"Join the Hunt: Help Astronomers Find Asteroids Threatening Earth"
The University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory has launched an online portal that allows the public to assist in identifying asteroids and comets as part of the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey. By creating an account on Zooniverse, users can scrutinize telescope images for potential celestial bodies, adding human insight to automated detection systems and aiding in the discovery of near-Earth objects. The Catalina Sky Survey operates up to five large, powerful telescopes each night in their quest to keep track of over 1 million lumps of flying rock with diameters ranging from the length of a school bus to the width of Arizona.