The EUNEASO Project: A European NEO Search, Follow-up and Physical Observation Programme

EUNEASO, which stands for EUropean Near-Earth Asteroids Search Observatories, is a cooperation to organize a large-scale NEO search programme. The participating groups do astrometric follow-up observations as well as photometric and spectroscopic studies of NEO's. Currently, the development of CCD cameras for the search programme is done at the DLR in Berlin and the OCA in Nice, where tests have been performed with the 90 cm Schmidt telescope at Caussols. Scanning photographic films taken by a Schmidt telescope appears to be a promising tool to detect NEO's. Corresponding tests with commercial scanners are carried out at OCA. Plans exist to install a 1.5 k x lk CCD at the 67 cm Schmidt telescope in Asiago, Italy. Astrometric follow-up and photometric observations of NEO's are currently done on a routine basis at Ondrejov Observatory, Czech Republic, using a 60 cm telescope equipped with a CCD camera. A similar system is available at Kharkiv Observatory, Ukraine, attached to a 70 cm telescope. Photometric CCD observations of NEO's are performed as part of the asteroid observing programme of the DLR with the 60 cm Bochum telescope at ESO, which is available for some 100 nights per year.