The MIT-UH-IRTF Joint Campaign for NEO Spectral Reconnaissance

The resources and asteroid observing expertise of MIT, the University of Hawaii, and the NASA IRTF are being combined in a joint campaign to perform routine spectroscopic reconnaissance of near-Earth objects (NEOs). All spectroscopic observations obtained in this joint campaign are being made publicly available in near-real time via this website.

We present 0.8 to 2.5 micron wavelength spectra measured using the instrument "SpeX" on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. When available, visible wavelength spectral data are also included from the MIT SMASS observing program. Spectra presented here are considered to be in the public domain and may be freely used for any purpose. We welcome collaboration opportunities, but there is no pre-condition for collaboration for use of these data. Researchers utilizing these data without collaboration arrangements with the observers are asked to include the following acknowledgement in their publication(s):

"All (or part) of the data utilized in this publication were obtained and made available by the The MIT-UH-IRTF Joint Campaign for NEO Reconnaissance. The IRTF is operated by the University of Hawaii under Cooperative Agreement no. NCC 5-538 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Space Science, Planetary Astronomy Program. The MIT component of this work is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0506716."

We further note the following disclaimer:

"Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation."

Also note the following request from the IRTF website:

Observers publishing results obtained with SpeX are requested to reference the following paper:

Rayner, J. T., Toomey, D. W., Onaka, P. M., Denault, A. J., Stahlberger, W. E., Vacca, W. D., Cushing, M. C., and Wang, S. (2003). "SpeX: A Medium-Resolution 0.8-5.5 micron Spectrograph and Imager for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility." PASP 115, 362.

Interested in using the MIT remote observing facility? Take a look at the new guide. (23 January 2007)

Important Caveat: All users must take into account that these data are unpublished and therefore have not undergone peer review. While it is our intention that these released data are fully reduced into their final form, until such time they are accepted for publication, it is possible that reprocessing or recalibration could be deemed necessary. Any such reprocessing or recalibration will be noted as updates to this web site.

Description of data files and data format

run UT date(s)
sp30 15 September 2004 data PDF of spectra
sp33 24 October 2004 data PDF of spectra
sp34 10 December 2004 data PDF of spectra
sp35 8 January 2005 data PDF of spectra
sp36 3 March 2005 data PDF of spectra
sp37 8 March 2005
sp38 11-12 April 2005 data PDF of spectra
sp39 17-18 April 2005 data PDF of spectra
sp40 10-11 May 2005 data PDF of spectra
sp43 9 & 13 July 2005 data PDF of spectra
sp44 4 & 5 September 2005 data PDF of spectra
sp45 8 October 2005 data PDF of spectra
sp46 30 & 31 October 2005 data PDF of spectra
sp47 12 & 13 November 2005 data PDF of spectra
sp48 22 & 29 November 2005 data PDF of spectra
sp49 27 & 28 January 2006 data PDF of spectra
sp50 30 April & 1 May 2006 data PDF of spectra
sp51 1 & 2 June 2006 data PDF of spectra
sp52 28 & 29 June 2006 data PDF of spectra
sp53 20 July 2006 data PDF of spectra
sp54 25 September 2006 data PDF of spectra
sp55 24, 25 & 31 October 2006 data PDF of spectra
sp56 21 November 2006 data PDF of spectra
sp57 22 December 2006 data PDF of spectra
sp58 21 January 2007 data PDF of spectra
sp59 23 March 2007 data PDF of spectra
sp60 24 April 2007 data PDF of spectra
sp61 20 July 2007 data PDF of spectra
sp62 1 August 2007 data PDF of spectra
sp64 2 & 3 October 2007 data PDF of spectra
sp65 11 November 2007 data PDF of spectra
sp66 15 December 2007 data PDF of spectra
sp67 15 & 16 January 2008 data PDF of spectra
sp68 10 March 2008 data PDF of spectra
sp69 13 April 2008 data PDF of spectra
sp70 10 May 2008 data PDF of spectra

For more information, contact Richard Binzel (rpb at mit.edu)