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Astronomers at the 马格达莱纳岭天文台 recently assisted NASA and SETI track 一块带有2的太空垃圾.四米级望远镜 as it impacted the Earth over the 11月11日星期五，斯里兰卡附近的印度洋. 13. 在那个项目的几个小时内 MRO team also tracked an asteroid that passed within the zone of Earth-orbiting communications 11月14日卫星.

“We were doing the work as part of a world-wide collaborative team as a test case for future scenarios to deal with hazardous asteroids that may impact the Earth,” 博士说. 艾琳·瑞安，2.四米级望远镜. “团队得到了一些整洁 pictures from the airplane of the debris streaking as it came in.”

The object was WT1190F, and a plane in Abu Dhabi was chartered to get images and data 当碎片撞击时. Dr. 比尔 Ryan, telescope scientist at the MRO, provided NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab with astrometry to refine the error bars to help determine exactly 碎片会撞击到哪里. The astrometric data provided by MRO for entry location modeling helped reduce an impossibly large uncertainty to a doable, large uncertainty 这是非常鼓舞人心的.

The space debris had been identified in late October and observers had determined 它将在11月13日撞击地球. 飞机上的观察员拍下了视频 太空垃圾燃烧的画面. 艾琳·瑞安说如果有任何部分 of the debris survived re-entry it would be in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sri 斯里兰卡. For more information and images of the incoming debris see: http://impact.搜寻地外文明计划.org/(滚动 down to the middle of the page for MRO’s early, critical astrometry contribution).

As observers were tracking the debris, an asteroid was discovered that would pass very close to the Earth (within the man-made satellite zone) the next night (Nov. 14).

The Ryans got data on the object’s spin rate, and took a picture on Nov. 14 . asteroid in the background with an (unresolved) image streak of a known geosynchronous satellite in the foreground (though safely far enough away this time).

“我很惊讶，”艾琳·瑞安说. “这是一个组合拳. 还有一件很酷的事 另一件很酷的事. The International Astronomical Center in Abu Dhabi together with the United Arab Emirates Space Agency chartered a plane to track the space junk. 然后, 20 hours later, we’re seeing an asteroid within the geosynchronous satellite belt. 这让比尔和我大吃一惊.”

Dr. Van Romero, Vice President of 研究 at Tech, said the positive results on these two back-to-back projects are further proof that the MRO is a top-drawer telescope.

“This facility was designed to be able to do quick response and this is yet another example of how the facility – combined with the people who operate the facility – can respond quickly and do things that challenge the rest of the world’s observatories,” 罗梅罗说. “该机构无法单独做到这一点. 你需要有技能的人 测量并快速完成. The combination of the facility, plus 比尔 and Eileen 瑞恩，你看起来是世界上最好的. 这就是为什么NASA，空军和国家 Science Foundation are beating a path to their door to take advantage of the capabilities 我们在Tech.”

The asteroid – named 2015 VY105 – was first discovered by astronomers at the Catalina 图森的天空调查. 不到一个小时，瑞恩一家就开始使用MRO 2了.四米级望远镜 为了进一步追踪.

“卡塔琳娜发现它是一个点，”她说. “作为后续望远镜，我们延长了 arc of the orbit of that dot and figured out how close it was coming to Earth. 比尔 did a quick orbit calculation and it was getting kind of close, but looked like it 不会撞到我们吗. It was a bit unnerving, but it’s a great opportunity. 我们在射击场中央.”

Once it became clear that this asteroid was coming close, the Ryans put out a call to their European colleagues to assist in tracking while it was daylight in New Mexico. Although it was not going to hit the Earth, its close approach was going to provide a great opportunity to study these types of small asteroids that are on a collision course and lead to the events like the airburst over Chelyabinsk, Russia in February of 2013. Most observatories had bad weather, but three stations from Romania, France, 和意大利都能提供帮助.

“This is a beautiful demonstration of how – with little warning – we can use worldwide resources on something that could be potentially hazardous,” Eileen Ryan said. “这是 heart-warming to get international cooperation and find people who are willing to 一起工作，快速完成.”

The asteroid came within 10 percent of the distance between the Earth and the Moon, or within about 18,600 miles (30,000 km) of the Earth. 它以17英里的速度行驶 kilometers/second in its orbit, and was 5 to 10 meters in diameter. 瑞恩一家是 able to observe it tumbling while spinning once every two minutes. 分析 collected spectral data will help determine the asteroid’s composition.

Eileen Ryan said the asteroid was so close and so bright that even smaller telescopes 可以追踪它的路径. 两名学生正在帮助理解这些数据. 海蒂的爱, who recently got her master’s degree, is assisting in understanding the fundamentals of how asteroids break up, along with Travis Crockett, a senior in physics, who is 分析人造卫星观测结果. 克罗克特和比尔·瑞安计划增加空间 事故发生后的碎片监测.

罗梅罗说, “This is an extraordinary opportunity for students to learn the techniques, but to also participate in cutting-edge 研究 – real-time, right-now science.”