The European Space Agency’s (ESA) new asteroid hunter, Flyeye, has officially opened its ‘eye’ to the sky. The telescope is designed to scan a vast region of the cosmos more than 200 times larger than the full Moon in a single exposure, making it significantly wider than conventional telescopes.
Flyeye will automatically survey the sky each night without human operation, identifying new asteroids that could pose a hazard to Earth. In its future configuration, up to four Flyeye telescopes will be deployed across the northern and southern hemispheres, enhancing the speed and completeness of automatic sky surveys.
“The earlier we spot potentially hazardous asteroids, the more time we have to assess them and prepare a response,” said Richard Moissl, Head of ESA’s Planetary Defence Office. “ESA’s Flyeye telescopes will be an early-warning system, and their discoveries will be shared with the global planetary defence community.”
The telescope is equipped with a 1-metre primary mirror and can divide incoming light into 16 separate channels, each with a camera capable of detecting faint objects. Its observation schedule will be optimized to consider factors like Moon brightness and the work of other survey telescopes.
Flyeye’s maiden images from Matera, Italy, demonstrate its readiness for its mission. The telescope will soon leave the Space Geodesy Centre in Italy and be transported to Sicily, joining the global effort to monitor Earth’s skies.
Source: https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Planetary_Defence/ESA_s_new_asteroid_hunter_opens_its_eye_to_the_sky