During the past year ESA funded the refurbishment and modernization of the 0.8 m Schmidt reflector located at the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain. The telescope, identified with the MPC code Z84,is now operational and can be remotely controlled.

For the first time in the history of NEA observations more than 2 000 new NEAs have been discovered in one calendar year, resulting in a monthly average of nearly 170 new asteroids. In addition, 2017 was the fifth year in a row with NEA discoveries above a thousand.

During 2015-2016 ESA funded the development of two small robotic observatories, called the Test-Bed Telescopes (TBTs). The main goal is to develop and test a fully automated telescope control system to observe NEOs and space debris.

In October 2017 the Pan-STARRS survey discovered the first known interstellar object transiting through our Solar System. Named ‘Oumuamua by the discoverers, it soon became the focus of numerous observations by the world's largest professional telescopes.

We took the opportunity of the ExoMars 2016 launch to organize a ground-based observational campaign. The goal was to test, in a reverse mode, the observational scenario needed to monitor the approach of a small Earth impactor. The spacecraft and other hardware related to the launch was successfully imaged;

Some media attention was given to the distant fly-by of asteroid (1566) Icarus. Although the event in itself posed no collision threat whatsoever,Icarus is indeed an interesting object for the history of NEOs.

November was a month of close approaches of many small objects. A particularly interesting case was 2015 VY105, which came to less than 30 000 km from the Earth’s surface on 15 November.

On 19 October a very small asteroid, designated as 2018 UA, was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey, and quickly flagged as a potential very close approacher. Immediate follow-up observations by both Catalina and the Spacewatch project led to a much more accurate orbit solution.

On 1 February 2019 a bright daytime fireball was seen by multiple eyewitnesses around the area of Gulf of Mexico. It exploded over the western tip of Cuba, producing a significant shockwave felt by local residents, and the fall of a large number of stony meteorites, mostly near the village of Viflales.

The number of known NEAs reached the round total of 20 000 at the end oflast month. This group of asteroids is steadily growing at a pace of roughly 160 new discoveries each month, thanks to the work done by the main asteroid surveys.

Ten years ago, on 6 October 2008,Richard Kowalski, an observer of the Catalina Sky Survey, spotted the first-ever asteroid found on an imminent collision course with the Earth. Over the following hours, hundreds of astrometric observations, plus light curves and spectroscopic data, were collected by observers all over the world.

March 2020 Newsletter

On 27 June 2018, after a cruise phase of 3.5 years, the Japanese Hayabusa 2 spacecraft rendezvoused with its target, near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu. The first images sent back by the mission's cameras show a nearly spherical object, much more symmetric

The Spacewatch project, located in Arizona, is probably the oldest of the asteroid survey still active today. They were the dominant discoverers of new asteroids in the ‘gos, and the pioneers of using CCDs to find new NEOs.

Asteroid 2012 TC4, discovered five years ago by the Pan-STARRS survey,will come back close to Earth on 12 October 2077.It will fly-by at 44 000 km from the surface, providing a rare chance to carefully observe a small known object during its entire approach to our planet.

In our newsletter of December last year, we devoted this section to the discovery of asteroid 1997 XF11. Twenty years ago, on 11 March 1998, astronomer B. Marsden released an IAU Circular stating that the asteroid would pass within 0.002 au of Earth on 26 October 2028.

Current NEO statistics During the last month the global numbered asteroid catalogue (including main belt asteroid) surpassed the threshold of half million objects. The number of known NEOs surpassed 17 000, thanks to more than 300 discoveries in a single month.

2016 NA39 is a newly-discovered asteroid that for a few days in mid-July deserved attention. Because of its large size, around one kilometre, it became the highest rated object with possible impacts in the current century, scoring as high as Palermo Scale of —2.6.

August 2020 Newsletter