"NEW ASTEROID DISCOVERED FROM IRELAND"

Discovery made by Irish Amateur Astronomer.

In 1848 the ninth asteroid found was located from Markree Observatory.  Since then no other "Minor Planet" has ever been discovered from these shores until a search of the sky by amateur astronomer, Dave McDonald located a previously undiscovered object from his observatory in Celbridge, Co.Dublin.

The discovery was made on the night of October 7^th and is has been given the temporary name "2008 TM9".  Later when more is known about the orbit of this space rock around the Sun, Dave will be afforded the opportunity to name his discovery properly.

"Nowadays most asteroids are discovered by government funded observatories in the U.S. so it is particularly satisfying to have made this discovery as an amateur astronomer.", said asteroid discoverer Dave McDonald. Mr McDonald continued "Although little is known about this new asteroid until further research is carried out it is certain that this particular asteroid poses no threat to our planet"

"Asteroids are the remnants of the very early solar system, a relic of a time when the Earth and all the other planets were formed.  It is very pleasing that this discovery was made from Irelandand Astronomy Ireland congratulates Dave on his wonderful discovery." said Astronomy Ireland chairman David Moore.

Although 2008 TM9 poses no threat to us there are currently almost 1000 asteroids which we know crosses the orbit of the Earth from time to time.  Some of these objects may well pose a significant risk of impacting our blue planet at some point in the future.  For example there is a 1 in 45,000 chance that asteroid 99942 Apophis will collide with the Earth in April 2036.

"Clearly there is a concern that a large asteroid colliding with Earth would cause major devastation, this is why myself and several other astronomers in Ireland and around the world spend so much time searching the sky for these objects and monitoring known asteroids" said Mr McDonald. "Iish astronomers are at the forefront of international research in this area.  This discovery is hopefully, the first of many new finds from Ireland", Mr McDonald concluded.

 

PRESS COVERAGE:
Leo Enright organised a Press Conference in the Science Gallery (TCD) to announce this monumental discovery. RTE, newspapers, photographers and the editorial team from Astronomy Ireland's magazine were there. Astronomy Ireland issued 700 Press Notices about the event and lots of radio interviews were done.

The story will make the front page of the next issue of Astronomy Ireland's magazine Astronomy & Space but it also made the FRONT COVER of the Metro newspaper in Dublin. See here.

See RTE TV coverage here (click on "Kildare astronomer discovers asteroid")

Irish Independent here
Irish Times article here