Supplementary materials for PhD thesis “Serendipitous asteriod survey using SuperWASP"
This dataset comprises the files contained on a CD-ROM which was attached to the thesis when it was submitted in 2008. It was uploaded to ORDO in 2025 for preservation purposes. For more information, please refer to the thesis “Serendipitous asteriod survey using SuperWASP" via ORO.
The SuperWASP project is an ultra-wide angle search for extra solar planetary transits. However, it can also serendipitously detect Solar System objects such as asteroids. Each SuperWASP instrument consists of eight cameras, combined with high-quality peltier-cooled CCDs, which photometrically survey large numbers of stars in the magnitude range V = 7 − 15. Each camera covers a 7.8 x 7.8 degree field of view. This large field of view produces both advantages and disadvantages for minor planet observations. Slow moving asteroids stay within a single SuperWASP field for several weeks, and may be seen in many fields, providing the opportunity for long-term light curve and phase curve observations. However, the slow movement of an asteroid across the stellar background in a SuperWASP field, combined with the large (13.7 arcsec) pixels means that there must be a constant awareness of blending with static stars. In addition, issues relating to cross field calibration must be overcome to produce standard results for asteroids that travel through several fields.
This thesis details the automated matching and cataloguing of numbered asteroids in SuperWASP data and the subsequent light curve and phase curve data processing. Also, techniques are demonstrated which reduce the effect of both blending and cross-field calibration issues.
Results are presented for 2004 and 2006 data. These comprise a total of 2648 camera-nights of data in which there are 1466 asteroids with 383738 orphan matches, 378673 of which have usable photometric information. 570 light curves for 277 asteroids have been produced with 17 of the asteroids having no previous published light curve, and a significantly increased accuracy of over 30 rotation periods. Phase curves and absolute magnitudes are determined for over 130 asteroids with slope parameters determined for 123, of which 93 had no previous values.
