We propose to continue the spacewatch project for another three years. Spacewatch is the exclusive user of a 1.8-meter telescope and a 0.9-meter telescope on kitt peak, arizona for followup astrometry…

This is a grant award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the University of Arizona, doing business as the Arizona Board of Regents, to continue the Spacewatch project for three additional years. The Spacewatch project utilizes 1.8-meter and 0.9-meter telescopes on Kitt Peak in Arizona to conduct astrometry and photometry observations of asteroids and comets, with a focus on near-Earth objects. The grant award has a potential value of $1,413,105.00 and does not have a set-aside designation. The University of Arizona, a U.S. state government entity, 1862 Land Grant College, Hispanic Serving Institution, and state-controlled institution of higher learning, is the prime contractor for this grant. The grant will support the core operations of the Spacewatch project, including gradual enhancements to the observational capabilities, as well as making the data publicly available through the Planetary Data System's Small Bodies Node.

We propose to continue the spacewatch project for another three years. Spacewatch is the exclusive user of a 1.8-meter telescope and a 0.9-meter telescope on kitt peak, arizona for followup astrometry and photometry of asteroids and comets. Astrometry is the measurement of the positions and motions of celestial objects. IT is accomplished by imaging their positions on the sky against the background of STARS whose positions are already known. In the case of asteroids, time sequences of astrometric positions known as tracklets are used by the minor planet center (MPC) to compute the orbits of asteroids and predict their positions for future observations. Astrometric measurements of near-earth objects (neos) for this purpose are explicitly requested by NASA s NEO observation program. Photometry is used by the MPC to update knowledge of the absolute magnitudes (intrinsic brightness of asteroids as illuminated by sunlight), which serve as surrogates for the approximate sizes of objects. Followup observations targeted to specific objects are both required and labor-intensive because unlike prearranged survey patterns, they cannot be programmed far in advance. Skill and judgment on the part of the observers are required to adapt on short notice to changes of target priorities, changes of expected target properties, and changing observing conditions. Spacewatch is composed of an experienced crew and mature software and equipment for this purpose. Our 1.8-meter telescope is the largest one known to US in the world that is dedicated exclusively to astrometry of asteroids, and as such allows US to observe objects at dimmer magnitudes than most other such observatories. We focus our efforts on neos of high priority while they are faint (v=21-24) and for which improved knowledge of their orbits is needed. These include recently discovered objects on the MPC s confirmation page, objects for which JPL indicates potential close encounters with earth, potentially hazardous asteroids (phas) as indicated by the MPC, neos observed in the infrared by spacecraft, future targets of radar, neos whose taxonomic spectra have been measured, potential destinations of spacecraft, candidates for detection of the yarkovsky effect, and special requests by the MPC, JPL, and the planetary science community in general. Spacewatch work continues to be valuable to the NEO search campaign because the surveys discover asteroids at an increasing rate. In turn, spacewatch has been making supporting followup observations at a rate that has steadily accelerated from 1984 to the present. Spacewatch contributes several thousand tracklets of observations of neos per year, many of which are of fainter objects than those observed by other followup stations. The more distant that objects are observed from earth, the more accurate the knowledge of their orbits and the predictions of their return apparitions. Spacewatch leads the world in making observations of phas more than 30 days after the last previous observation, thus providing good mathematical leverage on the refinement of knowledge of their orbits. By observing asteroids with potential impact trajectories, spacewatch has contributed to the removal of half of such objects that have been retired from JPL s list. When spacewatch is the only station to observe a particular provisionally designated NEO on a particular night, the MPC s daily orbit updates (dous) almost always show a set of revised orbital elements. This proposal is to renew support for the core operation of spacewatch with its own two telescopes. Gradual enhancements to observational capabilities will progress incrementally as before, along with the steady pace of observing. Data will be made available to the public in a readily usable form and will be forwarded for peer review through the planetary data system s small bodies node.