When follow-up observers communicate their targeting intentions and progress toward completed observations, NEOfixer can use this information to help adjust objects’ priorities for other stations. For example, if three stations plan to observe an object tonight, then there is a good chance of getting at least one set of successful observations; therefore the priority shown to other stations (where the object is not scheduled) will be lowered. The cumulative communications from all sites about a particular target can be thought of as the “interest level” for an object, with higher interest serving to decrease priority.
Observers can communicate several actions about an object, each holding a different weight: May Observe, Will Observe, Observing, Observed, Found, Not Found, Reported, Cancelled. In the case of successful observations, these self-reported actions are superseded when new astrometry is picked up by NEOfixer, after being reported by the observer to MPC and published.
Some observers may be hesitant to share their targeting intentions, as they may be unsure if the observations will be attempted, let alone be successful, and do not want to discourage other observers from also targeting the object. Please know that NEOfixer attempts to weight each communication appropriately, so that the announcement that a high-priority object has been scheduled at one site will not revise the priority drastically downward for other sites. A site’s previous history and reputation is also considered: if a site that typically observes NEOs brighter than 20th magnitude suddenly claims they will observe a 23rd magnitude NEO, then NEOfixer will assign very little (probably zero) weight to such a claim, and the priority will remain unchanged. However, if there is a sufficient level of interest around an object, then NEOfixer will decrease the target’s priority, implicitly suggesting that other observers concentrate on other, higher priority objects.