High Schools in Taiwan Joining the International Arena to Find Asteroids Using Pan-STARRS Data
Highschool students and teachers in Taiwan (北一女、彰化、國大里、惠文、羅東及明道高中) have participated in the IASC (InternationalAstronomical Search Collaboration) since 2011. About 2 campaigns are held each year, organized by Hardin-SimmonsUniversity (Abilene, Texas, USA), in which high-quality images taken byPan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System) are madeavailable for analysis. In the currentcampaign in March, 2013, for example, there are a total of 747 preliminarydiscoveries in first two weeks, for which more than 80 were contributed by studentsfrom Taiwan. The discovery process goes from Preliminary to Provisional toNumbered. A discovery becomes numberedafter 3-6 years when it has been observed a sufficient number of times to fullydetermine its orbit. Once it is numberedthen the student discoverers can propose an official name to the InternationalAstronomical Union. In 2011 and 2012, ofthe 186 main-belt asteroids and one NEO asteroid confirmed, we made 39provisional discoveries, among the most successful high schools or juniorcolleges in the campaigns.
