The amateur asteroid hunters giving NASA a run for its money

On this year’s list of the top five asteroid hunters in the world, it’s no surprise the top four spots are filled by multimillion-dollar NASA-funded projects. But coming in at number five is a trio of amateurs, Alain Maury, Georges Attard and Daniel Parrott. Maury is a retired engineer and astronomer who moved to Chile from France to better pursue his passion for stargazing. He runs ‘star tours’ to the Atacama Desert, allowing visitors access to his high-powered telescopes and their window onto the dazzling southern skies.

Attard, also a retired engineer, stayed in France. He takes Maury’s data and runs the numbers in his spare time, calculating asteroids’ trajectories, orbits and mass.