http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/SPACEWATCH® is the name of a group at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory founded by Prof. Tom Gehrels and Dr. Robert S. McMillan in 1980. Today, Spacewatch is led by Dr. Robert S. McMillan. The primary goal of Spacewatch is to explore the various populations of small objects in the solar system, and study the statistics of asteroids and comets in order to investigate the dynamical evolution of the solar system. CCD scanning studies the Centaur, Trojan, Main-Belt, Trans-Neptunian, and Earth-approaching asteroid populations. Spacewatch also finds potential targets for interplanetary spacecraft missions, provides followup astrometry of such targets, and finds objects that might present a hazard to the Earth.
CCD-scanning observations are conducted 20 nights each lunation with the Steward Observatory 0.9-meter Spacewatch telescope and the new Spacewatch 1.8-m telescope, both on Kitt Peak.
The 1.8-meter telescope near the 0.9-meter allows us to search 0.7 magnitudes fainter. To complement the deep penetration of the 1.8-m, we have put a mosaic of CCDs on the 0.9-m telescope. This permits us to cover sky at least six times faster than the pre-2002 system.
Some of Spacewatch's distinctions:
First to use CCD-scanning routinely in astronomy
First to use CCDs to survey the sky for comets and asteroids
First near-Earth asteroid detected with a CCD (1989 UP)
First astronomical group to develop automated, real-time software for moving-object detection
First to discover a near-Earth asteroid by software (1990 SS). See images and information page for 20th anniversary of this discovery
First to use a CCD to discover a comet, which was also the faintest comet at the time of discovery. (125P/1991 R2)
First automatic discovery of a comet (C/1992 J1)
Discovered the C or S type asteroid with closest approach to the Sun at time of discovery (1995 CR at 0.120 AU)
Identified two new asteroid populations - small NEAs and distant Centaurs
Discovered fastest rotating and most accessible asteroid at time of discovery (1998 KY26)
The Spacewatch 1.8-meter and 0.9-meter telescopes
on Kitt Peak, 45 miles southwest of Tucson, Arizona.