Asteroid observations at the Optical Ground Station in 2010—Lessons learnt

As part of the European Space Situational Awareness programme, ESA uses its 1-m telescope on Tenerife regularly for asteroid observations since 2009. The focus of the work is follow-up observations. In addition, dedicated timeslots are used for survey observations. This paper summarizes the results of the asteroid observations in the year 2010 and provides detailed information on the methodology used for follow-up and survey. In the main part of the paper, lessons-learnt are presented.

► Asteroid observations using ESA's 1-m telescope on Tenerife are presented. ► Lessons learnt" are derived. ► Main conclusion: automated detection needs to be combined with human recognition.