Asteroid discovered with FTN officially named “Haleakala”
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The Hawaiian "house of the Sun" is now to be found in the sky
The second asteroid discovered by the Faulkes Telescope Asteroid Project has been officially named “Haleakala”. The name is a tribute to the location of the Faulkes Telescope North and the religious significance of the mountain for the Hawaiian people.
The dormant volcano is the highest point on the island of Maui at 3,055m. From the spectacular summit you look down into a colourful caldera, which is about 11 kilometres across, 3 kilometres wide, and nearly 800 metres deep. Today, this area belongs to the Haleakala National Park.
The asteroid was discovered accidentally on April 30th, 2005. In these early days of the project, the FT educational team was testing methods to generate lightcurves of asteroids for a new Asteroid Photometry Project.
They chose the asteroids (1741) Giclas and (4492) Debussy. The observation of (4492) Debussy proved that this is a binary asteroid. During the observation, one component moved into the shadow of the other, which resulted in a sudden drop of brightness. The observation of (1741) Giclas allowed us to calculate the rotation period of this asteroid. On checking the images of (1741) Giclas, a second, unknown asteroid was found. This was the discovery of “Haleakala”.
Before the discoverers were given the right to propose a name for the new asteroid, its orbit had to be accurately determined. This required further detailed observations, and UK schools including the Kings School in Canterbury were asked to participate in this ‘follow up’ work.
Eventually, student Joshua Kritzer, who was doing a work experience placement with Lothar Kurtze in Germany, managed to make the final follow up observations necessary to get the asteroid numbered. When this goal was reached, the discoverers were able to propose a name, and in June 2009 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) confirmed the suggested name of “Haleakala”. The orbit of the asteroid shows that it is located between Mars and Jupiter in the so-called Main Belt.
Would you like to participate and observe asteroids? If so, have a look at our educational resources about the asteroid project and feel free to contact us with any questions.
This is the official citation published in the Minor Planet Circular (MPC 66244):
(171183) Haleakala = 2005 HJ4
Haleakala (Hawaiian for "the house of the sun") is a 3055-m high dormant volcano on the island of Maui. The summit is of religious significance. It is the location of many astronomical telescopes, including the Faulkes Telescope North (used for both research and education observations).
Some useful links:
Homepage of (171183) Haleakala at JPL / Nasa (with Orbit diagram, physical data and citation)
Homepage of (171183) Haleakala at AstDys
Snowdonia, another asteroid discovered as part of the
FT asteroid project
Resources about the Faulkes Telescope Solar System
projects (Asteroids, Comets & Earth in Space)
