Departments

Interplanetary matter department

The Department of Interplanetary Matter studies minor bodies of the Solar System in particular meteoroids and asteroids. Attention is devoted to the study of the interactions of interplanetary bodies of different sizes with the Earth’s atmosphere. Photometric studies of asteroids are also performed.

Atmospheric trajectory of bright fireball from the morning of 29 January 2021

Press release - new meteorite fall observed in detail by Czech fireball cameras

Recoveries of more Stubenberg meteorites fully confirmed the predicted impact area

The department has two working groups

Meteor physics

The group observes meteors and performs theoretical interpretations of the observations. The basic observational system is the European Fireball Network. Sensitive television cameras are used to observe faint meteors. We also participate in the project of new fireball network in Australia. The observational data are used to study physical processes during the penetration of meteoroids into planetary atmospheres, including radiation, ionization and meteoroid fragmentation. The physical properties and chemical composition of different types of meteoroids, their origin and distribution in the solar system and their relation to comets, asteroids and meteorites are being determined.

Head: Pavel Koten

 

Asteroids

The main topic of the group is physical studies of asteroids, particularly their binary properties, rotations, and bulk properties. The main observational instrument is the 0.65 m telescope located at Ondřejov equipped with a CCD camera. The collaboration with observatories across the world provides us with data from a number of their instruments that allow us to get a much thorough understanding of the studied objects.

Head: Petr Pravec

See more at http://www.asu.cas.cz/~ppravec/neo.htm

 

Contact

Department head: Jiři Borovička
Deputy head: Petr Pravec
Secretary: Hana Zichová
tel.: +420 323 620 160
email:
Address: Fričova 298, 251 65 Ondřejov, CZ