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Jan.
2004
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12 January 2005 - Wednesday
MOS on the Web: What other Web sites are reporting about minor object science:
Deep Impact launch today (newer first)
- Spaceflight Now Deep Impact Mission Status Center
- Florida Today Deep Impact Launch Journal
- "NASA's Comet Probe in Safe-Mode, But Healthy, After Launch," Space.com 12 Jan.
- "NASA's Comet Smashing Mission Ready to Fly," Space.com 11 Jan.
- "Comet-smacking craft is go," Florida Today 11 Jan.
- "To Strike a Comet: Astronomers Eager for Deep Impact's Cosmic Collision," Space.com 11 Jan.
Spitzer Space Telescope news
- "Spitzer Space Telescope Reads Solar System's 'Rosetta Stone,'" University of Minnesota 11 Jan. news release at SST
- "Spitzer Sees Dusty Aftermath of Pluto-Sized Collision," SST 10 Jan. news release
Other news
- "Steward Observatory Mirror Lab Awarded Contract for Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Mirror," Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Corp. 11 Jan. news release — The 8.4m "LSST will take exposures every 10 seconds, opening a movie-like window on objects that change or move on rapid timescales — exploding supernovae, Earth-approaching asteroids, and distant Kuiper belt objects."
Comet news: About comet C/2004 V13 (SWAN), David Seargent and Michael Mattiazzo have told the Comets Mailing List that their independent observations during 5-7 January showed it to be "very diffuse." Mattiazzo wondered aloud whether "there is nothing remaining of the nucleus." Seargent said, however, "What I found interesting was the comet's greater visibility through a Swan Band filter [and] for there to have been any enhancement at all, the comet must have still been producing gas, so that what was seen was an active comet and not just a debris cloud." (Many A/CC readers will remember that, before perihelion, it was believed that this comet might not survive its close passage.)
Risk monitoring: Today's Daily Orbit Update MPEC reports observation of 2004 MN4 late last night and the night before from CEAMIG-REA Observatory in Brazil, yesterday morning from Junk Bond Observatory in Arizona, and last night from Postel Observatory in Italy and Naef Observatory in Switzerland. Junk Bond also reported 2004 VD17 from yesterday morning, and CEAMIG-REA caught 2004 XP14 yesterday morning, adding 10.595 days to what had been a 21.187-day observing arc.
Today NEODyS and JPL slightly raised their risk assessments for 2004 VD17, and JPL did the same for 2004 XP14. At last check, JPL hadn't updated its 2004 MN4 ratings with the new data, but NEODyS very slightly lowered its ratings.
Continuing news from yesterday below about photometric study of 2004 MN4, Raoul Behrend told the MPML today that he is now incorporating into his calculation all of the observations noted yesterday, and more have been received. He reported that the rotation period "is now estimated to be 0.67 day [with] peak variability around 0.4 mag." But there is also the possibility that the period could be around 0.95 day, and "Due to the difficulty to obtain the complete lightcurve for such periods, we would like to have some other long runs of photometry on this target, from all around the world."
Jan.
2005
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11 January 2005 - Tuesday
Recovery: Thanks to A/CC reader Peter Thomas in Australia for pointing out that the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) in Arizona recovered 3360 1981 VA on December 22nd. This near-Earth object, which from its brightness is roughly estimated to be on the order of 1.86 km. (1.16 miles) wide, has the distinction of being the lowest numbered asteroid still without a name. It was discovered by Eleanor Helin and S. Dunbar with the 1.2m Schmidt telescope at Mt. Palomar on 4 November 1981, and was observed for almost 49 days, until December 23rd. It was recovered by Alan Gilmore and Pam Kilmartin more than three years afterward at Mt. John Observatory in New Zealand, on 23 April 1985, and followed for 31 days. Later that year it was observed for another 43 days, until 16 November. And that was all there was for more than 19 years, until last month.
(Note: Sources for this report include the NEODyS 3360 1981 VA observation tally, and CBAT IAU Circulars which are no longer publicly available.)
Risk monitoring: There was no risk monitoring news to report yesterday. Today JPL posted 2004 AH14 with several dozen highly preliminary impact solutions. This object, which JPL estimates at a little less than a kilometer wide, was announced today in MPEC 2005-A36 as discovered last Friday morning by by the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) in Arizona. It was confirmed by Modra Observatory in Slovakia on Saturday morning and yesterday morning, and by Bill Ryan at the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) Sunday morning.
Today's Daily Orbit Update MPEC reports observation of 2004 MN4 from Ironwood North Observatory in Hawaii on Saturday and yesterday from Aichtal Observatory in Germany and Eschenberg and Naef observatories in Switzerland. Early today Jornada Observatory in New Mexico caught 2004 VD17 and Great Shefford Observatory in England picked up 2005 AU3. Today NEODyS and JPL very slightly raised their risk assessments for 2004 MN4, and slightly lowered their overall risk ratings for 2004 VD17 and 2005 AU3. [2009 addendum: Ironwood North Observatory was at the time located in Hawaii, but the telescope hardware and observatory name have since relocated with their owner to Arizona.]
Raoul Behrend told the Minor Planet Mailing list (MPML) on January 6th that a lightcurve had been calculated for 2004 MN4 using images from Yassine Damerdji at Haute-Provence Observatory, finding "a period around 0.6 day, for a total variability around 0.4 mag. 2004 MN4 seems to be around 1 mag brighter then predicted."
On the 9th, Bruce Gary reported to the MPML determination of a "compatible" 2004 MN4 lightcurve yielding "period = 15.2 +/- 1.0 (est'd SE) hours, amplitude = 0.25 +/- 0.10 magnitude (0.5 mag peak-to-peak), and average equivalent V-magnitude = 17.05 +/- 0.15" using combined observations "on January 8 and 9 (UT) by observers Vishnu Reddy, Ken Archer and Bruce Gary (using telescopes in Hawaii and Arizona)."
Using a standard but very rough brightness-to-size formula, jumping this object's calculated absolute magnitude by 1.0, from the current JPL H=19.35, would increase its size estimate by roughly 50%, and magnitude 17.2 or higher would more than double the estimate, putting it at more than a kilometer wide.
Jan.
2005
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9 January 2005 - Sunday
Recovery: MPEC 2005-A32 todays reports the recovery of 2003 FG by Powell Observatory in Kansas on 31 December and early today. This potentially hazardous object, which is estimated from its brightness to be roughly 390 meters/yards wide, was the third of seven near-Earth asteroids discovered by amateur astronomers in 2003, and the second of three discovered that year by Bill Yeung in Arizona. He found it on 23 March 2003 and it was linked to observations from NEAT's telescope on Haleakala in Hawaii ten days ealier. Before today, it had been last reported seen on 9 April 2003.
Risk monitoring: Today NEODyS posted 2005 AU3 with a few very low-rated impact solutions. See news yesterday below for more about this object.
Today's Daily Orbit Update MPEC reports observation of 2004 MN4 from the night of January 6th by Lumezzane and San Marcello Pistoiese observatories in Italy, early on the 7th and yesterday by Jeffrey Sue with Rent-A-Scope at New Mexico Skies, and last night by Marxuquera Observatory in Spain. Today NEODyS very slightly raised its overall risk ratings for this object, and, at last check, JPL hadn't yet updated its risk assessment using the new data.
Jan.
2005
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8 January 2005 - Saturday
Risk monitoring: JPL has posted 2005 AU3, which was announced today in MPEC 2005-A28 as discovered yesterday morning by LINEAR in New Mexico and confirmed last night by KLENOT in the Czech Republic and this morning by Desert Moon Observatory in New Mexico and Sabino Canyon Observatory in Arizona. JPL puts the object's diameter at roughly 20 meters/yards.
Today's Daily Orbit Upate MPEC carries observations of 2004 MN4 from last night by Eschenberg Observatory in Switzerland and by Sormano Observatory in Italy, which also observed 2004 VD17 last night. Today NEODyS and JPL very, very slightly lowered their overall risk ratings for 2004 MN4, and very slightly lowered their assessments for 2004 VD17.
Jan.
2005
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7 January 2005 - Thursday
MOS on the Web: A look at what other Web sites are reporting about minor object science:
Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz)
- Imagery of C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) & Pleiades taken last night by Austrian comet observers Gerald Rhemann and Michael Jaeger, link sent by Herb Raab.
- "Explore Star Clusters (and Catch a Comet)," Space.com 7 Jan.
- "Corkscrew Meteor Mystery," Space.com 7 Jan., includes images of 1P/Halley & C/2004 Q2 (Machholz)
- "Five Mile Rock 'flare' was really a meteor," Cook County, Minnesota News-Herald 6 Jan. See news thread for more about the Tuesday night fireball.
- "Asteroid now bears name of Penn State Erie astronomer," Pennsylvania State University Live 7 Jan. article, which notes that Roger Knacke's "Notable discoveries include the first direct observation of water in a comet." 4312 Knacke (1978 WW11) was in the November 22nd namings batch (news).
- "400-metre wide asteroid to miss Earth," New Scientist dated 8 Jan., posted 7 Jan., about 2004 MN4
- U.S. National Dark-Sky Day petition reported in Astronomy.com "astro bytes" 6 Jan. item
Deep Impact: Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has posted pictures today at its Deep Space Multimedia Gallery show installation of the launch fairing, and pictures from Monday show the spacecraft being installed atop its Delta II launcher. There are mission previews at Nature today and Spaceflight Now yesterday. Some places to watch for news updates about the launch, planned for next Wednesday at 1:48pm EST (1848 UTC), are at Spaceflight Now's Deep Space status page, which currently is reporting that good weather is predicted, the Deep Space mission home page, and the KSC Launching Rockets page.
Risk monitoring: Today's Daily Orbit Update (DOU) MPEC carries observations of 2004 VD17 from Peschiera del Garda Observatory in Italy from 9, 10, and 14 December, well inside this object's observing arc. And the DOU has 2004 MN4 from Italy on January 3rd, yesterday from an observatory in Australia and three in Europe, and this morning from Petit Jean Mountain Observatory in Arkansas. Today NEODyS very slightly raised their risk assessments for 2004 MN4 and very slightly lowered them for 2004 VD17.
2004 XK3 was dropped today from European Spaceguard Central Node (SCN) Priority List, which had noted that it would be in view until February 5th. That's a long time as small objects go, but this one was last reported by Jornada Observatory in New Mexico on December 19th. Another small object, 2004 XM29, was predicted to go out of view on January 3rd, and hasn't been reported since December 31st (from Great Shefford Observatory in England). Also not seen since New Year's Eve is 2004 XP14 (from Reedy Creek Observatory in Australia). This object is on the order of 420 meters/yards wide and fortunately SCN predicts that it will be in view until February 23rd.
Editor's note: On November 2nd it was explained that A/CC was shifting to a simpler news format. With a sharp decrease in available time, we will now streamline the format further to keep functioning as best as possible. Priority will be given to news that only A/CC routinely reports, then, as time permits, links will be given to minor object news elsewhere, but with less amplification than in the past.