by

Frank K. Edmondson Frank Kelley Edmondson (August 1, 1912 – December 8, 2008) was an American astronomer. Life and career Edmondson was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in Seymour, Indiana. He graduated from Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana Unive ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

using a 10-inch ''f/''6.5

Cooke triplet The ''Cooke triplet'' is a photographic lens designed and patented in 1893 by Dennis Taylor who was employed as chief engineer by T. Cooke & Sons of York. It was the first lens system that allowed the elimination of most of the optical distort ...

astrograph An astrograph (or astrographic camera) is a telescope designed for the sole purpose of astrophotography. Astrographs are mostly used in wide-field astronomical surveys of the sky and for detection of objects such as asteroids, meteors, an ...

ic camera. Its objectives included recovering asteroids that were far from their predicted positions, making new orbital calculations or revising old ones, deriving magnitudes accurate to about 0.1 mag, and training students. When the observatory's 36-inch (0.91-meter)

reflecting telescope A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternati ...

proved unsuitable for searching for asteroids, postdoctoral fellow James Cuffey arranged the permanent loan of a 10-inch (25-centimeter) lens from the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

. Mounted in a shed near the main observatory, the instrument using the borrowed lens was responsible for all of the program's discoveries. By 1958, the program had produced 3,500

photographic plate Photographic plates preceded film as the primary medium for capturing images in photography. These plates, made of metal or glass and coated with a light-sensitive emulsion, were integral to early photographic processes such as heliography, d ...

s showing 12,000 asteroid images and had published about 2,000 accurate positions in the ''

Minor Planet Circular The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

''. When the program ended in 1967, it had discovered a total of 119 asteroids. The program's highest numbered discovery,

30718 Records 30718 Records (provisional designation ) is a dark background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 14 September 1955, by Indiana University's Indiana Asteroid Progra ...

, made in 1955, was not named until November 2007 (). The program ended when the lights of the nearby city of

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

became too bright to permit the long exposures required for the photographic plates. The program's nearly 7,000 photographic plates are now archived at

Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...

.Kingery, p. 47, an
Indiana University Department of Astronomy: Frank Edmondson Home Page

List of discovered minor planets

The Indiana Asteroid Program has discovered 119 asteroids during 1949–1966. The

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Funct ...

officially credits these discoveries to "Indiana University" rather than to the program itself.

References

{{reflist , refs= {{cite web , title = Minor Planet Discoverers (by number) , work = Minor Planet Center , url = http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/MPDiscsNum.html , date = 4 September 2016 , access-date = 15 September 2016 {{Cite journal , author = Gehrels, Thomas , date = February 1958 , title = The Indiana asteroid program. , journal = Astronomical Journal , volume = 63 , pages = 50 , bibcode = 1958AJ.....63...50G , doi = 10.1086/107684 , doi-access= free {{cite web , title = IU Asteroid Program "records" final chapter , publisher = Indiana University – News Room , date = 7 April 2008 , url = http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/7881.html , access-date = 15 September 2016 {{cite web , title = MPC/MPO/MPS Archive , work = Minor Planet Center , url = http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html , access-date = 15 September 2016 Astrometry Astronomical discoveries by institution * Indiana University