View source for Astronomy:Mount Lemmon Survey

{{Short description|Part of the Catalina Sky Survey}}
{{Infobox astronomical survey}}
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="font-size: 0.9em; width: 270px;"
|+ [[Astronomy:Minor planet|Minor planet]]s discovered: 50,178&thinsp;<ref name="MPC-Discoverers" />
|-
| ''see {{section link|List of minor planets|Main index}}''
|}
'''Mount Lemmon Survey''' (MLS) is a part of the [[Astronomy:Catalina Sky Survey|Catalina Sky Survey]] with observatory code G96.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/ObsCodesF.html |work=Minor Planet Center |title=List Of Observatory Codes |access-date=2 September 2015}}</ref> MLS uses a {{convert|1.52|m|in|abbr=on}} [[Astronomy:Cassegrain reflector|cassegrain reflector]] telescope (with 10560x10560-pixel camera at the f/1.6 prime focus, for a five square degree field of view)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/about/facilities/telescopes |title=CSS Telescopes |access-date=9 January 2020}}</ref> operated by the [[Astronomy:Steward Observatory|Steward Observatory]] at [[Astronomy:Mount Lemmon Observatory|Mount Lemmon Observatory]], which is located at {{convert|2791|m|ft|sp=us}} in the Santa Catalina Mountains northeast of Tucson, Arizona.

It is currently one of the most prolific surveys worldwide, especially for discovering near-Earth objects. MLS ranks among the top discoverers on the [[Organization:Minor Planet Center|Minor Planet Center]]'s discovery chart with a total of more than 50,000 numbered minor planets.<ref name="MPC-Discoverers" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/css_facilities.html |work=University of Arizona |title=Catalina Sky Survey Facilities{{Snd}} The Mt. Lemmon Survey (MLS) |access-date=2 September 2015}}</ref>

== History ==
[[Biography:Andrea Boattini|Andrea Boattini]] and the survey accidentally rediscovered 206P/Barnard-Boattini, a [[Astronomy:Lost comet|lost comet]], on 7 October 2008.<ref name="kronk" /> The comet has made 20 revolutions since 1892 and passed within 0.3–0.4&nbsp;[[Astronomy:Astronomical unit|AU]] of [[Astronomy:Jupiter|Jupiter]] in 1922, 1934 and 2005.<ref name="iauc8995">[http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/08900/08995.html IAUC 8995]</ref><ref>[http://www.comethunter.de/ The COCD Homepage]<!-- in the future this page will be http://www.comethunter.de/news/news0810e.htm --></ref> This comet was also the first comet to be discovered by photographic means, by the {{wipe|United States}} [[Astronomy:Astronomer|astronomer]] [[Biography:Edward Emerson Barnard|Edward Emerson Barnard]], who did so on the night of 13 October 1892.<ref name="kronk">[http://cometography.com/pcomets/206p.html 206P at Garry Kronk’s Cometography] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100925151453/http://cometography.com/pcomets/206p.html |date=2010-09-25 }}</ref>

On 12 January 2008, Mount Lemmon Survey discovered the near-Earth asteroid {{mpl|2008 AO|112}} at an [[Astronomy:Apparent magnitude|apparent magnitude]] of 21 using a {{convert|1.5|m|in|adj=on|sp=us}} [[Astronomy:Reflecting telescope|reflecting telescope]].<ref name="MPEC2008-D33"/>

{{mpl|2011 UN|63}} was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey on 27 September 2009 and it is a stable {{L5}} Mars trojan asteroid.<ref name=dynamics>{{Cite journal|title=Three new stable L5 Mars Trojans |first1=Carlos |last1=de la Fuente Marcos|last2=de la Fuente Marcos |first2=Raúl | date=2013|journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters|volume=432|issue=1|pages=L31–L35|doi=10.1093/mnrasl/slt028|arxiv = 1303.0124 |bibcode = 2013MNRAS.432L..31D }}</ref>
<ref name="christou">{{cite journal | author=Christou, A. A. | title= Orbital clustering of Martian Trojans: An asteroid family in the inner solar system? | journal= Icarus | volume=224 | issue=1 | pages=144–153 | date=2013 | doi=10.1016/j.icarus.2013.02.013 | bibcode=2013Icar..224..144C  |arxiv= 1303.0420| s2cid= 119186791 }}</ref> The survey also discovered the unusual [[Astronomy:Aten asteroid|Aten]] [[Astronomy:Asteroid|asteroid]] {{mpl|2012 FC|71}}, a dynamically cold [[Astronomy:Kozai mechanism|Kozai resonator]], on 31 March 2012.<ref name=kozai>{{Cite journal | title=A resonant family of dynamically cold small bodies in the near-Earth asteroid belt |first1=Carlos | last1=de la Fuente Marcos|last2=de la Fuente Marcos|first2=Raúl |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters|volume=434|pages=L1–L5|doi=10.1093/mnrasl/slt062| bibcode=2013MNRAS.434L...1D|arxiv = 1305.2825 |year=2013 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Astronomy:List of astronomical observatories|List of astronomical observatories]]
* {{section link|List of minor planet discoverers|Discovering dedicated institutions}}
* Mount Lemmon
* [[Astronomy:2017 XX61|2017 XX61]]

== References ==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="MPC-Discoverers">{{cite web
  |title      = Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)
  |work       = Minor Planet Center
  |url        = http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/MPDiscsNum.html
  |date       = 12 January 2017
  |access-date = 2 February 2017}}</ref>

<ref name="MPEC2008-D33">{{cite web
  |title=MPEC 2008-D33
  |publisher=IAU Minor Planet Center
  |date=2008-02-25
  |url=http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K08/K08D33.html
  |access-date=2013-08-28}} (K08AB2O)</ref>

}} <!-- end of reflist -->

== External links ==
* [https://newton.spacedys.com/neodys/index.php?pc=2.1.0&o=G96 NEODyS]

[[Category:Astronomical surveys]]
[[Category:Discoverers of comets]]
[[Category:Astronomical observatories in Arizona]]

{{Sourceattribution|Mount Lemmon Survey}}