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About IASC's Asteroid Search Campaigns

Asteroid search campaigns are run and managed by the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC = “Isaac”). Each year around 3,500 teams participate from more than 70 countries. Participants make important detections of Main Belt asteroids (MBAs) and occasionally of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs).

Since the first campaign in October 2006, IASC participants have made over 1,900 asteroid discoveries. To date 76 have been numbered and placed into the world’s official minor bodies catalog maintained by the International Astronomical Union (IAU, Paris). These discoveries can be found on the Hall of Fame page on the IASC website. Once an asteroid discovery has been numbered, it can be named by its discoverers.

Image sets for general asteroid search campaigns are provided by the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) at the University of Hawaii. Given clear and dark skies, the IfA uses the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS telescope located on Haleakalā to take images along the ecliptic where most asteroids are found. For special campaigns with experienced teams, image sets may be provided by the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) at the University of Arizona.

Teams receive these image sets through the IASC website and use the program Astrometrica to search for and measure asteroids. A report is prepared in Astrometrica and submitted through the IASC website to be reviewed for possible detections. Reports must not be sent to any other location.