Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Cost-benefit

Something like the AAVSO or ALPO.
ER — (archived)

This is just the sort of project that would appeal to volunteer amateur astronomers, with telescopes in the 20-60 cm and above aperture range equipped with CCD imaging devices. The only expense would be involved in organizing, collecting and collating their observations, much as is done now with comet, variable, and binary star monitoring.

Effective warning and defense against solar system debris at our present level of technology would be most effective by searching for and creating precise and complete catalogues of orbital elements for these objects. Accurate ephemerides could lead to recognizing potential collision threats decades down the line, and we would have plenty of time to develop and implement defenses against them.

The Hollywood scenario, visionary scientist spots space rock, heroic astronauts intervene a few months later, is not realistic. Much more likely is the prediction of a possible collision years away, and a long-term program mounted to prevent it.

It is neither cost-effective nor realistic to think large instruments and their professional staffs would devote themselves to this type of work, but there is ample precedent to suggest that advanced amateurs could do it. Many of them use instruments that would have been considered professional-grade just a few decades ago.

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