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(meteorobs) Monitoring Near Earth Objects
Everything started with an article on Sky and Telescope I think of
december 1996 talking about Baker-Nunn cameras.This kind of camera was
used during the cold war from USA to check and monitor unknown objects in
this case russian satellites.With the end of cold war USAF decidedto sell
this kind of camera at a very low price.Some american amateur astronomers
bought them to catch comets and satellites.My question posted in some
newsgroups was this:government and organizations like Nasa are talking
about the Neo problem but they don't decide anything.The problem is money
because they don't have money to start a big project with big telescopes
dedicated to this kind of job (they have money for nuclear weapons but it
is another story).Why don't we start with a simple network using small or
semiprofessional telescopes al around the world?Why big organizations
like Nasa don't ask in public for help from amateur astronomers?Look at
novae,supernovae and comets,the job is done from amateurs.Andrea
Carusi,president of Spaceguard Foundation told me that they are trying to
organize this,with the big help of internet,the problem is still
money.Jim Scotti at Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson wrote me
that it is a good idea.We have to decide:start immediately with a small
network growing with litle steps and capable to discover objects of
certain dimensions or wait years and years for money and governments for
a big professional network,but we must remember that Neo maybe don't wait
for.There are a lot of big and small amateurs groups but they need an
official coordination.There are too many organizations and a lot of datas
finish in Internet without coordination.I think and think about this
and how to do something.Any suggestion?
Stefano Padovan