The Aten asteroids are a dynamical group of asteroids whose orbits bring them into proximity with Earth. By definition, Atens are Earth-crossing asteroids (a < 1.0 AU and Q > 0.983 AU). The group is named after 2062 Aten, the first of its kind, discovered on 7 January 1976 by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory. As of 2020, 1841 Atens have been discovered, of which 13 are named. Many Atens are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids.
Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) was a program run by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, surveying the sky for near-Earth objects. NEAT was conducted from December 1995 until April 2007, at GEODSS on Hawaii, as well as at Palomar Observatory in California. With the discovery of more than 40 thousand minor planets, NEAT has been one of the most successful programs in this field, comparable to the Catalina Sky Survey, LONEOS and Mount Lemmon Survey.
Charles Thomas Kowal was an American astronomer known for his observations and discoveries in the Solar System. As a staff astronomer at Caltech's Mount Wilson and Palomar Mountain observatories between 1961 and 1984, he found the first of a new class of Solar System objects, the centaurs, discovered two moons of the planet Jupiter, and discovered or co-discovered a number of asteroids, comets and supernovae. He was awarded the James Craig Watson Medal for his contributions to astronomy in 1979.
Eleanor Francis "Glo" Helin was an American astronomer. She was principal investigator of the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Purple Mountain Observatory, also known as Zijinshan Astronomical Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on the Purple Mountain in the east of Nanjing.
Petr Pravec is a Czech astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets, born in Třinec, Czech Republic.
Kenneth J. Lawrence is an American astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets.
Stephen C. Singer-Brewster (b. 1945) also known as Stephen C. Brewster is an American astronomer.
Brian P. Roman is an American astronomer.
Jeffrey (Jeff) Thomas Alu is an American musician, photographer, graphic artist, and amateur astronomer who has participated in the Palomar Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey. The asteroid 4104 Alu was named in his honour.
The OCA–DLR Asteroid Survey (ODAS) was an astronomical survey to search for small Solar System bodies focusing on near-Earth objects in the late 1990s. This European scientific project was a collaboration between the French Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur (OCA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The survey is credited for the discovery of one comet and more than 1000 minor planets during 1996–1999.
The Palomar Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey (PCAS) was an astronomical survey, initiated by American astronomers Eleanor Helin and Eugene Shoemaker at the U.S Palomar Observatory, California, in 1973. The program is responsible for the discovery of 95 near-Earth Objects including 17 comets, while the Minor Planet Center directly credits PCAS with the discovery of 20 numbered minor planets during 1993–1994. PCAS ran for nearly 25 years until June 1995. It had an international extension, INAS, and was the immediate predecessor of the outstandingly successful NEAT program.
Roy Scott Dunbar is an American astronomer, planetologist and discoverer of comets and minor planets.
2340 Hathor, provisional designation 1976 UA, is an eccentric stony asteroid, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid. It belongs to the Aten group of asteroids and measures approximately 210 meters in diameter. Discovered by Charles Kowal in 1976, it was later named after the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor.
3757 Anagolay, provisional designation 1982 XB, is a highly eccentric asteroid, classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid and a near-Earth object of the Amor group, approximately half a kilometer in diameter. It was discovered on 14 December 1982, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory in California, United States. The asteroid was named after Anagolay from Philippine mythology.
3988 Huma, provisional designation 1986 LA, is an eccentric sub-kilometer asteroid and near-Earth object of the Amor group. It was discovered on 4 June 1986, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory, California. The asteroid measures approximately 700 to 800 meters in diameter and was named after the Huma bird from Iranian mythology.
4034 Vishnu is a rare-type asteroid classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately 420 meters in diameter. It was discovered on 2 August 1986, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory in California, United States. It is named after the Hindu deity Vishnu.
2285 Ron Helin, provisional designation 1976 QB, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner region of the asteroid belt, approximately 4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 27 August 1976, by American astronomer Schelte Bus at Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California.
A minor planet is "lost" when today's observers cannot find it because they can no longer accurately predict its location with targeted observations and await serendipitous survey observations. This happens if the orbital elements of a minor planet are not known accurately enough, typically because the observation arc for the object is too short. Many previously lost asteroids were rediscovered in the 1980s and 1990s, but many minor planets are still lost.
(523775) 2014 YB35, provisional designation 2014 YB35, is a stony near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately 300 meters (980 feet) in diameter. It was discovered on 27 December 2014 by the Catalina Sky Survey at the Catalina Station in Arizona, United States. In March 2015, a minor-planet moon, less than half the size of its primary, was discovered by radar astronomers at Goldstone Observatory. The primary body of the binary system has a rotation period of 3.3 hours, while the secondary's orbital period remains unknown.
