asteroideista

An asteroideista is a person who studies or works with asteroids, typically within astronomy or planetary science. The term is informal and mainly used in Spanish-speaking contexts to describe researchers, students, or enthusiasts whose work centers on asteroids and related small bodies.

The activities of an asteroideista can include discovering and tracking asteroids, determining their orbits, and analyzing data from survey programs. They may study the physical properties of asteroids, such as size, shape, rotation, surface composition, and albedo, and contribute to the classification of asteroid families. A key focus is the study of near-Earth objects and potentially hazardous asteroids, as well as the broader population of main-belt asteroids. Asteroideistas typically contribute to catalogs and databases maintained by organizations such as the Minor Planet Center and collaborate with large survey projects like Pan-STARRS, the Catalina Sky Survey, and others.

Education and training for asteroideistas often involve formal degrees in astronomy, physics, or planetary science, along with practical skills in astrometry, orbital dynamics, spectroscopy, and data analysis. Proficiency in programming and data handling is common, as is experience with telescope observations and archival data.

The term is not an official job title; many asteroideistas are professional researchers at universities or space agencies, while others are amateur astronomers who contribute through follow-up observations and small-body studies.