Indiana Asteroid Program

The Indiana Asteroid Program was a photographic astronomical survey of asteroids during 1949–1967, at the U.S. Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana.[2] The program was initiated by Frank K. Edmondson of Indiana University using a 10-inch f/6.5 Cooke triplet astrographic camera.[3][4]

Minor planets discovered: 119 [1]
see § List of discovered minor planets

Its objectives included recovering asteroids that were far from their predicted positions, making new orbital calculations or revising old ones, deriving magnitudes accurate to about 0.1 mag, and training students.[3]

When the observatory's 36-inch (0.91-meter) reflecting telescope proved unsuitable for searching for asteroids, postdoctoral fellow James Cuffey arranged the permanent loan of a 10-inch (25-centimeter) lens from the University of Cincinnati.[5] Mounted in a shed near the main observatory, the instrument using the borrowed lens was responsible for all of the program's discoveries.[6]

By 1958, the program had produced 3,500 photographic plates showing 12,000 asteroid images and had published about 2,000 accurate positions in the Minor Planet Circular.[3] When the program ended in 1967, it had discovered a total of 119 asteroids.[1] The program's highest numbered discovery, 30718 Records, made in 1955, was not named until November 2007 (M.P.C. 61269).[7][8]

The program ended when the lights of the nearby city of Indianapolis became too bright to permit the long exposures required for the photographic plates.[9] The program's nearly 7,000 photographic plates are now archived at Lowell Observatory.[10]

List of discovered minor planets

The Indiana Asteroid Program has discovered 119 asteroids during 1949–1966. The Minor Planet Center officially credits these discoveries to "Indiana University" rather than to the program itself.[1]

1575 Winifred20 April 1950
1578 Kirkwood10 January 1951
1602 Indiana14 March 1950
1615 Bardwell28 January 1950
1721 Wells3 October 1953
1728 Goethe Link12 October 1964
1729 Beryl19 September 1963
1741 Giclas26 January 1960
1746 Brouwer14 September 1963
1751 Herget27 July 1955
1761 Edmondson30 March 1952
1762 Russell8 October 1953
1763 Williams13 October 1953
1764 Cogshall7 November 1953
1765 Wrubel15 December 1957
1766 Slipher7 September 1962
1767 Lampland7 September 1962
1788 Kiess25 July 1952
1798 Watts4 April 1949
1799 Koussevitzky25 July 1950
1822 Waterman25 July 1950
1824 Haworth30 March 1952
1826 Miller14 September 1955
1827 Atkinson7 September 1962
1852 Carpenter1 April 1955
1853 McElroy15 December 1957
1952 Hesburgh3 May 1951
1953 Rupertwildt29 October 1951
1955 McMath22 September 1963
1971 Hagihara14 September 1955
1988 Delores28 September 1952
1994 Shane4 October 1961
1996 Adams16 October 1961
1997 Leverrier14 September 1963
2007 McCuskey22 September 1963
2023 Asaph16 September 1952
2024 McLaughlin23 October 1952
2026 Cottrell30 March 1955
2059 Baboquivari16 October 1963
2065 Spicer9 September 1959
2069 Hubble29 March 1955
2070 Humason14 October 1964
2086 Newell20 January 1966
2110 Moore-Sitterly7 September 1962
2160 Spitzer7 September 1956
2161 Grissom17 October 1963
2165 Young7 September 1956
2168 Swope14 September 1955
2182 Semirot21 March 1953
2196 Ellicott29 January 1965
2227 Otto Struve13 September 1955
2300 Stebbins10 October 1953
2301 Whitford20 November 1965
2322 Kitt Peak28 October 1954
2326 Tololo29 August 1965
2334 Cuffey27 April 1962
2351 O'Higgins3 November 1964
2405 Welch18 October 1963
2417 McVittie15 February 1964
2466 Golson7 September 1959
2488 Bryan23 October 1952
2496 Fernandus8 October 1953
2516 Roman6 November 1964
2528 Mohler8 October 1953
2624 Samitchell7 September 1962
2641 Lipschutz4 April 1949
2653 Principia4 November 1964
2751 Campbell7 September 1962
2753 Duncan18 February 1966
2775 Odishaw14 October 1953
2842 Unsold25 July 1950
2848 ASP8 November 1959
2853 Harvill14 September 1963
2974 Holden23 August 1955
2996 Bowman5 September 1954
3070 Aitken4 April 1949
3145 Walter Adams14 September 1955
3167 Babcock13 September 1955
3180 Morgan7 September 1962
3185 Clintford11 November 1953
3282 Spencer Jones19 February 1949
3363 Bowen6 March 1960
3371 Giacconi14 September 1955
3428 Roberts1 May 1952
3433 Fehrenbach15 October 1963
3447 Burckhalter29 September 1956
3474 Linsley27 April 1962
3520 Klopsteg16 September 1952
3572 Leogoldberg28 October 1954
3654 AAS21 August 1949
3717 Thorenia15 February 1964
3882 Johncox7 September 1962
3959 Irwin28 October 1954
3961 Arthurcox31 July 1962
4045 Lowengrub9 September 1953
4046 Swain7 October 1953
4048 Samwestfall30 October 1964
4299 WIYN28 August 1952
4300 Marg Edmondson18 September 1955
4388 Jurgenstock3 November 1964
4423 Golden4 April 1949
4463 Marschwarzschild28 October 1954
4911 Rosenzweig16 October 1953
4912 Emilhaury11 November 1953
5074 Goetzoertel24 August 1949
5536 Honeycutt23 August 1955
5567 Durisen21 March 1953
5568 Mufson14 October 1953
7001 Noether14 March 1955
7368 Haldancohn20 January 1966
7723 Lugger28 August 1952
8059 Deliyannis6 May 1957
8320 van Zee13 September 1955
9143 Burkhead16 September 1955
9144 Hollisjohnson25 October 1955
9260 Edwardolson8 October 1953
9261 Peggythomson8 October 1953
19912 Aurapenenta14 September 1955
30718 Records14 September 1955
External images
http://newsinfo.iu.edu/pub/libs/images/usr/4718.jpg Professor Frank Edmondson manipulates the 10-inch lens telescope at the Goethe Link Observatory in Brooklyn, Indiana, in the 1950s. Source: Indiana University News Bureau.
http://newsinfo.iu.edu/pub/libs/images/usr/4719.jpg Professor Frank Edmondson looks on as Esther Barnhart -- wife of Philip Barnhart (M.A. Astronomy 1955) -- takes precise measurements of an asteroid's location. By comparing locations of an asteroid on different plates taken an hour apart, its orbit could be calculated. Source: Indiana University News Bureau.

References
  1. "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. 4 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  2. Indiana University Department of Astronomy: Frank Edmondson Home Page Archived 2008-06-13 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Gehrels, Thomas (February 1958). "The Indiana asteroid program". Astronomical Journal. 63: 50. Bibcode:1958AJ.....63...50G. doi:10.1086/107684.
  4. Asteroids II Machine-Readable Data Base - Version March 1988, Binzel, R.P. et al., eds. 1989, Univ. of Arizona Press, Note 103:"Planets discovered by the Indiana Asteroid Program, Goethe Link Observatory, Indiana University. This program was conceived and directed by F. K. Edmondson; the plates were blinked and measured astrometrically by B. Potter and, following her retirement, by D. Owings, and the photometry was performed under the direction of T. Gehrels. During the years 1947-1967, in which the plates were exposed, a large number of people participated in various aspects of the program."
  5. Ken Kingery, Betting on a Sure Thing: A "Record" Ending to Indiana Asteroid Program, Indiana Alumni Magazine, v.1, no. 2, September/October 2008, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Alumni Association, p. 46; See also, Space Daily.
  6. Id.
  7. "IU Asteroid Program "records" final chapter". Indiana University – News Room. 7 April 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  8. "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  9. Kingery, p. 47.
  10. Kingery, p. 47, and Indiana University Department of Astronomy: Frank Edmondson Home Page Archived 2008-06-13 at the Wayback Machine
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