Research Division Seminar
The ATLAS All-Sky Survey for Dangerous Asteroids

Abstract

The "Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System" (ATLAS) is funded by NASA to find dangerous asteroids before they strike the Earth. It has operated from two Hawaii sites since 2015 and will very soon have South Africa and Chile sites to cover the entire visible sky every night four times to a limiting magnitude of m~19.5 per exposure. The process of finding asteroids leads to auxiliary data products along the way including accurate photometry of all stars in the sky and detection of flares and transients.  I will describe ATLAS, how we approach our NASA mission to find NEOs, how ATLAS fits in with other ongoing or planned surveys, some of the data products that are available now, and the many new scientific opportunities that are emerging and waiting to be exploited.  Time will be reserved at the end of the talk for some real time demonstrations: audience participation is encouraged.  References include 2018PASP..130f4505T, our public web page at fallingstar.com and fallingstar.com/weather/ to see our current fisheye and webcam views at all four sites.

Zoom link: https://rediris.zoom.us/j/82241288569?pwd=QmtUWkNoRHNvYlk3dWJhRCtCdE1RQT0

Meeting ID: 822 4128 8569
Passcode: 776606

Youtube: https://youtu.be/Ax-70hAibow