Speaker
Description
The 4.3-m Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) is a highly efficient facility for the characterization of near-Earth objects. With multiple instruments simultaneously mounted, a combination of astrometric, photometric, and spectroscopic measurements are regularly made. Recent observations at LDT have focused on NEOs such as imminent impactors (2022 WJ1, 2024 XA1), mini-moons and lunar ejecta (2024 PT5), astrometric follow-up of objects experiencing non-gravitational orbital evolution (dark comets), and the completion of a spectro-photometric survey of nearly 200 objects to constrain the compositional distribution of small NEOs on Earth-like orbits. Highlights from these investigations will be presented in the context of how the demonstrated capabilities of the LDT are well matched to planetary defense efforts.