The Daily Minor Planet

The Daily Minor Planet
Type of site
Citizen science Project
Available inEnglish, German, French, Russian, Turkish, Japanese, Italian, Hindi, and Arabic
Created byDavid Carson Fuls; D. C. Fuls, et al.[1]
URLhttps://www.zooniverse.org/projects/fulsdavid/the-daily-minor-planet/about/research
CommercialNo
RegistrationYes, not mandatory
Current statusOngoing

The Daily Minor Planet is a citizen science project run by the Zooniverse and The Catalina Sky Survey with a funding grant from NASA, to use citizen science volunteer classifications to discover asteroids with recent data from the G96 Mount Lemmon Survey 1.52 m (60 in) cassegrain reflector telescope.[2][3][4][5] The main objective of the project is to search for undiscovered asteroids in order to protect the planet by locating potentially harmful Near-Earth asteroids.[6][7][8][9]

The main-belt asteroid 227711 Dailyminorplanet was named in honor of thousands of volunteers who have participated in this project.[10][11]

List of Notable Discoveries

Asteroid Designation Orbit or Family Semi-
major
axis
(AU)
Eccentricity
of orbit
Diameter
(m)
Discovery
date
Refs
2023 VN3 Apollo 1.2166279 0.2142180 26.17 2023-11-05 MPC · JPL
2023 TW Aten 0.8458886 0.2912585 9.30 2023-10-04 MPC · JPL
2024 SN3 Aten 0.9150081 0.1096303 11.02 2024-09-22 MPC · JPL
2025 HD3 Aten 0.8316599 0.4446249 23.78 2025-04-24 MPC · JPL
2025 KU1 Apollo 1.0738396 0.0810991 15.10 2025-05-22 MPC · JPL

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Daily Minor Planet: About Research". zooniverse.org. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  2. ^ Voices, Earthsky (19 May 2023). "Help spot asteroids! The Daily Minor Planet needs you". earthsky.org. Earth & Sky. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  3. ^ "Join the Hunt: Astronomers Need Help Finding Asteroids Hurtling Through Our Solar System". scitechdaily.com. 2023-05-20. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  4. ^ Trembley, Robert (18 May 2023). "The Daily Minor Planet – Discover New Asteroids Every Day!". vaticanobservatory.org. Vatican Observatory. Retrieved 16 May 2025.
  5. ^ Tate, Jay (1 November 2023). "Daily Minor Planet volunteers spot an asteroid passing close to Earth". spaceguardcentre.com. The Spaceguard Centre. Retrieved 16 May 2025.
  6. ^ "Citizen Science Project Nets a New Asteroid, and It's a Close One". lpl.arizona.edu. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  7. ^ "The Daily Minor Planet: About Research".
  8. ^ Boyle, Alan (16 May 2023). "Astronomers Want Your Help to Identify Risky Asteroids". universetoday.com. Universe Today. Retrieved 16 May 2025.
  9. ^ Perkins, Tony (1 January 2024). "Asteroid hunters welcome Arizona citizen scientists to scan the sky". azpm.org. AZPM News. Retrieved 16 May 2025.
  10. ^ "WGSBN Bull. 5, #7, 7". wgsbn-iau.org. International Astronomical Union. 28 April 2025. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
  11. ^ "(227711) Dailyminorplanet = 1998 TK28 = 2006 DP114". minorplanetcenter.net. International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center. 28 April 2025. Retrieved 28 May 2025.