Our Mission
IAWN was established (2013) as a result of the UN-endorsed recommendations for an international response to a potential NEO impact threat, to create an international group of organizations involved in detecting, tracking, and characterizing NEOs. The IAWN is tasked with developing a strategy using well-defined communication plans and protocols to assist Governments in the analysis of asteroid impact consequences and in the planning of mitigation responses.
Currently, IAWN includes members from Europe, Asia, South and North America.
NEO News
Barringer Meteor Crater
Credit: D.J. Roddy/U.S. Geological Survey
New Units for Impact Energies?
(Jan 2020) Astronomers often seek to provide units that help them describe a phenomenon or scale in such a way as to communicate across scientific disciplines and to non-expert audiences as well. Consider the distance between the Earth and Sun, or the Astronomical Unit...
NEO News
Graphic showing orbit of 2020 AV2. It is between the orbits of Venus and Mercury and inclined relative to the Earth's orbit.
Credit: JPL Small-Body Database Browser
ZTF Discovers a New Class of Solar System Object: 2020 AV2
(09 Jan 2020) On 4 January, 2020, the Zwicky Transient Facility team discovered a new fast-moving object and reported it immediately to the Minor Planet Center (MPC). Once posted on the MPC's NEO Confirmation Page, other observers from around the world measured the object's position on the sky. These measurements facilitated a precise fit to the object's fascinating orbit.
Read More: 2020 AV2
Close Approaches
Asteriod designation: 2020 BH6
Discovery station: ATLAS-HKO, Haleakala
Close approach date (UTC): 2020 01 25.22
Close approach distance (× lunar distance): 0.18
Discovery announcement
Latest orbit & observations