Each fall and spring, students in the Astronomy 110 and 111 classes have a single lab in which they hunt for new asteroids. Each spring, students in the Physics 134 class have an听听in which they seek to discover and follow the orbits of new asteroids. Follow-up is necessary in order to determine the orbital parameters precisely enough for the asteroids to have permanent numbers assigned by the听. This requires observations over at least four oppositions.
All Calvin observations are submitted to the Minor Planet Center for inclusion in their publications and central data base. These data are used by solar system dynamicists seeking to reconstruct the history of the asteroid belt in particular and the planets with which they interact.
Because of the thousands of measurements submitted since 2003, 181 asteroids have received permanent designations crediting the Calvin observatory as the discovery site.
See the听听of asteroid discoveries for more details.