Targets of Interest: Near-Earth and Main-Belt Asteroids, Small Bodies
Disciplines/Techniques: Astrometry, Photometry, Telescope Automation
Missions: Planetary Defense
Instruments: SMARTS 1.0 & 1.3m, Blanco/DECam, Blanco/NEWFIRM, SDSS
Facilities: Astronomical Research Institute (ARI) & CTIO (Blanco, SMARTS, PROMPT)
Tyler's research focus is on the position and characterization of asteroids. Since 2012, he has been funded to conduct rapid near-Earth asteroid astrometric follow-up observations from Illinois, USA and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. He has designed and developed telescope automation systems that respond within minutes to new asteroid discoveries, rapidly process, and present the astronomer with observations to review. Tyler was a graduate student at the University of North Dakota from 2015 to 2024. His M.S. and Ph.D. studied ambiguous asteroid results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Moving Object Catalog Four (MOC4). His research tries to understand the color variations detected among the main asteroid belt population and how those variations could be precursors to active asteroids.
1.0m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
