6 April 2005 - Wednesday

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MOS on the Web – Minor object science reporting elsewhere:

• "NASA's Prometheus: Fire, Smoke And Mirrors," Space.com 6 April article: "A scouting mission to Saturn's rings, jumping from asteroid to asteroid, or comet chasing — all these ventures could be, quite literally, empowered by the Prometheus program."
• "Case of Sedna's Missing Moon Solved," Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 5 April news release: "[Using] the new MegaCam instrument on the 6.5-meter-diameter MMT Telescope at Mount Hopkins, Ariz. ... [the team's measurements fit] a computer model in which Sedna rotates once every 10 hours or so [and] definitively rule out a rotation period shorter than 5 hours or longer than 10 days."
• The "The PI's Perspective" for April at New Horizons, posted 5 April: "As March ended, additional elements of the spacecraft and instrument payload were installed on the New Horizons spacecraft."

Risk monitoring:  Yesterday's Daily Orbit Update (DOU) MPEC reported observation of 2005 EW169 from the Australian National Univervisty (ANU) 1m telescope on April 3rd — the first since March 16th, and JPL yesterday removed the last impact solutions for this object, which is estimated to be on the order of 700 meters/yards wide. Also in the DOU were positions for 2005 GJ8 from KLENOT in the Czech Republic from the night before, and both NEODyS and JPL removed this object as a risk. (They had posted it the previous day with highly preliminary impact solutions that started next year.)
      Later yesterday, the discovery of 2005 GP21 was announced in MPEC 2005-G36 as found the morning before by the Mt. Lemmon Survey in Arizona and confirmed on the 5th with the ANU 1m telescope. JPL yesterday and NEODyS today have posted this object as a risk. It is estimated to be on the order of 400 meters wide. Also yesterday, JPL updated its 2005 EU2 risk assessment, incorporating data from DOUs of March 31st and April 4th.
      Today's DOU reports observation of 2005 GG from Klet Observatory in the Czech Republic Sunday night, and today the NEODyS risk assessment was almost unchanged while JPL's risk ratings were very slightly lowered. Each has only one remaining low-rated impact solution, in the year 2046, for this object, which JPL now estimates at 2.32 km. (1.44 miles) in diameter.
      Thanks to Stu Megan, who helped with this report.

Update: NEODyS and JPL have removed 2005 EU2 as a risk, and the data that settled the matter can be seen on the JPL Small-Body Astrometric Radar Observations page. This object was pinged from Arecibo in Puerto Rico on 26-27 March, and from Goldstone in southern California on April 1st and this morning.

4 April 2005 - Monday

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MOS on the Web – Minor object science reporting elsewhere:

  Australian event

• Reports are of a slow moving, flaring, and disintegrating object seen from "Esperance in Western Australia's south to the edge of the Northern Territory tropics" on the night of April 1st.
• "Cosmic event leaves astronomers mystified," ABC Australia AM radio show 2 April transcript with audio
• "UFO sighting most likely satellite," ABC Australia 2 April article with audio
• "Stargazers attempt to identify UFO," ABC Australia 2 April article

  Other meteor news

• "After a long drought," he says, Jim Gamble has posted to his Latest Event page a movie and JPEG of a bright meteor caught at 5:04am MDT yesterday morning by his all-sky camera in El Paso, Texas.
• "Using Isotopes to Probe the Earliest History of the Solar Nebula," NASA Astrobiology Institute 28 March news item: "[Using] high-precision analysis of tiny grains in meteorites to probe the earliest history of the solar nebula ... traces some of the history of these small grains during about 300,000 years, before the formation of comets, asteroids, or planets."
• "Earth’s Moon: Still A Puzzle," Space.com 29 March article: "The lunar surface is also a huge collector for samples from comets, asteroids, or even the early Earth, from the era of giant bombardment or emergence of life."

  Other news

• "NASA Review: Hubble Headed For Deorbit-Option Only," Space.com 31 March article
• "Britain's plan to save planet from quakes and asteroids," Times of London 30 March article — See also the sidebar, "Early warning may save world from catastrophe."

Risk monitoring:  This was another busy day for risk monitoring. For starters, 2005 GU had its impact solutions removed by NEODyS and JPL after the Daily Orbit Update (DOU) MPEC reported observations from several facilities. Eschenberg Observatory in Switzerland and Guidestar Observatory in Germany both observed it last night and the night before, and it was observed early yesterday by the SZTE Asteroid Program in Hungary and Jeffrey Sue in Hawaii using Rent-A-Scope at New Mexico Skies, and last night by Jakokoski Observatory in Finland and KLENOT in the Czech Republic.
      The mile-size 2005 GG saw its low NEODyS risk assessment rise slightly while JPL lowered its overall risk ratings, and both monitors cut to a single impact solution in 2046, eliminating a 2007 solution. This came after observations were reported from Buchloe Observatory in Germany Saturday night, and last night from Weinheim Observatory in Germany and from Great Shefford and Beaconsfield observatories in England.
      Today's DOU also carried positions for 2005 EU2 from the Australian National University (ANU) 1m telescope on March 31st, within the current observation arc. NEODyS slightly raised its low risk assessment for this small object, but JPL, as with the previous latest data, has not updated. JPL in the past has left off from updating on optical observations when radar data was in hand, even if not yet fully reduced and ready to report, and the radar pages do indicate that 2005 EU2 has been successfully pinged. Observation was scheduled at Arecibo during 26 March to 3 April, and at Goldstone during 1-3 April (see planning page). 2005 EU2 will, by the way, pass Earth tomorrow at 6.1 lunar distances.
      Three NEO discoveries were reported today, and the first two of these, both on the order of 200 to 300 meters/yards wide, have been posted as impact risks. 2005 GJ8 was discovered yesterday morning by LINEAR in New Mexico and announced very early today in MPEC 2005-G19 as confirmed last night by Naef Observatory in Switzerland, the SZTE Asteroid Program, and KLENOT. It was also reported in the DOU as observed by Guidestar Observatory last night. The highly preliminary JPL and NEODyS risk solution set begins in November of next year.
      2005 GY8 was announced later in the day in MPEC 2005-G21 as discovered by the Mt. Lemmon Survey in Arizona Saturday morning and confirmed with the ANU 1m telescope yesterday. This object has so far been posted only by JPL, but it also has preliminary solutions that begin this decade.

3 April 2005 - Sunday

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MOS on the Web – Minor object science reporting elsewhere:

Illustration from Hal Weaver's mission science presentation (962Kb PDF).

  New Horizons

• "Public Involvement," mission page posted/updated 31 March: Includes links to PDF versions of the public presentations related to a draft environmental impact statement, among them one on mission science (962Kb) and another on the mission design (875Kb).
• "NASA: Probe no safety risk," Florida Today 30 March article: "About 15 people attended a similar hearing Tuesday evening ... where NASA officials and scientists presented a 90-minute program on the mission. But no one offered any comment for the record when the floor was open to the public."

  Other mission news

• "Comet-Crashing Mission's Myopic Eye," Sky & Telescope 1 April article
• "Rosetta back in Cruise Mode," mission 31 March status report for 11-25 March: Everything is reported to be running smoothly, except the "boresight calibration of [VIRTIS-H] for the third time did not succeed."
• "Gaia in 2004" is a project science status report released March 10th as a 441Kb PDF via the ESA Gaia and ESA RSSD News from Gaia pages. It tells that the target launch date is now 1 December 2011, which "represents a delay of more than 1 year" from what had been planned, but is still within the not-later-than-2012 mandate. This is a detailed technical report for the all-European mission that is designed mainly to "create the largest and most precise three dimensional chart of our Galaxy" but will also have the job of cataloging Solar System minor objects including those residing inside Earth's orbit and outside Neptune's. Section 4.13 of the report tells of progress in the related astrometric and photometric tasks that are planned to autonomously discover and calculate orbits for minor objects as well as compute their mass, shape, and rotation.

Risk monitoring:  At midnight this morning, the discovery of 2005 GU was announced in MPEC 2005-G16 as found early on the 2nd by the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS). It was confirmed last night by Starkenburg Observatory in Germany, Great Shefford Observatory in England, and KLENOT in the Czech Republic. And JPL posted this object with impact solutions while it was still Saturday evening in Pasadena.
      Today's Daily Orbit Update MPEC carries further observation of 2005 GU and the four objects posted yesterday by JPL with impact solutions (see news below). Today JPL removed all solutions for three of those: 2005 GJ, 2005 GK, and 2005 GL. And today NEODyS posted, and JPL updated its risk assessments, for 2005 GG and 2005 GU. JPL slightly raised its low ratings for both and adjusted their size estimates, most notably increasing its count of impact solutions for the mile-wide 2005 GG, with the first in July two years from now. These are, of course, highly preliminary calculations based on only a few observations covering a period of less than 43 hours, and will most likely change with more observation.

2 April 2005 - Saturday

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FMOP news:  The object now on the MPC NEO Confirmation Page (NEOCP) with temporary designation SW40LR as "Added Apr. 2.42 UT " was discovered this morning by FMO Project volunteer Robert Gagliano of Arizona. He found it while reviewing images online from the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope in Arizona.
      MPEC 2005-G15 late on April 2nd UT announces the discovery of 2005 GT, which was posted on the MPC NEO Confirmation Page yesterday as SW40LO, discovered by online volunteer J. Yu (see news below). Confirmation came from KLENOT in the Czech Republic last night and tonight, and from the Mt. Lemmon Survey in Arizona this morning. At absolute magnitude (brightness) calculated by the MPC at H=26.9, this object is roughly estimated by standard formula at 15 meters/yards wide, and JPL is showing that it will pass Earth at about 15.5 lunar distances on April 9th.

Mile-plus 2005 GG caught this morning during the discovery confirmation process by Robert Hutsebaut.

Risk monitoring:  Five near-Earth-object discoveries announcements came from the IAU Minor Planet Center by 12 noon UT on April 2nd, and JPL subsequently posted all but one of them with impact solutions. Largest of these, but with only a few low-rated and very preliminary impact solutions, is 2005 GG (imagery at right), which is estimated by JPL at 1.85 km. wide (1.15 miles). Here in summary are the four, all discovered on the morning of April 1st UT by the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) in Arizona or LINEAR in New Mexico. The rough diameter estimates are converted from brightness by JPL, given in meters:

Object	MPEC	Discoverer	Diameter
2005 GG	2005-GG13	LINEAR	1,848m
2005 GJ	2005-GG10	CSS	130m
2005 GK	2005-GG11	CSS	320m
2005 GL	2005-GG14	LINEAR	246m

      Participating last night or this morning in the confirmation process for these four objects was Sabino Canyon Observatory in Arizona on all but 2005 GK. KLENOT in the Czech Republic caught that object and 2005 GJ. Modra Observatory in Slovakia and Farpoint Observatory in Kansas took part in confirming 2005 GJ and 2005 GL, and Robert Hutsebaut in Belgium using Rent-A-Scope at New Mexico Skies helped confirm both 2005 GG (imagery at above right) and 2005 GL. And 2005 GG was also caught by Desert Moon Observatory in New Mexico and 2005 GL by Great Shefford Observatory in England.
      Today's Daily Orbit Update (DOU) MPEC carried observations of three other objects with impact solutions. 2005 FC3 was reported from the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope in Arizona early yesterday UT and from Linz Observatory in Austria, and today NEODyS, which apparently didn't update its risk assessment based on observation from Linz reported in yesterday's DOU, today removed all 149 preliminary impact solutions that it had posted on March 24th.
      The DOU has observation of 2005 EG94 from Jornada Observatory in New Mexico, the first reported since March 16th, and today both risk monitors removed their few remaining impact solutions for this object. And the DOU reports 2005 EU2 from Jornada this morning UT, after which NEODyS lowered its risk assessment for this small object. At last check after midnight UTC, however, JPL hadn't updated its risk assessment.

1 April 2005 - Friday

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FMOP news:  The Spacewatch 0.9m telescope object with temporary designation SW40LO, which is presently on the MPC NEO Confirmation Page (NEOCP) as "Added Apr. 1.44 UT," was discovered this morning by FMO Project online volunteer J. Yu. It is noted by observatory staff that, "Since this object is faint and wind closed the Spacewatch telescope before a third recovery could be made the chance of recovery is slim."

Risk monitoring:  Until this morning, there had been no risk monitoring news to report since Monday, except that on Tuesday JPL updated its 2004 MN4 and 2005 EU2 risk assessments incorporating observations reported on Sunday and Monday. It very slightly lowered its overall 2004 MN4 risk ratings, and slightly raised its low ratings for the small object, 2005 EU2.
      Today's Daily Orbit Update MPEC reports observation of 2005 FC3 last night from Linz Observatory in Austria and 2005 EJ225 early today UT with the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope in Arizona. This was the first that these two had been reported since their discovery announcements, respectively on March 23rd and 17th. Today JPL eliminated all of its impact solutions for both. NEODyS also removed 2005 EJ225 as a risk today but, at last check, hadn't updated yet on 2005 FC3, for which it originally had 149 preliminary solutions.