Indiana Asteroid Program


The Indiana Asteroid Program was a photographic astronomical survey of asteroids during 1949–1967, at the U.S. Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana. The program was initiated by Frank K. Edmondson of Indiana University using a 10-inch f/6.5 Cooke triplet astrographic camera.
Its objectives included recovering asteroids that were far from their predicted positions, making new orbital calculations or revising old ones, deriving magnitudes accurate to about 0.1 mag, and training students.
When the observatory's 36-inch reflecting telescope proved unsuitable for searching for asteroids, postdoctoral fellow James Cuffey arranged the permanent loan of a 10-inch lens from the University of Cincinnati. Mounted in a shed near the main observatory, the instrument using the borrowed lens was responsible for all of the program's discoveries.
By 1958, the program had produced 3,500 photographic plates showing 12,000 asteroid images and had published about 2,000 accurate positions in the Minor Planet Circular. When the program ended in 1967, it had discovered a total of 119 asteroids. The program's highest numbered discovery, 30718 Records, made in 1955, was not named until November 2007.
The program ended when the lights of the nearby city of Indianapolis became too bright to permit the long exposures required for the photographic plates. The program's nearly 7,000 photographic plates are now archived at Lowell Observatory.

List of discovered minor planets

The Indiana Asteroid Program has discovered 119 asteroids during 1949–1966. The Minor Planet Center officially credits these discoveries to "Indiana University" rather than to the program itself.
1575 Winifred20 April 1950
1578 Kirkwood10 January 1951
1602 Indiana14 March 1950
1615 Bardwell28 January 1950
1721 Wells3 October 1953
1728 Goethe Link12 October 1964
1729 Beryl19 September 1963
1741 Giclas26 January 1960
1746 Brouwer14 September 1963
1751 Herget27 July 1955
1761 Edmondson30 March 1952
1762 Russell8 October 1953
1763 Williams13 October 1953
1764 Cogshall7 November 1953
1765 Wrubel15 December 1957
1766 Slipher7 September 1962
1767 Lampland7 September 1962
1788 Kiess25 July 1952
1798 Watts4 April 1949
1799 Koussevitzky25 July 1950
1822 Waterman25 July 1950
1824 Haworth30 March 1952
1826 Miller14 September 1955
1827 Atkinson7 September 1962
1852 Carpenter1 April 1955

2227 Otto Struve13 September 1955
2300 Stebbins10 October 1953
2301 Whitford20 November 1965
2322 Kitt Peak28 October 1954
2326 Tololo29 August 1965
2334 Cuffey27 April 1962
2351 O'Higgins3 November 1964
2405 Welch18 October 1963
2417 McVittie15 February 1964
2466 Golson7 September 1959
2488 Bryan23 October 1952
2496 Fernandus8 October 1953
2516 Roman6 November 1964
2528 Mohler8 October 1953
2624 Samitchell7 September 1962
2641 Lipschutz4 April 1949
2653 Principia4 November 1964
2751 Campbell7 September 1962
2753 Duncan18 February 1966
2775 Odishaw14 October 1953
2842 Unsold25 July 1950
2848 ASP8 November 1959
2853 Harvill14 September 1963
2974 Holden23 August 1955
2996 Bowman5 September 1954

4423 Golden4 April 1949
4463 Marschwarzschild28 October 1954
4911 Rosenzweig16 October 1953
4912 Emilhaury11 November 1953
5074 Goetzoertel24 August 1949
5536 Honeycutt23 August 1955
5567 Durisen21 March 1953
5568 Mufson14 October 1953
7001 Noether14 March 1955
7368 Haldancohn20 January 1966
7723 Lugger28 August 1952
8059 Deliyannis6 May 1957
8320 van Zee13 September 1955
9143 Burkhead16 September 1955
9144 Hollisjohnson25 October 1955
9260 Edwardolson8 October 1953
9261 Peggythomson8 October 1953
19912 Aurapenenta14 September 1955
30718 Records14 September 1955