NASA Grant for Research Telescope in NE Kansas

The Northeast Kansas Amateur Astronomers League (NEKAAL), together with the Program Manager of the NASA NEO Observation Program, announced plans today to construct a 27-inch research grade telescope at NEKAAL's Farpoint Observatory. The telescope, named after the late Clyde Tombaugh, will be used primarily to assist NASA with their Near Earth Object (NEO) tracking program. This telescope is being funded, in part, by a $56,060 grant from NASA.

NASA has been charged by Congress with finding, by the year 2008, 90% of all near-earth asteroids larger than 1km (0.63 miles) in diameter. Several NASA supported survey teams are finding these asteroids at a prodigious rate. However, unless these asteroids are tracked carefully over a period of time, they can become lost again. It is usually necessary to get precise measurements over the course of several weeks to a month or more in order to predict the path of an asteroid well enough to rule out a possible collision path with the earth. That is where a dedicated, but small, group of amateurs around the world gets involved. The surveys have their telescopes committed to finding asteroids. The necessary subsequent follow-up measurements are left to the small group of experienced amateur astronomers and a few professional astronomers.

Farpoint Observatory, located on the grounds of Mission Valley High School, is owned and operated by NEKAAL. Farpoint's Asteroid Search Team (FAST) has an international reputation for the quality and quantity of NEO follow up work, a factor which contributed immensely to the NASA decision to fund this major telescope construction project. The Tombaugh telescope will provide Farpoint with an instrument capable of reaching the fainter asteroids now being discovered by the surveys.

In addition to the NEO work, the Farpoint team has been credited with the discovery of more than 330 non-neo asteroids since 1998.   One of these asteroids was named, at the group's request, after the City of Topeka. Asteroid Topeka was acknowledged by a Mayoral declaration and the presentation of a plaque to the city. Two members of this team, Gary Hug and Graham Bell, discovered a comet, P/1999 X1 (Hug-Bell). This is the only comet ever discovered in the state of Kansas, and one of the two faintest comets ever discovered by amateurs.   

The Tombaugh Telescope will utilize the 27-inch mirror and other optical components from the  Pitt telescope, which for years was the centerpiece of the telescope collection at the University of Kansas. In 1939, after having discovered Pluto while in Arizona, Clyde Tombaugh refurbished this telescope as part of his master's thesis.  In light of Tombaugh's Kansas roots and his work on this telescope, it was only appropriate to name the new telescope after him.

The Tombaugh Telescope will be built by ScopeCraft, a well-known Utah manufacturer of quality telescopes.  We anticipate that the telescope will be operational at Farpoint later this year. The completed telescope will be about 110 inches long, a little over 27 inches in diameter, and will weight about 1600 pounds. It will be completely computer controlled.

The Northeast Kansas Amateur Astronomer's League is committed to encouraging the study of the sciences. In addition to our research, we work with school systems in the area and with the general public to offer insights into science in general and astronomy in particular.  Free viewing sessions are offered monthly to anyone interested, and group sessions can be scheduled. Information can be found at the NEKAAL web site, www.nekaal.org

Contact  information:

NEKAAL -  Graham Bell, President     785-256-6281  gebell@mindspring.com

FAST - Gary Hug, Principal Investigator  785-836-7828   frogstar@intergate.com

NASA office of Near-Earth Objects - Lt Col Lindley Johnson, USAF (retired) 202-358-2314   Lindley.Johnson-1@nasa.gov