The International Astronomy Center in Abu Dhabi announced that one of its staff members has discovered an asteroid located in the asteroid belt of the solar system. The head of the International Astronomy Center in Abu Dhabi, Engineer Khalfan bin Sultan Al-Nuaimi, stated that the discovery came through the analysis of astronomical images made available by a program sponsored by the American space agency "NASA," in collaboration with global astronomical entities including "Hardin-Simmons University" in Texas, the "Pan-STARRS" telescope, and the "Catalina" sky survey program.
Additionally, he mentioned that the director of the International Astronomy Center, Engineer Muhammad Shawkat Awda, was able to discover one of the asteroids while analyzing images captured by the Haleakalā Observatory, specifically using the "Pan-STARRS 2" telescope, which is located in Hawaii, USA, has a diameter of 1.8 meters, and is designated by the code 'F52'. The telescope has a field of view of 3 degrees and is equipped with an astronomical camera with the largest sensor available for a digital astronomical camera, boasting a resolution of 1.8 billion pixels.
The images are analyzed using a specialized astronomical software, where four consecutive images of the same spot in the sky are uploaded for analysis. The task of the image analyst is to process these images and observe any moving object within the four images. If a moving object is detected, it is first compared to known celestial bodies, and if it is found to be an undiscovered object, a report is sent to the relevant astronomical authorities.
