<p><a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow">This site</a> is an asteroid tracking program started up by NASA. It seems to be fairly effective at detecting asteroids. Read up on <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4816" rel="nofollow">this article</a> for further information about NASA's plan.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-04T02:46:03.960Z
What exactly is keeping track of the asteroids from the first site? A network of telescopes? A satellite?
Pulchritude
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-18T17:32:10.547Z
I guess what you mean by 'keeping track' of an asteroid is follow-up observations: all small bodies require follow-up observations to improve their orbital elements from time to time. Such follow-up observations are done serendipitously by asteroid surveys (see my reply below), i.e., they also pick up already known objects and measure their positions, but also amateur astronomers play an important role in refining asteroid orbits.
mommermi
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-04T02:39:45.417Z
2016-03-04T03:20:21.713Z
2016-03-04T03:20:21.713Z
CipherBot
<p>NASA doesn't have its own asteroid tracking program. They are rather coordinating activities and provide funding for asteroid research and discovery programs.</p>

<p>The most successful dedicated asteroid discovery programs at the moment are Pan-STARRS (<a href="http://pan-starrs.ifa.hawaii.edu/public/" rel="nofollow">http://pan-starrs.ifa.hawaii.edu/public/</a>) and the Catalina Sky Survey (<a href="http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/" rel="nofollow">http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/</a>); see <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/stats/" rel="nofollow">http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/stats/</a> for some discovery statistics. Both these programs, as well as many others, run telescope that survey the night sky for yet unknown asteroids. On average, both programs together find 4 new near-Earth asteroids (and many others) per night. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-16T05:23:42.157Z
2016-03-16T05:23:42.157Z
mommermi
<p>I know some measures must exist, but I have no idea what the programs are, what organizations are involved, or how effective they are.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-16T11:14:54.057Z
[GAIA](http://www.astro.lu.se/ELSA/pages/PublicDocuments/Tanga.pdf) spacetelescope of ESA is expected to detect many new asteroids and better determine the orbits of the already known ones. It will likely find some Near Earth Asteroids. This is a bit of a secondary science goal for GAIA, but [it is happening](http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2015/08/Gaia_s_asteroid_detections). As a contrast, stargazing Kepler K2 detects asteroids all the time when it is looking in the ecliptic plane. But all that data is discarded AFAIK since K2 cannot determine trajectories or distances.
LocalFluff
<solar-system><earth><asteroids><near-earth-object>
What measures are currently in place to detect asteroids on possible collision courses with earth?
Pulchritude
# What measures are currently in place to detect asteroids on possible collision courses with earth?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-04)

I know some measures must exist, but I have no idea what the programs are, what organizations are involved, or how effective they are.

**Tags:** solar-system, earth, asteroids, near-earth-object

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: [GAIA](http://www.astro.lu.se/ELSA/pages/PublicDocuments/Tanga.pdf) spacetelescope of ESA is expected to detect many new asteroids and better determine the orbits of the already known ones. It will likely find some Near Earth Asteroids. This is a bit of a secondary science goal for GAIA, but [it is happening](http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2015/08/Gaia_s_asteroid_detections). As a contrast, stargazing Kepler K2 detects asteroids all the time when it is looking in the ecliptic plane. But all that data is discarded AFAIK since K2 cannot determine trajectories or distances.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-03-04. Score: 4

[This site](http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/) is an asteroid tracking program started up by NASA. It seems to be fairly effective at detecting asteroids. Read up on [this article](http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4816) for further information about NASA's plan.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: What exactly is keeping track of the asteroids from the first site? A network of telescopes? A satellite?  
> **username_3**: I guess what you mean by 'keeping track' of an asteroid is follow-up observations: all small bodies require follow-up observations to improve their orbital elements from time to time. Such follow-up observations are done serendipitously by asteroid surveys (see my reply below), i.e., they also pick up already known objects and measure their positions, but also amateur astronomers play an important role in refining asteroid orbits.  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2016-03-16. Score: 1

NASA doesn't have its own asteroid tracking program. They are rather coordinating activities and provide funding for asteroid research and discovery programs.

The most successful dedicated asteroid discovery programs at the moment are Pan-STARRS (<http://pan-starrs.ifa.hawaii.edu/public/>) and the Catalina Sky Survey (<http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/>); see <http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/stats/> for some discovery statistics. Both these programs, as well as many others, run telescope that survey the night sky for yet unknown asteroids. On average, both programs together find 4 new near-Earth asteroids (and many others) per night.


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