The Solar System Group at the IAC discovers a new asteroid near the Earth

Observation of 2024 NP2 obtained with the TST telescope
Composition, obtained on the night of the detection of 2024 NP2 (indicated with a blue circle) with the telescope TST, which combines 20 images each of 20 seconds exposure taking into account the motion of the asteroid, so that the stars appear as traces.
Advertised on

The discovery of 2024 NP2 took place during the night of July 4th in images taken during the commissioning of the TST, a new telescope recently installed at the Teide Observatory.

On July 4th the first regular observations were made in the commissioning of the Transient Survey Telescope (TST), an astronomical installation produced by a public-private collaboration between the IAC and the Canary company Light Bridges, at the Teide Observatory (Tenerife). The TST is a robotic telescope with a wide field. With a 1 metre telescope and a camera using an sCMOS detector at its prime focus, it can take images with a field greater than 4 square degrees, (the equivalent of the area of 22 full moons).

Among the observations for the commissioning, the Solar System Group at the IAC coordinated the observing strategy towards regions with a high probability of finding asteroids, with the twin aims of verifying the capabilities of the instrument for the characterization of known objects, and the search for new objects not detected previously by any other telescope in the world. As a result of this programme they found over 50 candidates for unidentfied asteroids, of which half were later linked by the Minor Planet Center (MPC), a reference centre coordinated by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, to other known objects. Among the unknowns, one was put directly on the list of high priority for confirmation as a possible Near-Earth Object (NEO). 

“The object discovered on the TST images showed a special motion, much more rapid than, and in a different direction from the other asteroids observed. If this was confirmed we knew that its orbit could be compatible with that of a NEO,” explained Miguel R. Alarcón, a pre-doctoral researcher in the IAC’s Solar System group, who discovered the object.

Image of the Transient Survey Telescope (TST). An open dome, of “clamshell” design, protects a telescope with a primary mirror diameter of 1 m and a focal ratio f/1.3,  which produces an effective field of 4 square degrees. Credit: Light Bridges / J.C.Casado

Other telescopes at the Teide Observatory were used on the same night, and on following nights to refine the orbit of this NEO candidate and inform the Minor Planet Center. “These results confirm the capacity of the Transient Survey Telescope as a quality instrument for the study and the discovery of moving objects” noted Miquel Serra-Ricart, co-discoverer of the asteroid and scientific director of the TST. On July 9th the Minor Planet Center published a circular confirming the discovery and giving the object the provisional name of 2024 NP2.

The new Near Earth Asteroid has a diameter of close to 50 metres and belongs to the Apollo group. “The Apollos are asteroids whose orbit cuts that of our planet at two points” explaind JavierLicandro, an IAC researcher. “If it had been larger, we would be talking about a potentially dangerous asteroid” he added.

2024 NP2 is the first NEO discovered by the IAC’s Solar System Group from the Teide Observatory. The ability to detect this kind of objects from the Canary Observatories will grow substantially from this year, 2024, not only with the installation of the TST, but also because of the start of operations of the Two-meter Twin Telescope (TTT) and the future ATLAS-Teide telescope, led by Javier Licandro, which will consolidate the Teide Observatory as a fundamental node of the international ATLAS network, which will act as an early warning of the danger of asteroid impacts.

Contacts at the IAC:
Miguel R. Alarcon, miguel.rodriguez [at] iac.es (miguel[dot]rodriguez[at]iac[dot]es)
Javier Licandro, jlicandr [at] iac.es (jlicandr[at]iac[dot]es)
Miquel Serra Ricart. mserra [at] iac.es (mserra[at]iac[dot]es)

Related projects
Project Image
Minor Bodies of the Solar System
This project studies the physical and compositional properties of the so-called minor bodies of the Solar System, that includes asteroids, icy objects, and comets. Of special interest are the trans-neptunian objects (TNOs), including those considered the most distant objects detected so far (Extreme-TNOs or ETNOs); the comets and the comet-asteroid
Julia de
León Cruz
In progress
Related news
TST en el Observatorio del Teide
Press release
The new TST telescope at the Teide Observatory celebrates its First Light
The robotic Transient Survey Telescope (TST) installed in the Teide Observatory of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has successfully started its scientific observations. It is a 1 metre telescope which permits the detection of rapidly varying objects, and is set up to map the sky. The TST has been built and run via a public-private collaboration with Canary funding. The Transient Survey Telescope (TST) is a telescope with a 1 metre primary mirror, built to take long-term observations called surveys, for the detection of faint, rapidly varying objects over a wide area of the sky
Advertised on
Photomontage
The IAC and the Canary company Light Bridges will collaborate to install a robotic telescope in the Teide Observatory
The Transient Survey Telescope (TNT) project will install a 1 metre telescope which, in a novel way, will have a wide field of view and will need high capacities of storage and digital processing. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Canary Company Light Bridges , with headquarters in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria have recently signe dan agreement which establishes the terms of the cooperation between the two for the installation, setting up, and exploitation of a special telescopic installation called the Transient Survey Telescope (TST) The new telescope will be installed in
Advertised on
Asteroid near Mars
Press release
Astronomers confirm a new “Trojan” asteroid that shares an orbit with Mars
Using observations made with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) a study led from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) has confirmed that the asteroid 2023 FW14, discovered last year, is accompanying the red planet in its journey around the Sun, ahead of Mars and in the same orbit. With this new member, the group of Trojans which accompany Mars has increased in number to 17. But it shows differences in its orbit and chemical composition which may indicate that it is a captured asteroid, of a primitive type. The results are published in
Advertised on
News type
Press release
Scope
Observatorios de Canarias
Science and Technology
Astrophysics
Observing time
Communications media
Asteroids
Near-Earth objects
Apollo group

It may interest you

  • Artist's impression of the WASP-193b system. Credit: University of Liege
    Press release
    Astronomers spot a giant planet that’s as light as cotton candy
    An international team, led by a researcher from the University of Liège (Belgium) affiliated to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has discovered an extraordinarily light planet orbiting a distant star in our galaxy. This discovery, reported today in the journal Nature Astronomy, is a promising key to solving the mystery of how such giant, super-light planets form. The new planet, named WASP-193b, appears to dwarf Jupiter in size, yet it is a fraction of its density. The scientists found that the gas giant is 50 percent bigger than Jupiter, and about a tenth as dense — an
    Advertised on
  • Poster of the ‘XXXV Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics’ / Gabriel Pérez (IAC)
    Press release
    The IAC is organizing the ‘XXXV Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics’
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the University of La Laguna (ULL) are organizing the XXXV edition of the Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysic s which will take place between the 8 th and the 17 th of October in La Laguna,Tenerife. For this edition there will be 60 participants, including master’s and doctor’s degree students and postdocs, from thirteen different countries who will come to Tenerife to receive a complete and exhaustive view of the evolution of the galaxies. The Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysic s is a key event in the calendar of the
    Advertised on
  • The director of IAC, Valentín Martínez Pillet and the team of engineers of the European Solar Telescope, alongside the international panel of reviewers with the telescope model, during the evaluation in Tenerife. / Inés Bonet (IAC)
    Press release
    The European Solar Telescope project under review by an international team of experts
    The IACTEC headquarters has recently hosted the meeting between the engineering team behind the future European Solar Telescope and an international panel composed of some of the world's leading experts in the development of large telescopes and solar observation instrumentation. It is common for major scientific projects to undergo this type of scrutiny during their development as a way to independently verify their quality and viability. The evaluation process began over a month ago with the submission of all the design documentation to the reviewers. In this case, the evaluation focused
    Advertised on