18 January 2005 - Tuesday

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MOS on the Web – Minor object science reports elsewhere:

  Meteor news

• "Metal chunk on Mars confirmed as meteorite," New Scientist 18 Jan. article: "[Opportunity] used its Mossbauer spectrometer to confirm that the rock was made of iron and nickel."
• "I saw a meteorite flying over Wrexham," Wrexham, Wales Evening Leader 18 Jan. article: "at 4am on Friday"
• "Mysterious Object Seen Over East Texas," Tyler, Texas KLTV-TV 17 Jan. article — Editor's note: This was most likely another jet contrail.

  Interplanetary dust news

• "Researchers discover carriers of astronomical 2175 extinction line in presolar grains," Washington University in Saint Louis news release at EurekAlert 13 Jan.: "Using sophisticated features on a transmission electron microscope [has found that] organic carbon and amorphous silicates in interstellar grains embedded within interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) are the carriers of the astronomical 2175 [Angstrom] extinction line [which blocks] light from stars from reaching the Earth due to the absorption of light by dust in the interstellar medium."
• "Organic molecules transport strongest spectral signature of interplanetary dust particles," Lawrence Livermore National Lab 13 Jan. news release: "Interplanetary dust particles gathered from the Earth's stratosphere are complex collections of primitive solar system and presolar grains from the interstellar medium."

  Other news

• "Astronomy's Case of the Missing Disks," Univ. of California at Los Angeles 14 Jan. news release: "Approximately half of all newborn stars are known to possess the materials to make planets... Despite red dwarfs holding a solid majority among the different kinds of stars in our galaxy, only two have been found with evidence of debris disks."

Comet news:  MPEC 2005-B25 today carries a restatement of the discovery observations for comet C/2005 B1 (Christensen) (see below), new observations, and identification with a previously discovered asteroidal object, 2004 FS101. Perihelion is now predicted for February 23rd at a closer, but still distant, 3.204 AU (more than twice the distance between Sun and Mars). The MPEC residuals show that 2004 FS101 was observed on 18 March 2004 with the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope in Arizona, which picked it up again on the 26th, while LINEAR in New Mexico caught it on the 23rd.
      Karl Battams today congratulated Rainer Kracht on the SOHO comet discovery chat page for discovering (on the 15th) the 900th comet found with the spacecraft.

Risk monitoring:  JPL posted 2005 BS1 after it was announced in MPEC 2005-B20 today as discovered on the morning of the 16th by LINEAR in New Mexico. It took some bigger scopes to confirm it, first by KLENOT last night in the Czech Republic, and then early today with observations coded to Tim Spahr at the Whipple Observatory in Arizona, the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope in Arizona, and from Table Mountain Observatory in southern California. JPL puts this object's diameter at 10 meters/yards, and reports that it passed through the Earth-Moon system at 0.7 lunar distance from Earth at approximately 1011 UT on the 13th.
      Today's Daily Orbit Update MPEC carries observations of 2005 AH14 from UKAPP via Faulkes Telescope North last night and early today by KLENOT, and of 2005 BC from Jornada Observatory this morning UT in New Mexico. Today NEODyS replaced the two remaining impact solutions it has for 2005 AH14, going to a pair with higher, although still low, overall risk ratings. And both NEODyS and JPL raised their risk assessments for 2005 BC.

17 January 2005 - Monday

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Comet news:  MPEC 2005-B13 announces the discovery of comet C/2005 B1 (Christensen), discovered yesterday morning by Eric Christensen at the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) in Arizona. It is a distant object traveling a path almost perpendicular to the ecliptic (i=86.1°), coming to perihelion, according to the first preliminary calculation, on February 14th at 5.289 AU, as far from the Sun as Jupiter.

MPC news:  By A/CC's count, the Minor Planet Center issued its 10,000th Minor Planet Electronic Circular (MPEC) this morning (the count might be off by plus or minus a few, so we won't try to say which exactly was the 10,000th). See recent news for more about the history of these publications.

Risk monitoring:  Today NEODyS and JPL posted 2005 BC, which was announced this morning in MPEC 2005-B07 as discovered early yesterday UT by the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) in Arizona. It was confirmed last night by Great Shefford Observatory in England and this morning by Desert Moon Observatory in New Mexico, Table Mountain Observatory in southern California, and Sabino Canyon Observatory in Arizona. JPL puts this object's diameter at very roughly 727 meters/yards, and the highly preliminary risk assessments, which will change with further observation, have impact solutions as early as 2009. (An impact solution is not a prediction but rather a possibility that hasn't yet been eliminated.)
      The Daily Orbit Update (DOU) MPEC carries observation of four objects that have impact solutions. 2005 AH14 is reported from CSS yesterday morning, and today NEODyS sharply lowered its risk assessment for this kilometer-size object, while JPL eliminated its impact solutions altogether. 2005 AV27 was observed last night by Wildberg Observatory in Germany and KLENOT in the Czech Republic. Only NEODyS had this object posted, with just two very low-rated impact solutions, and today those were removed.
      2004 MN4 is in the DOU, reported from Postel Observatory in Italy from the night of the 15th, and from Los Molinos Observatory in Uruguay early yesterday. And Jornada Observatory in New Mexico and the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope in Arizona observed 2004 VD17 yesterday morning. Today NEODyS very slightly raised its overall 2004 MN4 ratings, and left its 2004 VD17 assessment almost unchanged. At last check, JPL hadn't yet updated its risk ratings for these two objects.

16 January 2005 - Sunday

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Remote observing:  Formation of the International Consortium of Robotic Astronomical Researchers (ICRAR) was announced today, the result of a proposal by Martin Nicholson of Daventry Observatory (MPC 456) in England, who will serve as its first director, to promote "collaborative projects for amateur astronomers who are members of the Rent-a-scope community." The initial project areas involve making serious scientific contributions with nova searches and studying variable stars as well as asteroid astrometry and photometry. And this includes help for beginners to learn how to discover Main Belt asteroids. The site makes it clear that "It is not necessary to use Rent-a-scope equipment to participate," but notes that "Rent-a-scope resources may present an attractive alternative" for those without access to the equipment necessary to do this work, and also provides an "opportunity for physically disabled people to actively participate in performing real science."
      Ulrich Wolff, who made the first asteroid discovery with Rent-a-Scope at New Mexico Skies (MPC H06), recently told fellow users that, "According to [MPC observatory stats], H06 is among the top 50 astrometry sites of the world. [The MPC residuals stats] says residuals are OK, too."

Risk monitoring:  Today NEODyS posted 2005 AV27 with two very low-rated impact solutions. This object was announced today in MPEC 2005-B01 as discovered yesterday morning at LONEOS in Arizona. It was soon confirmed by Table Mountain Observatory in southern California, and then last night by Modra Observatory in Slovakia, Wildberg Observatory in Germany, and KLENOT in the Czech Republic, and this morning by Three Buttes Observatory in Arizona. From its absolute magnitude (brightness), this object is very roughly estimated at 295 meters/yards wide.
      Today's Daily Orbit Update (DOU) MPEC carries observations of 2004 MN4 from Crespadoro Observatory in Italy on January 7th, and last night from Camarillo Observatory in southern California and Aichtal and Wildberg observatories in Germany. Today NEODyS and JPL very slightly raised their overall risk ratings for this object. Both risk monitors slightly lowered their risk assessments for 2004 VD17 after the DOU reported observation from KLENOT last night. And the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope in Arizona caught 2005 AU3 yesterday morning, adding 4.351 days to what had been a 3.713-day observing arc. Today NEODyS lowered, and JPL slighly lowered, their already low ratings for this small object.

15 January 2005 - Saturday

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MOS on the Web – Some reporting about minor object science at other Web sites:

  Meteorite chemistry

• "Chris finds gas meteor," Manchester (England) Online, 10 Jan. article: "After studying samples from volcanoes in the US, Dr Chris Ballentine and his researchers have concluded that meteorite bombardment, after the Moon was first formed, was the only way gases could have arrived so deep within the Earth."
• "Poor Man's Space Probe," Astrobiology Magazine 9 Jan. article: "Although meteorites are sometimes known as 'the poor man's space probe', these remarkable objects require sophisticated (and expensive) instruments to extract their primaeval secrets."

  Meteor news, other

• "Meteorite found in Morocco contains little metal," Arabic News (Akron, Ohio) 15 Jan. article
• "Goodness, gracious! Great ball of fire," Phillips, Wisconsin The-Bee 13 Jan. article: The "strange, streaking light and noises that many northern Wisconsin residents witnessed Jan. 4 was indeed a visitor from outer space."
• "Meteors Cause Visible Lunar Explosions," Popular Mechanics article posted 11 Jan. — For more about this subject, see the ALPO Lunar Impacts page.

  Chicxulub impact structure

• "Activists: Research may harm marine life," El Universal, Mexico City 15 Jan. article: "Environmentalists are trying to shut down a project that aims to use sound waves to gather information on an ancient submerged asteroid crater... The information could lead to knowledge on how to respond to possible future asteroid hits."
• AP wire story at many news sites since 13 Jan., including 14 Jan. at CTV Canada as "Activists decry undersea sound wave research": "Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory [LDEO] ... is in charge of operating the Maurice Ewing"
• "Greens ready to block crater study," Manchester, England Guardian 13 Jan. article: "The main aim is to discover the angle at which the meteorite hit and the direction from which it came."

  Planetary defense

• "Opik urges asteroids action plan," BBC 13 Jan. article
• "Killing asteroids," Popular Mechanics article posted 11 Jan.: "Recently declassified Cold War era data compiled by scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), in New Mexico, suggest the Earth takes more nuclear-weapon-sized hits than previously believed."
• "Lab: Meteor could cause big tsunami," Albuquerque, New Mexico Tribune 10 Jan. article: "Every 10,000 years or so, we should get a tsunami from an asteroid, and we haven't had one in about that amount of time" — Galen Gisler, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• "Nasa gaffe that rocked the globe," The Scotsman 9 Jan. article: "It will go down as the most extreme example of crying wolf in the history of mankind. Scientists who terrified the life out of millions of people over Christmas by issuing an asteroid strike red alert have now admitted they got their sums wrong." — Editor's comment: Bull poop. No one said or "admitted" any such thing. A whole progression of "sums" have continued to be checked, double-checked, and cross-checked by the top experts. A/CC readers know that risk assessments are routinely refined day-after-day with further observation of an object. And anyone can see that, 17 days after the unprecedentedly high Torino (not "Terino") Scale ratings were lowered, this object (2004 MN4, not "2004 NM4") still appears to be far from elimination as a threat within current life times, although elimination is the most likely eventual outcome. See today's 2004 MN4 news immediately below.

  Online publications

• January 2005 edition of the bimonthly Distant EKOs — Editor's note: Among other subjects, this issue tells about a paper on looking for objects that "would confirm the presence of extrasolar planets in our own Solar System" (preprint link given), mentions a list of "occultations of stars brighter than 15 mag by the largest trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) for the next ten years" (preprint link not given, but it and part of the list are here), and has links to conferences this year "to bring scientists from the star formation community, planetologists, and meteoriticists together" (in Hawaii) and to teach PhD/post-doc students about trans-Neptunian objects and comets (in Switzerland).
• January 2005 edition of Deep Impact comet mission's monthly Deep News — Editor's note: Links include an interview with the mission's software stress tester, Kavita Kaur, and a gallery page with an 11 Dec. 2004 image of the mission target, 9P/Tempel 1, from Begues Observatory in Spain.

  Observatory news

• "Mauna Kea staff fears for safety of snow-lovers," Honolulu, Hawaii Star-Bulletin 13 Jan. article: "With snow blanketing Mauna Kea down to the 10,000-foot elevation, state officials are expecting a crowd of snow-lovers during the weekend... In the past, 'well over a thousand' cars per day have visited the 13,796-foot-high summit area following a good snowstorm." — See also webcams.
• "Webcam shows Tekapo's features to potential tourists," Stuff.co.nz 12 Jan. article — Editor's note: The webcam is at Mt. John Observatory in New Zealand, an active NEO observing site, but the view doesn't show much sky and only updates infrequently during daylight hours.

  Telescope technology

• "KU researchers unveil ‘telescope of the future’ at San Diego conference," University of Kansas 11 Jan. news release: "If successful, the new technology could alter the way all future ground- and space-based telescopes are constructed... The project is called ULTRA, for Ultra-Lightweight Telescope for Research in Astronomy."
• "'Telescope of the future' puts focus on KU," Lawrence, Kansas Journal-World 10 Jan. article: "The prototype ... which has a 16-inch mirror, weighs about 20 pounds. A conventional telescope of the same size would weigh about 225 pounds."

  Miscellaneous other

• "Music Unearths Local Talent: Highlights Of Sol 3 Include Asteroid Music By VSO Composer," Georgia Straight (British Columbia) 13 Jan. article: "'I'm almost always inspired by something that has nothing to do with absolute music,' says Vancouver Symphony Orchestra resident composer Jeffrey Ryan... His flute concerto, Cruithne, is one of two new works making their debut next Friday."
• "Disk Demolition Derby," Sky & Telescope 12 Jan. article: "Two teams of astronomers have reported signs of recent collisions between planetesimals orbiting Sunlike stars [Vega and beta Pictoris] in circumstellar disks." Additional link: "Astronomers: Asteroid collisions may account for star's odd appearance," University of Florida 12 Jan. news release
• "Astronomers concerned for future of U.S. space science," San Diego, California Union-Tribune 12 Jan. article

Risk monitoring:  Today's Daily Orbit Update (DOU) MPEC carries further observation of 2004 XD50 from LINEAR in New Mexico early yesterday and from Sandlot Observatory in Kansas this morning UT, and today JPL removed its impact solutions. About this object's discovery circumstance (see news below), NEODyS and a residuals query on MPES now show that it was observed in December only by LINEAR, on the 12th and 14th.
      The DOU also has observations of 2004 MN4 yesterday morning from Petit Jean Mountain Observatory in Arkansas, last night from Aichtal and Wildberg observatories in Germany, Consell Observatory in Spain, and Sormano Observatory in Italy, and this morning from Sandlot. Wildberg and Sormano last night also caught 2004 VD17, as did the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope in Arizona this morning. Today both risk monitors very slightly raised their 2004 MN4 risk assessments and raised their 2004 VD17 overall risk ratings to their highest yet for this object, which is estimated to be somewhat larger than 2004 MN4.
      2004 VD17's impact solutions are all far off (2086-2104) and derive from a still short 68.797-day observing arc, while the 2004 MN4 threat, calculated from observations spanning 306.020 days, looms more closely. NEODyS presently has 2004 MN4 impact solutions rated at Torino Scale 1 (a routine alert that an object "merits special monitoring") in the years 2044 and 2053, while JPL has only a 2053 impactor at TS-1. Radar observation is the best way to determine an exact long-term orbit, and Arecibo in Puerto Rico is scheduled to ping 2004 MN4 on 27-28 January. It also helps that 2004 MN4 optical observing will extend into May, for perhaps 120 more days. 2004 VD17 is predicted to go out of view around February 5th, but there is plenty of time and opportunity to observe it again, especially during close approaches in 2032 and 2041.

14 January 2005 - Friday

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MOS on the Web – Here is some of what other Web sites have been reporting about minor object science. Items are listed generally newer first by category:

  Meteorites on Mars

• "Mars rover discovers a potential meteorite," New Scientist 14 Jan. article: "Squyres says that the rover's rock abrasion tool, which is used to grind away the surface of rocks, had never been tested against a metal like nickel."
• "Opportunity Spots Curious Object On Mars," Space.com 13 Jan. article: "perhaps a meteorite"

  Raigad event

• "Astronomers rush to Raigad to locate meteor debris," Press Trust of India wire story at The Economic Times 13 Jan. (also here): "it appears to be an explosion caused due to the collision of an asteroid with the Earth's surface" — Editor's note: If this was a meteor, it exploded at very high altitude, and pieces might have reached the ground, but there wouldn't have been an explosive impact.
• "Sukhoi caused celestial fireball!" Mumbai, India Mid-Day 13 Jan. article: Wing Commander Tarun Kumar Singha ... said the fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30 MKI had crossed the sound barrier at a low altitude... [With extra fuel burning] the sudden appearance of the aircraft in a night sky may look like a fireball or any other unidentified bright flying object."
• "Police denies heavenly object caused last night's noise," PTI wire story at New Kerala 12 Jan. (also here in slightly different form): Residents of a village "about 100 km from Mumbai" reported "a huge ball of fire coming down from the sky accompanied by a big bang ... at around nine PM" on "Tuesday night" the 11th, but police "did not find any debris" and were informed by the air force "that a supersonic aircraft had passed the region at the time."
• "Mystery ball of fire falls in Khopoli," Mumbai Mid-Day 12 Jan. article: "Like 6,000 other villagers, Waghmare is in a state of shock after the mysterious fireball explosions ... at around 8.30 pm yesterday."

  Deep Impact launch

• "NASA's Deep Impact Spacecraft Out of Safe-Mode," AP wire story at Space.com 14 Jan.
• "Deep Impact status report," NASA 13 Jan. news release
• "ATK Helps Put Space Probe on Collision Course with Comet," ATK 13 Jan. news release
• "Mission to Study Comet Boosted by Aerojet Propulsion," Aerojet 13 Jan. news release
• "Deep Impact Spacecraft Pair Depart for Comet Collision," Ball Aerospace 12 Jan. news release
• "Boeing Delta II Sends NASA Spacecraft on a Rendezvous with a Comet," 12 Jan. Boeing news release
• "Deep Impact launched and flying towards date with a comet," NASA 12 Jan. news release

Comet news:  MPEC 2005-A56 today announces to the world the year's first new comet, C/2005 A1 (LINEAR), discovered by LINEAR in New Mexico early yesterday. Perihelion is put at 1.07894 AU on April 10th, which sounds neighborly, but it may come no closer to Earth than 0.883 AU during 2-3 March. That's according to the MPC's Minor Planet Ephemeris Service (MPES) and, like perihelion, comes from the first preliminary orbit calculation, which is likely to change somewhat as it improves with further observation.

Risk monitoring:  Today JPL added to its risk pages 2004 XD50, which first appeared in the public record as a January 13th LINEAR discovery posted to the MPC NEO Confirmation Page. Its IAU designation indicates, however, that it was first discovered by someone in mid-December, probably on the 13th. Evidently it was categorized then as not being a near-Earth object, but JPL found Earth impact solutions soon after MPEC 2005-A43 was issued today with "Additional Observations." These came from LINEAR yesterday in New Mexico and early today from CEAMIG-REA Observatory in Brazil, Table Mountain Observatory in southern California, and Powell and Farpoint observatories in Kansas. JPL puts 2004 XD50's diameter at roughly 0.74-km. (0.46 mile).
      Today's Daily Orbit Update (DOU) MPEC carries observations of 2004 XB45 from 16-17 December from Bisei Spaceguard Center in Japan, adding 0.691 day to what had been a 2.848-day observing arc. Today NEODyS and JPL both lowered their risk assessments for this small object.
      The DOU also has observations of 2004 MN4 from last night from Great Shefford Observatory in England. Great Shefford additionally reported 2005 AH14 from yesterday morning, as did Wise Observatory in Israel. And 2004 VD17 was observed by UKAPP in Northern Irleland via Great Britain's Faulkes Telescope North in Hawaii and by the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope in Arizona.
      Today NEODyS very slightly lowered its overall risk ratings for 2004 MN4, and JPL slightly raised its ratings, nearly converging with the NEODyS assessment. (JPL had some catching up to do, having three days of 2004 MN4 observation reports to newly incorporate into its assessment.) Both risk monitors slightly raised their 2004 VD17 overall risk ratings, and both lowered their very preliminary risk assessments for the kilometer-size 2005 AH14.
      New readers should note that risk monitoring updates are posted on the CRT before (sometimes long before) a report is posted here in A/CC news. And, on some days, especially Tuesdays and Thursdays from now through April, only the CRT page may update. You can use the A/CC news frame to switch easily between the CRT and A/CC's most recent news reporting, or watch A/CC's XML RSS news feed for notification of CRT and/or news updates (see above or below for several access options).