NASA to Host News Conference On Asteroid Search Findings

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EDT on Thurs., Sept. 29, to reveal near-Earth asteroid findings and implications for future research. The briefing will take place in the NASA Headquarters James E. Webb Auditorium, located at 300 E St. SW in Washington.

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NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, launched in December 2009, captured millions of images of galaxies and objects in space. During the news conference, panelists will discuss results from an enhancement of WISE called Near-Earth Object WISE (NEOWISE) that hunted for asteroids.

The panelists are:
Lindley Johnson, NEO program executive, NASA Headquarters, Washington
Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE principal investigator, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Tim Spahr, director, Minor Planet Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass.
Lucy McFadden, scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Reporters unable to attend may ask questions from participating NASA centers or by telephone. To participate by phone, reporters must contact Dwayne Brown at 202-358-1726 or [email protected] by 10 a.m. EDT on Sept. 29.

The event will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

The briefing also will be streamed live, with a chat available, at:

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

For more information about the mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/wise

SOURCE NASA