Illinois Asteroids!

This animation shows Asteroid Kaler moving against the background stars. The images were taken about 95 minutes apart on May 12th, 2002.

Two asteroids have recently been named for emeritus faculty members of the Astronomy Department. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named asteroid 17851 for Professor Emeritus James B. Kaler. This honor was bestowed on Professor Kaler for his efforts in public outreach, wherein he has "worked tirelessly to educate planetarians, teachers, students, and amateur astronomers, always being available to answer their questions." In addition, Indiana University has named asteroid 9260 for Professor Emeritus Edward C. Olson, who received his PhD from Indiana.

Asteroid (17851) Kaler (also known as asteroid 1998 JK) was discovered on May 1st, 1998 by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) project at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Only about 5-10 kilometers across (3-6 miles across), it is a very faint object in the sky. At its brightest, it is around 16th magnitude, about 10,000 times dimmer than the human eye can see!

Asteroid (9260) Edwardolson (also known as asteroid 1953 TA1) was discovered on Sept. 16th, 1953 at the Goethe Link Observatory at Indiana University. It is incredibly faint, about 25,000 times dimmer than the human eye can see!

Asteroid Kaler orbits the Sun at, on average, 360 million kilometers (225 million miles), about 2.4 times farther from the Sun than the Earth, while Asteroid Edwardolson orbits the Sun at an average of 340 million kilometers (215 million miles). This places both asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, in a region known as the "Asteroid Belt", where many objects like them exist. The images below shows their orbits compared to those of the inner planets of the Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Currently, Asteroid Kaler is about 500 million kilometers (300 million miles) from the Earth and Asteroid Edwardolson is about 420 million kilometers (260 million miles) from our planet. The next closest approach to the Earth of Asteroid Kaler will be in mid-to-late January of 2005, while Asteroid Edwardolson's next closest approach won't be until October of 2005. There's no need to worry about a collision, however, as they never come closer than 150 million kilometers (asteroid Kaler) and 115 million kilometers (asteroid Edwardolson) to the Earth.

The orbits of Asteroid Kaler and Asteroid Edwardolson compared to the planets of the inner Solar Sytem

Professor James B. Kaler earned his A.B. at the University of Michigan, his Ph.D. at UCLA, and has been at the University of Illinois since 1964. His research area, in which he has published over 120 papers, involves dying stars. Professor Kaler has held Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships, has been awarded medals for his work from the University of Liège in Belgium and the University of Mexico, gave both the Armand Spitz Lecture to the Great Lakes Planetarium Association and the Margaret Noble Address to the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society, and most recently was presented with the Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement by the University of Illinois. He has written for a variety of popular and semi-popular magazines, was a consultant for Time-Life Books on their "Voyage Through the Universe" series, appears frequently on Illinois television and radio, and has published several books, including "Stars and their Spectra," "The Ever-Changing Sky," and "Extreme Stars" (Cambridge), "Stars" and "Cosmic Clouds" (Scientific American Library), two textbooks, and "The Little Book of Stars" and "The Greatest Hundred Stars" (Copernicus). He is a current member of the Board of Directors of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and is a past president of the Board of the Champaign-Urbana Symphony.

Professor Edward C. Olson earned his B.S. in Physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1952 and his PhD in Astronomy at Indiana University in 1961, and has been at the University of Illinois since 1966. His research area is mass and angular momentum transfer and loss occurring in evolving binary stars.

Image Credits: Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking Project, Near Earth Object Program