Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2015 20:15:30 -0400
From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [WSFA] NASA Wants Your Help Hunting For Asteroids
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Story:
An anonymous reader writes about new NASA software that can help you
become an asteroid hunter. "Since the early 20th century, astronomers have
relied on the same technique to detect asteroids \342\200\224 they take images of a
section in the sky and look for star-like objects that move between
frames. However, with an increase in sensitivity of ground-based
telescopes, it has become increasingly difficult for astronomers to sift
through the massive pile of data and verify every single detection. In
order to increase the frequency of asteroid detection, including of those
bodies that could be potential threats to our planet, NASA has released
new software, developed in collaboration with Planetary Resources, Inc.,
capable of running on any standard PC. The software, which can be
downloaded for free, will accept images from a telescope and run an
algorithm on them to determine celestial bodies that are moving in a
manner consistent with an asteroid."
                                         -- 30 --

Story and links at
<http://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/03/16/1241215/nasa-wants-your-help-hunting-for-asteroids>

         mark "my 'scope doesn't have a motor, and light pollution...."