WE PROPOSE TO CONTINUE OUR ASTROMETRY OF NEOS WITH COMPETITIVELY-ALLOCATED TELESCOPES LARGER THAN 2 METERS IN DIAMETER TO HELP IMPROVE THE ACCURACY OF PREDICTIONS OF CLOSE APPROACHES AND TO PREVENT OTHER NEOS OF SCIENTIFIC INTEREST FROM BECOMING LOST. THE MINOR PLANET CENTER (MPC) HAS RECENTLY REINFORCED OUR ARGUMENT THAT FRESHLY DISCOVERED NEOS NEED TO BE FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY AFTER THEIR DISCOVERIES (GALACHE ET AL. 2015). LONG INTERVALS BETWEEN APPARITIONS MAKE PREDICTIONS OF POSITION LESS ACCURATE AND OBJECTS TEND TO BE FAINTER DURING RETURN APPARITIONS THAN THEY WERE WHEN DISCOVERED DECREASING THE CHANCES THAT OBJECTS CAN BE RECOVERED. FOLLOWUP FOR MORE PROLONGED INTERVALS IMMEDIATELY AFTER DISCOVERY ARE ESPECIALLY NEEDED FOR CLOSELY-APPROACHING NEOS TO BE RECOVERABLE ON SUBSEQUENT APPARITIONS. BUT SUCH NEOS GET FAINTER BY 2-5 MAGS WITHIN DAYS AFTER THEIR ENCOUNTERS WITH EARTH. SO TARGETED FOLLOWUP OBSERVATIONS WITH LONGER EXPOSURE TIMES AND LARGER TELESCOPES ARE NEEDED TO FOLLOW THEM AT LEAST UNTIL THEY ARE A COUPLE OF HILL RADII FROM EARTH (~0.02 AU). THERE THE OBJECTS' TRAJECTORIES RECEDE OUT OF THEIR TEMPORARY HYPERBOLIC PATHS WITH RESPECT TO EARTH AND THE SUN'S GRAVITY RESUMES BEING THE DOMINANT EFFECT ON THEIR MOTION. AT THAT DISTANCE THE OBSERVATIONS CONSEQUENTLY PROVIDE MORE LEVERAGE ON THE DETERMINATION OF THE NEW POST-ENCOUNTER HELIOCENTRIC ORBITAL ELEMENTS WHICH ARE NEEDED TO PREDICT RETURN APPARITIONS. THE BOK 2.3-METER OF STEWARD OBSERVATORY ON KITT PEAK AND OTHER TELESCOPES WILL BE USED TO RECOVER AND DO ASTROMETRY OF HIGHPRIORITY NEOS THAT ARE TOO FAINT FOR SMALLER TELESCOPES. SOME TARGETS WILL BE SMALL FAST-MOVING CLOSE APPROACHERS AMONG WHICH CAN BE OBJECTS WITH FUTURE VIRTUAL IMPACT (VI) ORBIT SOLUTIONS AND OBJECTS THAT MAY BE THE SCIENTIFICALLY INTERESTING MONOLITHIC ROCKS WITHOUT REGOLITH. OUR OBSERVATIONS CONTRIBUTE TO THE REMOVAL OF HALF OF THE VIS THAT ARE RETIRED FROM THE IMPACT RISK LISTS. OTHER PRIORITIES FOR RECOVERY DURING OBJECTS' LATER APPARITIONS ARE FUTURE TARGETS OF RADAR NEOS FOR WHICH ALBEDOS TAXONOMIC CLASSES OR DIAMETERS HAVE BEEN DETERMINED AND POTENTIAL DESTINATIONS FOR SPACECRAFT. WE REPORT OUR OBSERVATIONS PROMPTLY TO THE MPC WHO USES OUR MEASUREMENTS TO UPDATE THEIR ORBITAL ELEMENTS. OUR PAST USE OF THE BOK AND MAYALL TELESCOPES HAS BEEN DETERMINED BY THE MPC TO PROVIDE "DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT" TO ORBITS (T. SPAHR AND G. WILLIAMS 2014 PRIVATE COMMUNICATIONS). OUR OBSERVATIONS DECREASED FUTURE EPHEMERIS UNCERTAINTIES AN AVERAGE OF A FACTOR OF 5 AND IN SEVERAL CASES THE FUTURE EPHEMERIS UNCERTAINTY WAS REDUCED BY TWO ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE. FOR HALF OF THE POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS ASTEROIDS (PHAS) WE OBSERVED WE ADDED ANOTHER OBSERVED OPPOSITION. WE EXTENDED THE CALENDAR SPAN OF OBSERVATIONS AN AVERAGE OF A FACTOR OF 3.8 AND REDUCED UNCERTAINTIES OF ORBITAL ELEMENTS BY AN AVERAGE OF A FACTOR OF 6. THE LEAST CONSTRAINED ORBITAL ELEMENT TENDS TO BE THE TIME OF PERIHELION PASSAGE. WE REDUCED ITS UNCERTAINTY AN AVERAGE OF A FACTOR OF 19. ALSO NUGENT ET AL. (2015) ILLUSTRATED OUR PREEMINENCE AS A PROMPT FOLLOWER-UP OF NEOS DISCOVERED BY THE NEOWISE SPACECRAFT. WITH OUR USE OF LARGER TELESCOPES SINCE 2010 JAN. WE HAVE PROVIDED 2510 LINES OF ASTROMETRY OF 427 DIFFERENT NEOS CAREFULLY SELECTED FOR SCIENTIFIC PRIORITY AND POTENTIAL CLOSE APPROACHES. (OTHER GRANTS SUPPORT OUR USE OF OUR TWO SMALLER TELESCOPES.) IN OCTOBER 2015 WE BOOSTED BOTH THE SPEED AND THE QUANTITY OF OUR OUTPUT WITH THE BOK 2.3-M BY USING OUR NEW CCD CAMERA ALONG WITH OUR OWN NEAR-REAL-TIME DATA PIPELINE SOFTWARE. COMPARED TO OUR AVERAGE OUTPUT IN OCT-DEC OF 2011-2014 WE ARE NOW OBSERVING HALF AGAIN AS MANY PHAS. SALARY SUPPORT FROM THIS NEWLY PROPOSED GRANT ALONG WITH STREAMLINING OPERATION OF THE BOK TELESCOPE AND ROUTINE COMPUTER UPGRADES WILL ALLOW THREE MORE YEARS OF OBSERVATIONS CALLED FOR BY THE INCREASING RATE OF DISCOVERY OF NEOS BY THE SURVEYS.
$744,407FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ