Peter Vereš, PhD

Astronomer | Asteroids & Planetary Defense | Former NASA JPL/Caltech and Harvard-Smithsonian Researcher

Peter Vereš, PhD. is a Slovak-American astronomer specializing in asteroids, comets, near-Earth objects and planetary defense. He spent approximately 15 years working in the United States at the University of Hawaii, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, including the Minor Planet Center. He is currently an independent researcher, principal scientist and consultant, and founder of Regulus Consulting. His work focuses on orbit computation, astronomical surveys, planetary defense and public outreach.

53peer-reviewed publications

1,000+citations

24h-index

15 yearsof U.S. research experience

Google Scholar Curriculum Vitae Lectures & Media Contact

Objects associated with Peter Vereš in the Minor Planet Center database

Research activities

Since my graduate years, I have been interested in minor bodies of the Solar system - asteroids, meteors and comets. Within my master and PhD thesis, I studied the physical properties, orbital parameters and size-frequency distribution of Near-Earth asteroids (NEOs) and the connection between NEOs and meteoroids. I was involved in development and operation of AMOS video meteor camera in its early stages and worked as an observer at AGO Observatory in Slovakia for two years, doing photometric and astrometric observations of asteroids and comets.

As a postdoc in Hawaii, I joined the Pan-STARRS team when they started the full operation in 2011. As a member of daily MOPS crew, I co-discovered hundreds of asteroids and tens of comets with Pan-STARRS, performed survey simulations and implemented trail fitting algorithm for astrometric improvement of fast moving asteroids.

In 2015, I joined Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Center for NEO Studies and worked on high-fidelity simulations for LSST, as a future discovery machine of small Solar system bodies. My work included improvement of orbital uncertainties and measurement errors of asteroid and comet astrometry that led to better estimation of orbital parameters.

In 2017, I joined the Minor Planet Center, operating under SAO, under the auspices of Division F of IAU and funded by NASA.The MPC is responsible for the designation of minor bodies in the solar system: minor planets; comets; and natural satellites. The MPC is also responsible for the efficient collection, computation, checking and dissemination of astrometric observations and orbits for minor planets and comets.

In 2026, I founded Regulus Consulting, Inc., specializing in orbit computation, astrometry, solar system survey simulations, system operations, software development, proposal review, and public outreach. I have served as a reviewer for NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Interests:

- Population models of asteroids and comets

- Physical properties of asteroids - 250,000 H,G,G12 values derived from Pan-STARRS data

- Dynamical evolution of orbits

- Discovery and follow-up of NEOs

- Astrometric uncertainties for large asteroid surveys - Paper

- All-sky telescopic surveys and survey efficiency for NEO discovery - NASA LSST study

- LSST Solar System Science Collaboration

- Earth-impacting asteroids - with Pan-STARRS and parallax effect on orbit determination

- Physical and dynamical properties of meteoroids

- Extrasolar planets: transiting exoplanets

- Commercial utilization of space resources

- Space policy regarding asteroid mining

Publications

Peer-reviewed: ADS library

2026

Chandler, C.O. et al., 2026. NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Observations of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1). Accepted.

Micheli, M. et al. 2026. Astrometric Follow-up of Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 YR4 During a Torino Scale Level 3 Alert. The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, Volume 73, Issue 1, id.8

2025

Cloete, R., Loeb, A, Veres, P., 2025. Upper Limit on the Non-Gravitational Acceleration and Lower Limits on the Nucleus Mass and Diameter of 3I/ATLAS. Submitted to Research Notes of the AAS.

Ingebretsen, C., Bolin, B., Jedicke, R., Veres, P., Chen, C.H., Lisse, C.M., McMillan, R., Sutherland, T., Townsend, A.J. Apache Point Rapid Response Characterization of Primitive Imminent Impactor 2024 RW1. The Astronomical Journal, Volume 170, Number 4

Veres, P., Cloete, R., Payne, M., Loeb. A. 2025. Improving the discovery of near-Earth objects with machine-learning methods. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Volume 698, id.A242, 12 pp.

Nuggent, C. R., Bauer, J.M., Benitez, O., Blain, M., D'Souza, N., Garimella, S., Goldwater, M., Kim, Y., Larsen, H..G., Linder, T., Mackowiak, K., McGinnis, Z., Pan, E., Pedersen, C.C., Sadhwani, P., Spoto., F., Tan, N.J, Veres, P.,C. Xue. 2025. Reprocessing the NEAt Data Set: Preliminary Results. The Planetary Science Journal 6, 82.

Hoffman, T., Micheli, M., Cano, J.L., Devogele, M., Farnocchia, D., Pravec, P., Veres, P., Poppe, B. 2025. Debiasing astro-photometric observations with corrections using statistics (DePhOCUS). Icarus 426, 116366

2024

Taylor, A.G., Seligman, D.Z., Holman, M.J., Veres, P., Farnocchia, D., Lewis, N., Micheli, M., Wright, J. 2024. Strong Nongravitational Accelerations and the Potential for Misidentification of Near-Earth Objects. The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 976, Number 2

Cloete, R., Veres, P., Loeb, A. 2024. Machine learning methods for automated interstellar object classification with LSST. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 691, A338

2023

Veres, P., Cloete, R., Weryk, R., Loeb, A., Payne, M.J.:2023. Improvement of Digest2 NEO Classification Code-utilizing the Astrometry Data Exchange Standard. PASP 135, Issue 1052, id. 104505.

Seligman, D. et al.: 2023. Dark Comets? Unexpectedly Large Nongravitational Accelerations on a Sample of Small Asteroids. The Planetary Science Journal, Volume 4, Issue 2, id.35, 16 pp.

Bufanda, E. et al.: 2023. TNO or Comet? The Search for Activity and Characterization of Distant Object 418993 (2009 MS9). The Planetary Science Journal, Volume 4, Issue 1, id.2, 18 pp.

2022

Reddy, W. et al.: 2022. Apophis Planetary Defense Campaign. The Planetary Science Journal, Volume 3, Issue 5, id.123, 16 pp

Wainscoat, R., Weryk, R., Chesley, S., Vereš, P., Micheli, M.: 2021. Regions of slow apparent motion of close approaching asteroids: The case of 2019 OK. Icarus 373.M

2020

Baláž, M., Tóth, J., Vereš, P.: 2020. ASMODEUS Meteor Simulation Tool. Planetary and Space Science 190, 1-9.

Pan, M., Payne, M.J., Vereš, P., Holman, M.J.: 2020. Large-scale Homogeneous Orbit Fitting with the Minor Planet Center Databases using OrbFit. RNAAS, Vol 4, Number 3.

2019

Pravec, P. et al.: 2019. Asteroid pairs: a complex picture. Icarus 333, 429-463.

Keys, S. et al.: 2019. The digest2 NEO classification code. PASP 131, 1000.

2018

Vereš, P. et al.: 2018. Unconfirmed Near-Earth Objects. Astronomical Journal 156, Number 1.

Holman, M.J. et al. A.: 2018. A dwarf planet class object in the 21:5 resonance with Neptune. Astronomical Journal Letters, 855, No 1.

Cibulková, H. et al.: 2018. Distribution of shape elongations of main belt asteroids derived from Pan-STARRS1 photometry. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 611, A86.

2017

Vereš, P. et al..: 2017. Statistical Analysis of the Astrometric Errors for the Most Productive Asteroid Surveys. Icarus 249, 139.

Vereš, P. and Chesley, S.: 2017. High Fidelity Near-Earth Object Survey Simulations. Astronomical Journal 154, 18 pp.

Vereš, P. and Chesley, S.: 2017. Near-Earth Object Orbit Linking with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Astronomical Journal 154, 19 pp.

Moreno, F., et al.: 2017. The splitting of double-component active asteroid P/2016 J1 (PANSTARRS). Astrophysical Journal Letters 837, L3, 6 pp.

Engelhardt, T. et al.: 2017. An Observational Upper Limit on the Interstellar Number Density of Asteroids and Comets. Astronomical Journal 153, 11 pp.

Schunová-Lilly, E., et al.: 2017. The size-frequency distribution of H>18 NEOs and AMR targets detected by Pan-STARRS1. Icarus 284, 114

2016

McNeill, A. et al.: 2015, Brightness variation distributions among main belt asteroids from sparse light curve sampling with Pan-STARRS 1. MNRAS 459, 2964.

Bannister, M.T., et al.: 2016. OSSOS: IV. Discovery of a dwar planet candidate in the 9:2 resonance with Neptune. Astrophysical Journal 152, Issue 6, article id. 212, 8 pp.

2015

Denneau, L. et al..:2015. Observational constraints on the catastrophic disruption rate of small main melt asteroids. Icarus 245, 1

Vereš, P. et al.: 2015. Absolute magnitudes and slope parameters for 250,000 asteroids observed by Pan-STARRS PS1 – Preliminary results. Icarus 261, 34.

Tóth, J. et al.: 2015. All-sky Meteor Orbit System AMOS and preliminary analysis of three unusual meteor showers, Planetary and Space Science 118, 102.

Vaduvescu, O. et al.: 2015. First EURONEAR NEA discoveries from La Palma using the INT. MNRAS 449, 1614

Tóth, J. et al.: 2015. The Košice meteorite fall: Recovery and strewn field. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, Volume 50, Issue 5, pp. 853-863

2014

Vereš, P. et al.: 2014. The effect of parallax and cadence on asteroid impact probabilities and warning times. PASP 126, 433

Kohout, T.: 2014. Density, porosity and magnetic susceptibility of the Košice meteorite shower and homogeneity of its parent meteoroid. Planetary and Space Science 93, 96

Hsieh, H.H. et al.: 2014. Search for the return of activity in active asteroid 176P/LINEAR. The Astronomical Journal 174, 89

2013

Vereš, P. et al.: 2014. Automatic Detection of Asteroids and Meteoroids – A Wide Field Survey. Proceedings of Meteoroids 2013 Conference, ed. Jopek T.J., Reitmeijer, F.J.M., Watanabe J., Williams I.P., A.M.University Press Poznan, Poland, 307

Denneau, L. et al.: 2013. The Pan-STARRS Moving Object Processing System. PASP 125, 357

Hsieh, H. et al.: 2013. Main-belt Comet P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS). The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 771, 6

2012

Hsieh, H.: 2012. Discovery of Main-belt Comet P/2006 VW139 by Pan-STARRS1. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 748, 7

Vereš, P. et al.: 2012. Improved Asteroid Astrometry and Photometry with Trail Fitting. PASP 124, 921

2011

Tóth, J. et al.: 2011. All-sky video orbits of Lyrids 2009. Publ. Astron. Soc. Japan Vol. 63, 331

2010

Vereš, P. et al.: 2010. Meteor showers of comet C/1917 F1 Mellish. MNRAS 412, 511.

Tóth, J. et al.: 2010. Tidal disruption of NEAs – a case of Příbram meteorite. MNRAS 415, 1527

Tóth, J. et al.: 2010. All-sky video orbits of Lyrids 2009. Publ. Astron. Soc. Japan 63, No. 2

Vereš, P. et al.: 2010. Analysis of the SonotaCo video meteor orbits. WGN- 38:2, 54

2009

Vereš, P. et al.: 2009. Relative photometry of transiting exoplanet COROT-Exo-2b. Contributions of the Astronomical Observatory Skalnaté Pleso 39, 34

Kornoš, L. et al.: 2009. Release of meteoroids from asteroids by Earth's tides. Contributions of the Astronomical Observatory Skalnaté Pleso 39

Vereš, P. et al.: 2009. Detection of Earth-impacting asteroids with the next generation all-sky surveys, Icarus 203, 472

2008

Vereš, P. et al.: 2008. Motion of a meteoroid released from and asteroid. Earth, Moon and planets 102, 59

Kornoš, L. et al.: 2008. Orbital evolution of Příbram and Neuschwanstein. Earth, Moon and planets 102, 47

2006

. Vereš, P. et al.: 2006. Search for very close approaching NEAs. Contributions of the Astronomical Observatory Skalnaté Pleso 36, 171

Books, book chapters and standalone publications

Vereš, P. and Schmidt, N. Methods, Means and Governance of NEO Observation. In "Planetary Defense: Global Collaboration for Defending Earth from Asteroids and Comets", Edited by Nikola Schmidt, Springer, 2019, pp. 49-70. ISBN 978-3-030-01000-3

Vereš, P.. Technical Architecture to Deepen Our Solar System Awareness. In "Planetary Defense: Global Collaboration for Defending Earth from Asteroids and Comets", Edited by Nikola Schmidt, Springer, 2019, pp. 71-93. ISBN 978-3-030-01000-3

Vereš, P.. Vision of Perfect Observation Capabilities. In "Planetary Defense: Global Collaboration for Defending Earth from Asteroids and Comets", Edited by Nikola Schmidt, Springer, 2019, pp. 95-112. ISBN 978-3-030-01000-3. Springer LINK

Chesley, S.R. and Vereš, P. 2017. Projected Near-Earth Object Discovery Performance of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.JPL Publication 16-11. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.DOWNLOAD

Paľuš, P., Tóth, J., Ševčík, S., Masarik, S., Vereš, P. 2010. Dotyky s vesmírom. ISBN 9788022328869 (Slovak language).

Curriculum Vitae

Employment history

2026-present -- Founder & CEO; Regulus Consulting, Inc., USA / Slovakia
2026-present -- Visiting researcher, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia 2017-2025 -- Research Scientist / Astronomer; Minor Planet Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA
2015-2017 -- Caltech Postdoctoral Scholar; NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA
2014-2015 -- Research Scientist; Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
2011-2014 -- Pan-STARRS MOPS Postdoctoral Fellow; Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA
2010-2011 -- Research Scientist; Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
2008-2010 -- Observer; Modra Observatory, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
2009 -- IT Technical Support; QualityUnit, Bratislava, Slovakia

Education

2006-2010 -- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
2001-2006 -- Master (Mgr) Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia

Internships

06/2009 -- Super Vatican Observatory Summer School, Sassone, Italy.
02-08/2008 -- Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA.
06-07/2007 -- Vatican observatory summer school, Castel Gandolfo, Italy.
12/2006 -- Kobe international school of planetary sciences 2006, Kobe, Japan

Teaching, supervision and academic service

2014 -- Extrasolar Planets, Comenius University in Bratislava
2007 -- Introduction to Astronomy II (Teaching Assistant), Comenius University in Bratislava
2006 -- Physics 101 – Mechanics (Teaching Assistant), Comenius University in Bratislava
Master's thesis supervision and mentoring of university students
PhD dissertation reviews and university examination service
Invited university seminars and public outreach lectures in Slovak and English

Membership

International Astronomical Union
American Geophysical Union
Division for Planetary Sciences, AAS
Slovak Space Policy Association

Conferences

05/2006 -- Meeting on asteroids and comets in Europe, Vienna, Austria ABSTRACT
07/2008 -- Asteroids, Comets, Meteors, Baltimore, MD, USA ABSTRACT ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
09/2008 -- IMO International Meteor Conference, Sachticky, Slovakia ABSTRACT
04/2009 -- First planetary defense conference, Granada, Spain MEETING
09/2009 -- European planetary science congress, Potsdam, Germany ABSTRACT
05/2010 -- Meteoroids, Breckenridge, CO, USA MEETING
05/2011 -- Planetary Defense Conference, Bucharest, Romania MEETING
05/2012 -- Asteroids, Comets and Meteors, Niigata, Japan ABSTRACT ABSTRACT ABSTRACT ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
10/2012 -- Division for Planetary Sciences Annual Meeting (DPS), Reno, NV, USA ABSTRACT ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
04/2013 -- Planetary Defense Conference, Flagstaff, USA MEETING
10/2013 -- Division for Planetary Sciences Annual Meeting (DPS), Denver, CO, USA ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
07/2014 -- Asteroids, Comets and Meteors, Helsinki, Finland ABSTRACT ABSTRACT ABSTRACT ABSTRACT ABSTRACT ABSTRACT ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
08/2015 -- LSST Project Community Workshop, Bremerton, WA, USA MEETING
11/2015 -- Division for Planetary Sciences Annual Meeting (DPS), National Harbor, MD, USA ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
06/2016 -- LSST@Europe2, Belgrade, Serbia PROGRAMME
10/2016 -- Division for Planetary Sciences Annual Meeting (DPS), Pasadena, CA, USA ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
10/2017 -- Division for Planetary Sciences Annual Meeting (DPS), Provo, UT, USA ABSTRACT
04/2018 -- Asteroid Science Intersections with In-Space Mine Engineering 2018, Luxemburg PROGRAM
05/2018 -- Near-Earth Objects: Properties, Detection, Resources, Impacts and Defending Earth, Garching, Germany WEB
04/2019 -- Planetary Defense Conference, College Park, MA, USA
12/2022 -- EC-ESA Workshop on NEO, Darmstadt, Germany
04/2023 -- Planetary Defense Conference, Vienna, Austria
11/2024 -- ESA Workshop on Size Determination of Potentially Hazardous NEOs, Darmstadt, Gernany
07/2025 -- Rubin Workshp, Tucson, AZ, USA
08/2025 -- Monsoon Workshop/ADASSx, Tucson, AZ, USA
10/2025 -- EU-ESA Workshop on Astrometric and Radar Observations of NEOs, Frascati, Italy

Reviewer

Planetary and Space Science
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Astronomy and Astrophysics
NASA, NSF reviewer
VEGA grant reviewer for Slovak Department of Education

Skills

Computing: Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac OSX operating systems
Programming: MySQL, PHP, Perl, Python, C++, IDL, Iraf, Bash, OriginLab, html, CMS-web site management
Observing and Image processing : UH88, CFHT (Mauna Kea), Pan-STARRS1, Pan-STARRS2, LCGOT (Haleakala), DECam (Cerro Tololo)
Moving Object Processig System (MOPS)

Lectures & Media

Available for invited lectures, university seminars, media commentary and public outreach in Slovak and English.

Meteors

Meteoroids are tiny fragments of comets and asteroids. When they enter the Earth's atmosphere, they burn as meteors and disintegrate 80-120 km above the surface. When we observe the meteor trail by at least two stations separated by tens of kilometers, we can compute the 3D atmospheric trajectory and derive the heliocentric orbit. Helicentric orbits lead to the parent body that released the meteoroids or can serve as an indicator of already disintegrated body. Additionaly, we can obtain a spectrum of a meteor and study the volatiles in the ionizied trail.

The global network for all-sky video meteor surveillance - AMOS Video Meteor Network, PI: Juraj Toth (Comenius University, Slovakia)

Composite image of Perseid meteor shower on Aug 12/13, 2013 by AMOS.

Live feed from all-sky video meteor system (AMOS)

Contact me

Peter Vereš
Regulus Consulting, Inc.
30 N Gould St #50336
Sheridan, WY, USA
82801
USA

Phone: +1-307-458-5123
Email:
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Astronomer | Asteroids & Planetary Defense | Former NASA JPL/Caltech and Harvard-Smithsonian Researcher

Curriculum Vitae

Employment history

Education

Internships

Teaching, supervision and academic service

Membership

Conferences

Reviewer

Skills

Suggested topics

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Meteors