Principal Investigator, R. Holmes became the first two-time winner of the Planetary Society Gene Shoemaker NEO grant.  Holmes first received the award in 2007 and was awarded $7,000 which provided funding for a new SBIG STL-1001E CCD camera.  Application for funding in this round was a plan to upgrade a SITe 1024 x 1024 class 0, CCD array, but unexpectedly the company contracted to make the camera upgrade refused to honor their written quotation with ARO.  This well known company was the only company with the ability to complete the project using this specific array.  At one stage the company in question even increased the amount they wanted for the CCD upgrade by nearly $4,000 over the original quotation.  After extensive fund raising, ARO was able to secure the additional $4,000 three months later and the company contracted a second time to do the upgrade by their CEO declined to do the job a second time.  R. Holmes at ARO explained how ARO is a small not for profit research organization and the majority of the funding for this project is from the Planetary Society, Gene Shoemaker grant.  "We really need this array working for us at ARO and your company would be doing a real service to the scientific community by completing the upgrade for us.  The president of the CCD company finally agreed in a telephone conversation to build the new CCD camera for the SITe array since they would be able to write off some expenses through our 501(c)(3) not for profit organization.  Three days later an email was received from the company president stating they were going to back out of the deal for the third time.  They declined saying, "It's not is our best interests to make the upgrade with this CCD array for you.  It will require far more time in terms of employee hours to complete the job, therefore we are unable to make the SITe 1024 x 1024 upgrade for your organization."

As an alternative, the Planetary Society Gene Shoemaker Grant funding allowed ARO to purchase a second SBIG STL1001E CCD camera that will be used on the 30 inch Autoscope replacing the AT200 Photometrics CCD camera upgrade.  The new camera will be used to conduct photometric and astrometric observations of NEOs.  The new camera will also be used to make filtered photometric observations in BVRI on the 50 inch (1.3m) telescope when it is completed in late 2010.  ARO has an observatory that is one of only a few that can reach to the very faint magnitudes necessary to do follow-up astrometric observations of fainter detections that will come from Pan-STARRS and other deeper NEO surveys in progress.

Many thanks are given to the Planetary Society Gene Shoemaker Grant for their help in making this program a success. 

The Planetary Society SBIG STL 1001E CCD Camera seen on the 24 Inch Telescope at ARO. 

In January 2010, this camera made three measures of near-Earth object 2009 KC3 to unfiltered magnitude 22.3.