KBO encounters Options

[xtruel]

Hi,

I’m regular follower of NH and I’m also interested in the 2nd leg of the mission, i.e the 2016+ KBOs encounters. Does anyone know when operations about this leg (starting with searching objects of interest with HST or some other earth-based means, I suppose) are expected to begin ?

[john_s]

The Ice Hunters project is now out of beta and is officially open for business!
Thanks to everyone who worked on the beta version- the feedback from that work has helped improve the site, and the work was directly useful too- the team is now sifting through all the objects identified by the beta testers.

The official site will continue the work rather than repeating what's already been done- we'll complete analysis of the data from the preliminary 2004 and 2005 searches, and then move on to the data from the 2011 search program currently under way.

Here is the official release, and thanks to Emily for a great writeup on her blog today.

Here's an update on the 2011 telescopic campaign. Following a spectacular run on the Magellan telescope in Chile in late April and early May, we had poorer luck with the weather during the late May/early June dark time, but still got useful data at both Magellan and at the Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. We're now preparing for the late June/early July run, which will again use both Magellan and Subaru, plus the Canada/France/Hawaii telescope also on Mauna Kea. This time I'm looking forward to going to the telescope myself- I'll be at Subaru on the nights of July 1st and 2nd.

John

[Alan Stern]

The Ice Hunters project is now out of beta and is officially open for business!
Thanks to everyone who worked on the beta version- the feedback from that work has helped improve the site, and the work was directly useful too- the team is now sifting through all the objects identified by the beta testers.

The official site will continue the work rather than repeating what's already been done- we'll complete analysis of the data from the preliminary 2004 and 2005 searches, and then move on to the data from the 2011 search program currently under way.

Here is the official release, and thanks to Emily for a great writeup on her blog today.

Here's an update on the 2011 telescopic campaign. Following a spectacular run on the Magellan telescope in Chile in late April and early May, we had poorer luck with the weather during the late May/early June dark time, but still got useful data at both Magellan and at the Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. We're now preparing for the late June/early July run, which will again use both Magellan and Subaru, plus the Canada/France/Hawaii telescope also on Mauna Kea. This time I'm looking forward to going to the telescope myself- I'll be at Subaru on the nights of July 1st and 2nd.

John

And thanks to John Spencer for expertly spearheading this key corner of the NH project--observations, data pipelines, IceHunters, all of it! Now all you UMSFers: Go get in the game-- we need KBO targets-- an I'd say few are better suited to make the discoveries than the UMSF gurus!