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.
4015 Wilson–Harrington is an active asteroid known both as comet 107P/Wilson–Harrington and as asteroid 4015 Wilson–Harrington.
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.
Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld was a Dutch astronomer.
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.
2062 Aten, provisional designation 1976 AA, is a stony sub-kilometer asteroid and namesake of the Aten asteroids, a subgroup of near-Earth objects. The asteroid was named after Aten from Egyptian mythology.
The International Near-Earth Asteroid Survey (INAS) was an astronomical survey, organized and co-ordinated by prolific American astronomer Eleanor Helin during the 1980s. It is considered to be the international extension of the Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey (PCAS). While PCAS operated exclusively from the U.S. Palomar Observatory in California, INAS attempted to encourage and stimulate worldwide interest in asteroids, and to expand the sky coverage and the discovery and recovery of near-Earth objects around the world.
(99907) 1989 VA is a very eccentric, stony asteroid and near-Earth object, approximately 1 kilometer in diameter. It was discovered on 2 November 1989, by American astronomer couple Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and Canadian astronomer David Levy at the Palomar Observatory on Mount Palomar, California.
2100 Ra-Shalom is an asteroid and near-Earth object of the Aten group on an eccentric orbit in the inner Solar System. It was discovered on 10 September 1978, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory, California, who named it in commemoration of the Camp David Peace Accords. The C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 19.8 hours and measures approximately 2.7 kilometers in diameter.
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.
2430 Bruce Helin is a stony Phocaea asteroid and slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by American astronomers Eleanor Helin and Eugene Shoemaker at the U.S. Palomar Observatory in California, on 8 November 1977. It was later named after Bruce Helin, son of the first discoverer. The S-type asteroid (Sl) has an exceptionally long rotation period of 128 hours and measures approximately 12 kilometers in diameter.
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 an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is neither a planet nor exclusively classified as a comet. Before 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially used the term minor planet, but during that year's meeting it reclassified minor planets and comets into dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies (SSSBs).
(85182) 1991 AQ, provisional designation 1991 AQ, is a stony asteroid on a highly eccentric orbit, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately 1.1 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 14 January 1991, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory in California. Based on its brightness variation of 0.69 magnitude, this Q-type asteroid is likely elongated. It belongs to the small group of potentially hazardous asteroids larger than one kilometer.
