Details on our website:
<http://indianastars.us/asteroids.html>

Story in the Frankfort Times
<http://www.ftimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=88&SubSectionID=244&ArticleID=41836>


Press release:

Camp Cullom
Mulberry Indiana
Contact:  Russ Kaspar,  Observatory Director    765-659-3338
Contact:  John Mahony,  Discoverer and Chief Astronomer  765-543-6474

Prairie Grass Observatory's chief astronomer, John Mahony, has discovered 9 new asteroids.   The
new asteroids have been reported to the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center at
the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.   Praire Grass Observatory has already earned a
solid reputation by the Center and is designated as an official Minor Planet observatory  "MPC
H59".

John Mahony's discoveries will not only allow him to eventually name the asteroids, but more
importantly, provide a valuable service. The Minor Planet Center correlates observations of
asteroids from observatories around the world to determine their orbits.  Reason?  A large "errant"
asteroid could be the cause of the ultimate earth 'Climate Change'.   Fortunately the 9 asteroids
discovered at Prairie Grass Observatory seem to be safely orbiting in the Main Asteroid Belt beyond
the orbit of Mars, so nothing unusual will come from their current orbits.  John estimates the
asteroids he has discovered so far are about a mile or two in diameter and orbiting about 175 to
325 million miles from the Sun and will not get any closer to earth than 80 million miles.
 
Thousands of new asteroids are discovered every year by astronomers all over the world.  John Mahony
was able to contribute to the world wide asteroid search for several reasons.  First, Prairie Grass
Observatory recently worked with the Clinton County Foundation and other donors to acquire a new 16
inch LX200 telescope with nearly twice the light gathering power of its 12 inch predecessor.  
Second, John is using a camera from Purdue, which is assigned to West Lafayette Cumberland
Observatory but on loan to Prairie Grass Observatory.   The new camera is a significant improvement
over John's previous camera, with better light sensitivity and more pixels, for a wider field of
view.  Third, John's patient and thorough technique is starting to really pay off.  "Just prior to
building the observatory, I had spent a fair amount of time learning how to take decent pictures
through a telescope, which is challenging due to the extremely faint nature of most astronomical
objects.  Then once we built the observatory I spent a few years doing follow-up measurements of
newly discovered near-earth asteroids, to help refine their orbits.  But with our old 12"
telescope, I could only follow the brightest new asteroids, and the odds of finding anything new
myself were slim.  But with the new scope, all that has changed.  I aim the telescope anywhere in
the direction of the plane of the solar system (the path that the sun and moon take across the
sky), where most asteroids orbit, and take a series of 5 minute exposures, and there will be
anywhere from one to five asteroids moving through the field of view, and a significant fraction of
those are new."    
 
Prairie Grass Observatory is owned by the children of Clinton County and managed by Clinton County
Foundation for Youth, a 501 c-3 United Way agency.  More about Prairie Grass Observatory can be
found at www.indianastars.us, including pictures of the new asteroids John has discovered.

---

Climb to the top of the charts!  Play Star Shuffle:  the word scramble challenge with star power. Play Now!