OCA-DLR Asteroid Survey
The OCA-DLR Asteroid Survey (ODAS) was a European scientific project to search for asteroids and comets.[1] This project was the joint work of the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur (OCA) in France and the Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) in Germany. They operated in cooperation with a global effort regarding Near-Earth objects that was begun by the Working Group on Near-Earth Objects, a component of the International Astronomical Union.[1]
| New Near-Earth Asteroids Discovered by O.D.A.S. |
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This project began October 1996 and ceased observations in April 1999 for a refurbishing. However the telescope has not been reopened since that time.[2]
Survey observations were made during the 15 days each month when moon light was at a minimum, during the first and last quarters of the lunar month.[1] The operation used a 90 cm Schmidt telescope located near Nice, France. A combination of a CCD camera[3] and a software package[4] were used for automated detection of moving objects.
Throughout its tenure, the project was responsible for the discovery of 708 asteroids and one new comet. Of these five were found to be near earth asteroids and 8 were Mars-crossing asteroids.[1]
