For more than 25 years, the main science mission of Višnjan Observatory is the operational asteroid observation.
As a member of the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), Observatory Višnjan has, since the beginning of 2019, done more than 54% of work in the tracking near-Earth objects (NEO) which are near the Earth and pose a potential threat to it.
Višnjan is around 12 hours from Hawaii which is a perfect position to keep track of the objects they discover.
Without their so-called follow-up and confirmation measurements the majority of newly discovered asteroids that are daily discovered from Hawaii, would get lost in a day or even in a matter of hours. With their measurements they can ascertain if the discovered object is really there, calculate its trajectory and verify whether it is a potential threat.
The International Astronomical Union declares that the NEO has been discovered by joint work.
“According to unofficial information, the Višnjan Observatory is no longer behind NASA for discovering and tracking asteroids but has overtaken them to climb to the golden first place,” the Croatian Astronomical Society announced on social media.
Source: https://en.astro.hr/
