| Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) |
| Lightcurve Projects Page |
| The list of projects that require data from asteroid lightcurve was getting rather lengthy, and it's still growing. This page is reserved for on-going projects in which amateurs (and professionals) are encouraged to take part. |
| Mikko Kaasalainen Shape Modeling Program Mikko Kaasalainen's web site There is much to learn about an asteroid after its lightcurve parameters have been found. For one, continued observations over several years can lead to determination of the shape of the asteroid. Click here for more info. |
| Steve Slivan's Koronis Family Modeling
Program Steven Slivan of Wellesley College, among others, has an on-going program to determine the shapes of Koronis family members. The URL for this project is http://www.koronisfamily.com The site includes an site calculator that finds suitable targets within reach of a given location and observing restrictions, e.g., limiting magnitude. There is also a list of standard stars to be used for calibrating differential photometry so that all observations can be merged with a minimum of difficulty. |
| Jupiter Trojans Joshua Emery of NASA Ames Research Center needs lightcurves on Jupiter Trojans. Click here for more information. |
| Planned Radar Targets Click here for a list of targets planned for radar observations. Optical observations are often critical to support radar findings. |
| Low Phase Angle Project Observations that get accurate V magnitudes at small phase angles as well as several steps on either side can make important contributions to the study of the surface makeup of asteroids. There are two ZIP files for a given year. For both sets of data, the limiting phase angle is now 1.0°. This helps assure that the asteroids getting closest to 0° are covered. Keep in mind that you should try to get measurements well away from opposition as well so as to get a good solution for the H/G parameters. This means that the asteroid could be 2 magnitudes, more or less, fainter than at opposition. 2008 Phase Data, Limiting Opposition
Magnitude: 14.0 One of the more active observers in this field is Richard Miles of the U.K. If you'd like to take part in this work, he can offer lots of sage advice. |
| Karin Family This is believed to be a new family of asteroids, created only 5-6MY ago following a collision between a 15km parent body and another object. Most of the members are too small (faint) to be worked by amateurs. However, there are some that can come within reach of larger amateur instruments and those available to professionals. Click here for to generate a listing with yearly and current vital stats for each member of the Karin Family. |
| Lightcurves in Support of Asteroid
Occultations Click here for a list of recent occultation targets for which follow-up lightcurves are needed as soon as possible |
| Asteroid Pairs Based on nearly identical orbits, some aseteroids seem to have come from a common body. The only way to confirm that is to obtain lightcurve and spectroscopic data. Following is a list of targets from that list that are within reach (mostly of larger instruments) in coming months. Opp. |
| Return to CALL Home Page
last updated: 01/08/2008 14:16 |