Mount Lemmon Survey (MLS) is a part of the Catalina Sky Survey with observatory code G96. MLS uses a

cassegrain reflector The Cassegrain reflector is a combination of a primary concave mirror and a secondary convex mirror, often used in optical telescopes and Antenna (radio), radio antennas, the main characteristic being that the optical path folds back onto itself, ...

telescope (with 10560x10560-pixel camera at the f/1.6 prime focus, for a five square degree field of view) operated by the

Steward Observatory Steward Observatory is the research arm of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona (UArizona). Its offices are located on the UArizona campus in Tucson, Arizona (US). Established in 1916, the first telescope and building were ...

at Mount Lemmon Observatory, which is located at in the Santa Catalina Mountains northeast of Tucson, Arizona. It is currently one of the most prolific surveys worldwide, especially for discovering

near-Earth objects 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 aro ...

. MLS ranks among the top discoverers on 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 ...

's discovery chart with a total of more than 50,000 numbered minor planets.

History

Andrea Boattini Andrea Boattini (born 16 September 1969) is an Italian astronomer and a prolific discoverer of minor planets and comets. Career After developing a growing interest in minor planets, he graduated in 1996 from the University of Bologna with a t ...

and the survey accidentally rediscovered 206P/Barnard-Boattini, a lost comet, on 7 October 2008. The comet has made 20 revolutions since 1892 and passed within 0.3–0.4 AU 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 ...

in 1922, 1934 and 2005.IAUC 8995
/ref>The COCD Homepage
/ref> This comet was also the first comet to be discovered by photographic means, by the American

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

Edward Emerson Barnard Edward Emerson Barnard (December 16, 1857 – February 6, 1923) was an American astronomer. He was commonly known as E. E. Barnard, and was recognized as a gifted observational astronomer. He is best known for his discovery of the high proper m ...

, who did so on the night of 13 October 1892.206P at Garry Kronk’s Cometography
On 12 January 2008, Mount Lemmon Survey discovered the near-Earth asteroid at an

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the Irradiance, brightness of a star, astronomical object or other celestial objects like artificial satellites. Its value depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance, and any extinction (astronomy), ...

of 21 using a

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 ...

. was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey on 27 September 2009 and it is a stable Mars trojan asteroid. The survey also discovered the unusual

Aten Aten, also Aton, Atonu, or Itn (, reconstructed ) was the focus of Atenism, the religious system formally established in ancient Egypt by the late Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten. Exact dating for the Eighteenth Dynasty is contested, thou ...

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 ...

, a dynamically cold Kozai resonator, on 31 March 2012.

References

External links

NEODyS
{{Portal bar, Arizona, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Astronomical surveys * Discoverers of comets Astronomical observatories in Arizona

History

See also

References

External links