Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers make contributions in doing citizen science, such as by monitoring variable stars, double stars, sunspots, or occultations of stars by the Moon or asteroids, or by discovering transient astronomical events, such as comets, galactic novae or supernovae in other galaxies.
Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search (LONEOS) was a project designed to discover asteroids and comets that orbit near the Earth. The project, funded by NASA, was directed by astronomer Ted Bowell of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. The LONEOS project began in 1993 and ran until the end of February 2008.
The Spacewatch Project is an astronomical survey that specializes in the study of minor planets, including various types of asteroids and comets at University of Arizona telescopes on Kitt Peak near Tucson, Arizona. The Spacewatch Project has been active longer than any other similar currently active programs.
Roy A. Tucker (1951 – 2021) was an American astronomer best known for the co-discovery of near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis (formerly known as 2004 MN4) along with David J. Tholen and Fabrizio Bernardi of the University of Hawaii. He was a prolific discoverer of minor planets, credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 702 numbered minor planets between 1996 and 2010. He also discovered two comets: 328P/LONEOS–Tucker and C/2004 Q1, a Jupiter-family and near-parabolic comet, respectively.
Charles W. Juels was an American amateur astronomer and psychiatrist by profession, who became a prolific discoverer of minor planets after his retirement.
Vincenzo Silvano Casulli, usually known as Silvano Casulli was an Italian amateur astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets at his Vallemare di Borbona Observatory in Lazio.
Timothy Bruce Spahr is an American astronomer and prolific discoverer of minor planets.
The Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program (SCAP) was an astronomical survey to search for near-Earth objects. It was conducted during the 1990s, at the Xinglong Station in Xinglong County, Chengde, Hebei province, China and resulted in the discovery of more than a thousand numbered minor planets.
The Črni Vrh Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in western Slovenia, close to the settlement of Črni Vrh, near the town of Idrija.
The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System located at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, US, consists of astronomical cameras, telescopes and a computing facility that is surveying the sky for moving or variable objects on a continual basis, and also producing accurate astrometry and photometry of already-detected objects. In January 2019 the second Pan-STARRS data release was announced. At 1.6 petabytes, it is the largest volume of astronomical data ever released.
Reedy Creek Observatory is an astronomical observatory the location for observations of near-Earth objects by John Broughton, an Australian amateur astronomer.
Kamil Hornoch is a Czech astronomer who discovered dozens of novae in nearby galaxies. The main belt asteroid 14124 Kamil is named in his honour.
14827 Hypnos is a highly eccentric, sub-kilometer-sized carbonaceous asteroid that is thought to be an extinct comet. It is classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group.
24105 Broughton (provisional designation 1999 VE10) is a background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles) in diameter. The assumed S-type asteroid was discovered on 9 November 1999, by American amateur astronomer Charles W. Juels at the Fountain Hills Observatory (678) in Arizona, United States. It has a rotation period of 15.9 hours and was named after Australian amateur astronomer John Broughton.
A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and which is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. They are conventionally defined as having a minimum orbit intersection distance with Earth of less than 0.05 astronomical units and an absolute magnitude of 22 or brighter, the latter of which roughly corresponds to a size larger than 140 meters. More than 99% of the known potentially hazardous objects are no impact threat over the next 100 years. As of September 2022, just 17 of the known potentially hazardous objects listed on the Sentry Risk Table could not be excluded as potential threats over the next hundred years. Over hundreds if not thousands of years though, the orbits of some "potentially hazardous" asteroids can evolve to live up to their namesake.
Kin Endate is a Japanese amateur astronomer who has discovered hundreds of asteroids, most of them in collaboration with Kazuro Watanabe, placing him among the most prolific discoverers of minor planets.
Fabrizio Bernardi is an Italian astronomer and discoverer of minor planets and comets, best known for the co-discovery of the near-Earth and potentially hazardous asteroid 99942 Apophis.
Michel Ory is a Swiss amateur astronomer and a prolific discoverer of minor planets and comets.
Claudine Rinner is a French amateur astronomer from Ottmarsheim in Alsace, France. She is an observer at Ottmarsheim Observatory and a discoverer of minor planets and comets, who received the Edgar Wilson Award for her discoveries.
(89830) 2002 CE, is a stony asteroid, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Amor group, approximately 3.1 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 1 February 2002, by astronomers of the LINEAR program at Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico, in the United States. This asteroid is one of the largest potentially hazardous asteroid known to exist.
