China NEO Survey Telescope and its preliminary achievement

Abstract

AbstractIn recent years, there has been an increasing appreciation for the hazards posed by Near Earth Objects (NEOs), those asteroids and periodic comets whose motions can bring them into the Earth's neighborhood. An NEO Survey Telescope (NEOST) was built in China to be taken part in the international NEO joint survey. This telescope is a 1.0/1.2m Schmidt telescope, equipped with a 4K by 4K CCD detector with a drift-scanning function. After adjusting the telescope and test observations, in December 2006 the NEOST began its NEO survey program. We have found 188 new asteroids including an NEO – 2007 JW2 and one periodic comet –P/2007 S1 (Zhao).