So Beth and I go out in the back yard at 11:00 UT (4:00 PDT) this morning, temperature still in the high 70s F, some high cirrus which was dissipating (nothing...
Bill Owen
wmo@...
Sep 1, 2007 6:45 pm
19632
Probably Helios 1B, which should have passed from north to south, nearly straight overhead at 4:48 PDT. It was predicted to be mag. 2.8, but I suppose could...
... No. It's Earth encounter velocity is ~15 km/sec, way too high for "space junk", and at H = 17.1, it is more than 1 km in diameter if natural, and even if...
... With an absolute magnitude of 17.1, it's too big to be space junk. Of course, perhaps the absolute magnitude is way off. But it would have to be off by...
Dave Tholen
tholen@...
Sep 4, 2007 7:59 pm
19636
... It was observed both photometrically and radiometrically in 1978 when it was discovered. the albedo is around 0.12 and the diameter is about 2 km....
... Why isn't it numbered yet? There are observations from multiple apparitions... Regards, Lance...
Lance Benner
lance@...
Sep 4, 2007 9:15 pm
19638
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/GPC/gigapixel_camera-8-07.html For Immediate Release, Friday August 31, 2007 Contacts: Dr. Nick Kaiser Principal...
Ron Baalke
baalke@...
Sep 4, 2007 10:05 pm
19639
From the position of 118 35.89 W and 42 9.45 N (in the USA) on 07/08/22 at 06h 58m 10s, a satellite passed within a few arc minutes of the asteroid IDUNA.. Can...
... Easy with your precise timing and indirect precise position. To within a second and 6 arc minutes this was 1995 3 B, catalog number 23468, a Centaur upper...
Thanks Tony and Duncan.. HMMMM.. I have The Sky.. I suppose I should find out to to put the asteroids and satellites into it.. "Indirect precise position"???...
BTW.. This refers to a video clip obtained seconds before the IDUNA Occultation on the same day.. August 22nd UT I believe.. I have the two videos on my...
... With an uncertainty parameter (U) of 2, it is not that strange that it hasn't been numbered yet. After all the Guide to Minor Body Astrometry states in...
In late 1996 we were considering attempting to do radar observations of this object, but the extremely short discovery arc precluded recovery. The current...
Steve Ostro
ostro@...
Sep 5, 2007 4:18 am
19647
... Well, then, focus on the word "indirect". You didn't give a direct position. You said it was near a particular asteroid at a particular time. That's...
Ah!.. I thought you were referring to the latitude and longitude of the observing site.. Which is quite precise, though I did not include the full precision of...
... 1978 CA is an NEO with three well-observed oppositions and a U parameter less than or equal to two. Seems to qualify. There are 48 observations from 21...
... This is a barely educated guess, but with the first observed opposition being more than a quarter century before the latter two, the possibility that the ...
I may be out of my depth here, but on the number of oppositions.... The period of this object is 1.19 years. On my calculation this means that the synodic ...
http://mr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR13030.html Caltech Astronomers Obtain Sharpest-Ever Pictures of the Heavens Caltech News Release September 4, 2007...
Ron Baalke
baalke@...
Sep 5, 2007 3:54 pm
19654
I just read the following page http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/stats/ and note that so far only 720 large NEA were discovered. If I remember correctly, the previous...
Using Lowell's Asteroid Observation Strategy Chart Builder http://asteroid.lowell.edu/cgi-bin/koehn/obsstrat I find that 1978 CAs uncertainty never reaches 1...
http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/snews/2007/0820.shtml Successful re-ignition of Ion Engine C onboard Hayabusa Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) August 20, 2007...
Ron Baalke
baalke@...
Sep 5, 2007 5:49 pm
19657
Depends of what you thought before... :) I never thought they were really dangerous. So less dangerous than not dangerous, how much is that ? The probability...
Presumably similar circumstances apply to lots of other NEOs. 2004 JG6 is one I have an interest in, which doesn't ever come to opposition, but for which...
Brian Skiff
bas@...
Sep 5, 2007 6:26 pm
19660
... It seems that the powers-that-be have decided that the end of 2008 is the end of the 10-year period for measuring the performance of Spaceguard, not the...
