News: Project news

Comet's split caught in the act

On Wednesday Astronomy Now's Nick Howes revealed images that suggest Comet C2007 Q3 Siding Spring is in the process of breaking up. We can now confirm that this is a fragmentation event, and catch up with Nick after his latest stint on the Faulkes Telescope.

FTN discovers “slowest rotating NEO”!

Following on from last year’s discovery of the fastest rotating Near Earth Object, 2008 HJ, the FT NEO Programme has found what is currently the slowest rotating small NEO.

The discovery was made by Richard Miles, co-ordinator of the FT programme and Director of the Asteroids and Remote Planets Section of the British Astronomical Association, after observations obtained by himself and 6 sets of observers: Kingsley School, Paulet High School, the Thomas Aveling School, TU-Darmstadt and Simon Langton Grammar following an observing alert sent out on June 10 by Alison Tripp.

Asteroid discovered with FTN officially named “Haleakala”

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.