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Creators/Authors contains: "Denneau, Larry"

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  1. NA (Ed.)
    This work is dedicated to debias the Near-Earth Object (NEO) population based on observations from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescopes. We have applied similar methods used to develop the recently released NEO model generator (NEOMOD), once debiasing the NEO population using data from Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) G96 telescope. ATLAS is composed of four different telescopes. We first analyzed observational data from each of all four telescopes separately and later combined them. Our results highlight main differences between CSS and ATLAS, e.g., sky coverage and survey power at debiasing the NEO population. ATLAS has a much larger sky coverage than CSS, allowing it to find bright NEOs that would be constantly ‘‘hiding’’ from CSS. Consequently, ATLAS is more powerful than CSS at debiasing the NEO population for H ≲ 19. With its intrinsically greater sensitivity and emphasis on observing near opposition, CSS excels in the debiasing of smaller objects. ATLAS, as an all sky survey designed to find imminent hazardous objects, necessarily spends a significant fraction of time looking at places on the sky where objects do not appear, reducing its power for debiasing the population of small objects. We estimate a NEO population completeness of ≈ 88%+3% −2% for H < 17.75 and ≈ 36%+1% −1% for H < 22.25. Those numbers are similar to previous estimates (within error bars for H < 17.75) from CSS, yet, around 3% and 8% smaller at their face values, respectively. We also confirm previous finding that the 𝜈6 secular resonance is the main source of small and faint NEOs at H = 28, whereas the 3:1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter dominates for larger and brighter NEOs at H = 15. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available January 1, 2026
  2. Abstract We report initial observations aimed at the characterization of a third interstellar object. This object, 3I/ATLAS or C/2025 N1 (ATLAS), was discovered on 2025 July 1 UT and has an orbital eccentricity ofe ∼ 6.1, perihelion ofq ∼ 1.36 au, inclination of ∼175°, and hyperbolic velocity ofV ∼ 58 km s−1. We report deep stacked images obtained using the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope and the Very Large Telescope that resolve a compact coma. Using images obtained from several smaller ground-based telescopes, we find minimal light-curve variation for the object over a ∼4 day time span. The visible/near-infrared spectral slope of the object is 17.1% ± 0.2%/100 nm, comparable to other interstellar objects and primitive solar system small bodies (comets and D-type asteroids). Moreover, 3I/ATLAS will be observable through early 2025 September, then unobservable by Earth-based observatories near perihelion due to low solar elongation. It will be observable again from the ground in late 2025 November. Although this limitation unfortunately prohibits detailed Earth-based observations at perihelion when the activity of 3I/ATLAS is likely to peak, spacecraft at Mars could be used to make valuable observations at this time. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available August 13, 2026
  3. null (Ed.)