SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 3 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) announces that on the night of July 4, the inaugural routine observations of the Transient Survey Telescope (TST) were conducted. This astronomical facility is a public-private partnership with the IAC and is operated by the Canarian firm Light Bridges at the Teide Observatory (Tenerife). Over 50 unidentified asteroid candidates were discovered, including one in proximity to Earth.
The TST is a robotic telescope with a wide field of view, featuring a 1-metre diameter mirror and a camera equipped with an sCMOS sensor at the primary focus. It is capable of capturing images that cover an area exceeding 4 square degrees, an expanse comparable to that of 22 full moons.
Among the meticulous alignment observations, the IAC Solar System Group directed the observation strategy in areas with a heightened likelihood of discovering asteroids. The dual aim was to assess the instrument’s proficiency in characterising known entities and to explore the potential for finding new asteroids that had not been detected by any other telescope globally until that point.
From the over 50 unidentified asteroid candidates, half were subsequently linked by the Minor Planet Center (MPC)—a reference institution coordinated by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics—to other already identified objects.
Within the unmapped objects, one was elevated to the high priority list for confirmation as a possible near-Earth object.
The object identified in TST images displayed a unique trajectory, moving at a significantly faster pace and in a different direction than the other observed asteroids.
“If verified, we realised that its orbit might align with that of a near-Earth asteroid,” explains Miguel R. Alarcon, a pre-doctoral researcher within the IAC Solar System Group and discoverer of the object, in a statement.
Other telescopes at the Teide Observatory were employed on that same night and in the following evenings to ascertain the orbit of the NEO candidate and to notify the MPC.
These findings establish the Transient Survey Telescope’s capabilities as a significant tool for the observation and identification of moving celestial bodies, states Miquel Serra-Ricart, co-discoverer of the asteroid and scientific director of TST.
On July 9, the MPC released a circular confirming the discovery and provisionally designating the object as 2024 NP2.
50 METRES IN DIAMETER
This new near-Earth asteroid measures approximately 50 metres in diameter and is classified within the Apollo group.
“Apollo asteroids are bodies whose orbits intersect with that of our planet at two points,” explains Javier Licandro, a researcher at the IAC, who emphasises that “if it had been larger,” it could have been considered a “potentially hazardous” asteroid.
2024 NP2 marks the first near-Earth asteroid identified by the IAC Solar System Group at the Teide Observatory.
The ability to detect such objects from the Canary Islands Observatories will significantly improve from 2024 onwards, not solely due to the establishment of the TST but also with the operational commencement of the Two-metre Twin Telescope (TTT) and the forthcoming ATLAS-Teide telescope, spearheaded by Javier Licandro. This will solidify the Teide Observatory’s position as a pivotal hub within the international ATLAS network, which is dedicated to early warnings regarding asteroid impact threats.
