Astronomers from China and Ukraine team up to defend Earth against asteroids

To better track near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and assess probable risks, a joint China-Ukraine research team has been using regular observations to pinpoint their location and precisely map their orbits.

The NEAs are asteroids whose routes are in close proximity to the Earth's orbit. The chance of it having an impact on our planet presents a serious threat, underscoring the imperative need for prompt follow-up observations of newly identified NEAs for rapidly assessing their orbital elements.

However, for accurate astronomical measurements, observing rapidly moving objects requires short exposure times to avoid elongated streaks in the image.

The researchers from Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Mykolaiv Astronomical Observatory found an innovative technique known as the rotating-drift-scan (RDS) charge-coupled device (CCD) technique, which allows the asteroid to be imaged as a point source, even with a long exposure time.

Their work leveraged an extensive dataset comprising more than 11,000 positional measurements of nearly 500 NEAs captured by the two 50-centimeter telescopes located, respectively, in the northwestern Chinese city of Xi'an from 2019 to 2023 and in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, from 2011 to 2022.

A new study in the Astronomical Journal suggests a game-changer for asteroid detection. By leveraging a network of small telescopes with a clever technique, we can significantly improve global monitoring and protect Earth from potential asteroid impacts.

(With inputs from agencies)