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Contents  on 17 May '07

• Minor-Object News -- fifteen items
• Minor-Object Science -- none today
• IAU Minor Planet Center
  • NEOCP Activity -- five listings: 2 new, 3 updated
  • New MPECs -- five MPECs
  • Observers -- eighteen observing facilities
• Impact Risk Monitoring -- two objects reported
• Chronology

WELCOME to A/CC's prototype daily news publication designed to be the viewing end of a planned autonomous 24-hour news service. The new tools and this publication format are working well enough now to share with readers. It is expected that this approach will require less time to maintain than our previous news and small asteroid pages, which were retired on May 14th. There's still more development ahead and there probably will be some glitches along the way, but this is what's needed to keep up with the increasing pace of minor-object news. The CRT page will be maintained separately for a little while longer, until all of this is working smoothly. And the CRT and small-asteroid ephemerides will be kept going.

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Minor-Object News  on 17 May '07

• Distant EKOs: The May edition of Distant EKOs is now available. It includes abstracts from scientific papers on topics such as "Ices on (90377) Sedna," "Search for Cometary Activity in Three Centaurs ... and two Trans-Neptunian Objects," "Light Curves of Dwarf Plutonian Planets and other Large Kuiper Belt Objects," and "Visible Spectroscopic and Photometric Survey of Jupiter Trojans." Some abstracts have links making the full article available to all readers.
       Also mentioned is the First Workshop on Binaries in the Solar System, to be held 20-23 August in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
• "NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #4364," SpaceRef.com 17 May - Note: Includes proposals for observing "Binaries in the Kuiper Belt [which] are a scientific windfall: in them we have relatively fragile test particles which can be used as tracers of the early dynamical evolution of the outer Solar System," and for imaging "asteroid 4 Vesta throughout one complete rotation during its opposition and close approach to Earth in May of 2007."
• "Planet Pluto Expo" - Note: To be held 18-19 May in 'Streator, Illinois, Earth.'
  • "Streator band records song about planet," Ottawa, Ill. Times 17 May
  • "Pluto named by 11-year-old," Ottawa, Ill. Times 17 May
  • "'A humble man' -- Streator family recalls visit to Tombaugh's home," Ottawa, Ill. Times 17 May
  • "Clyde Tombaugh: a famous son of two towns," Ottawa, Ill. Times 17 May
  • "Tombaugh's daughter reflects on father's influence," Ottawa, Ill. Times 17 May
  • "St. Anthony teacher, alum recalls 1998 campaign to save Pluto," Ottawa, Ill. Times 17 May - Quote: "The announcement came at the beginning of the school year, which did not allow time for her current students to pen another round of letters. She speculated the time was chosen deliberately to avoid another round of letters from American students pleading Pluto's case."
  • "Area residents reflect on connection to Tombaugh," Ottawa, Ill. Times 17 May
  • "Streator Education, music and more on tap for Planet Pluto Expo," Ottawa, Ill. Times 17 May
  • "P2E speaker rejects IAU's ruling on Pluto," Ottawa, Ill. Times 17 May
  • "NASA leader to be featured at Pluto expo," La Salle, Ill. News Tribune 16 May
  • "20 facts about Pluto," Ottawa, Ill. Times 17 May
  • "P2E: How it all began," Ottawa, Ill. Times 17 May

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Minor-Object Science  on 17 May '07

No science papers were available or prepared today.

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NEOCP Activity  on 17 May '07

The MPC's NEO Confirmation Page has 5 listings: 2 new, 3 updated

When last checked at 2351 UTC today, the Minor Planet Center's NEO discovery Confirmation Page (NEOCP) had two new and three updated listings. Of these, two were "one nighters." Major News counted a total of eight objects listed on the NEOCP at some point on this day.

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New MPECs  on 17 May '07

Minor Planet Electronic Circulars

There were five MPECs issued this day from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• MPEC 2007-K02 time-stamped "06:08 UT" - Daily Orbit Update - see below
• MPEC 2007-K03 time-stamped "16:05 UT" - 2006 HQ122 - see below
• MPEC 2007-K04 time-stamped "16:20 UT" - 2006 HJ123 - see below
• MPEC 2007-K05 time-stamped "16:38 UT" - 2007 KD - see below
• MPEC 2007-K06 time-stamped "22:44 UT" - 2007 KE

MPEC 2007-K06 - "22:44 UT" - 2007 KE

• K07K00E   2007 KE (small asteroid, H=22.4 ~112m) was discovered at 0821 UT 16 May by the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS), which observed it at May 16.35-38p8, 16.44p4, and 17.42p4. The discovery was confirmed by Farra d'Isonzo Obs. (May 16.91-92p3), Alter Satzberg Obs. (May 16.95-00p6), Remanzacco Obs. (May 16.95-97p3), Jim Young via Table Mtn. Obs. (May 17.26-27p4), the Mt. Lemmon Survey (MLS) (May 17.34-38p4), Sabino Canyon Obs. (May 17.34-36p3), and Great Shefford Obs. (May 17.90-91p3).

MPEC 2007-K05 - "16:38 UT" - 2007 KD

• K07K00D   2007 KD (H=20.7 ~245m) was discovered at 0634 UT 16 May by LONEOS, which observed it at May 16.27-34p4. The discovery was confirmed by MLS (May 11.34-36p4 & 13.29-30p4), the Siding Spring Survey (SSS) (May 16.54-56p3), Farra d'Isonzo Obs. (May 16.85-88p3), Alter Satzberg Obs. (May 16.86-89p4), Young/Table Mtn. (May 17.21-23p4), Cordell-Lorenz Obs. (May 17.25-28p3), and Mt. John Obs. (May 17.55-56p4).

MPEC 2007-K04 - "16:20 UT" - 2006 HJ123

• K06HC3J   2006 HJ123 (q=27.925 AU, Q=50.862 AU, H=5.3 ~295 km) from Kitt Peak Natl. Obs. (KPNO) (May 16.30p1, 17.29p1 & 17.38p1)

MPEC 2007-K03 - "16:05 UT" - 2006 HQ122

• K06HC2Q   2006 HQ122 (q=37.748 AU, Q=146.761 AU, H=6.3 ~186 km) from KPNO (May 16.29p1, 17.28p1 & 17.37p1)

<< DOU on 17 May '07 >>  MPEC 2007-K02 - "06:08 UT" - Daily Orbit Update

• Observations of risk-listed objects
• K07J20Z   2007 JZ20 (i=41.5°, arc=5 days, H=18.2 ~776m) from Farpoint Obs. (May 16.27p5)
• K07J16F   2007 JF16 (i=52.0°, Q=4.086 AU, arc=6 days, H=18.4 ~708m) from Farpoint Obs. (May 16.16-19p3)
• Observations of small asteroids (H>22.0)
• K07J21B   2007 JB21 (arc=4 days, H=25.4 ~28m) from Farpoint Obs. (May 16.30-31p3)
• K07J09W   2007 JW9 (arc=6 days, H=24.4 ~45m) from the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope (May 16.31-32p3)
• Observations of almost-small asteroids (21.7<H<=22.0)
• K07J02Y   2007 JY2 (arc=7 days, H=21.9 ~141m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (May 16.25-26p3)
• Observations of other objects
• K07J35J   2007 JJ35 (i=55.1°, arc=2 days, H=18.4 ~708m) from Young/Table Mtn. (May 16.26-27p4)
• K07J02W   2007 JW2 (arc=9 days, H=18.1 ~812m) from Young/Table Mtn. (May 16.32-34p4)
• K07H82X   2007 HX82 (Q=4.067 AU, arc=20 days, H=20.4 ~282m) from CSS (May 16.32-34p4)
• K07H44G   2007 HG44 (Q=4.235 AU, arc=22 days, H=19.2 ~490m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (May 16.29p3)
• K07H44F   2007 HF44 (arc=24 days, H=19.2 ~490m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (May 16.30-31p3)
• K07H00Z   2007 HZ (arc=28 days, H=20.4 ~282m) from MLS (May 16.20-22p4)
• K07F42V   2007 FV42 (arc=57 days, H=17.7 ~977m) from New Millennium Obs. (May 16.04p1) and CSS (May 16.41-43p4)
• K07F01K   2007 FK1 (arc=60 days, H=20.2 ~309m) from New Millennium Obs. (May 15.92-96p4) and CSS (May 16.39-40p4)
• K06X02F   2006 XF2 (arc=155 days, H=19.7 ~389m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (May 16.36-37p3)
• K06G00B   2006 GB (arc=2 opp, H=20.4 ~282m) from CSS (May 16.39-40p3)
• K05S71A   2005 SA71 (arc=2 opp, H=18.7 ~616m) from SSS (May 16.60-63p4)
• K05L03R   2005 LR3 (arc=3 opp, H=17.2 ~1.23 km) from MLS (May 16.34-37p4)
• K05G59N   2005 GN59 (arc=3 opp, H=17.1 ~1.29 km) from MLS (May 16.23-25p4)
• K04V60T   2004 VT60 (i=43.5°, arc=3 opp, H=17.5 ~1.07 km) from Tiki Obs. (May 16.56-58p2)
• K03F01H   2003 FH1 (arc=3 opp, H=18.1 ~812m) from SSS (May 16.57-60p4)
• J79Q00B   1979 QB (arc=4 opp, H=17.1 ~1.29 km) from MLS (May 16.26-28p4)
• F4453   154453 2003 CJ11 from New Millennium Obs. (May 15.86-90p9)
• F2895   152895 2000 CQ101 from LONEOS (May 16.18-25p4)
• F2575   152575 1994 GY from CSS (May 16.17-19p4)
• E5656   145656 4788 P-L from New Millennium Obs. (May 15.87-91p7)
• D8883   138883 2000 YL29 from CSS (May 16.23-25p4)
• 86829   86829 2000 GR146 from Panker Obs. (May 2.02-03p5 & 3.06-08p5) and New Millennium Obs. (May 15.92-96p6 & 16.01p2)
• 40267   40267 1999 GJ4 from New Millennium Obs. (May 15.86-90p9)
• 11066   11066 Sigurd (1992 CC1) from SSS (May 16.47-49p4)
• 08566   8566 1996 EN from CSS (May 16.17-19p4)
• 08037   8037 1993 HO1 from LONEOS (May 16.27-30p2 & 16.34p1) and SSS (May 16.54-56p4)
• 05011   5011 Ptah (6743 P-L) from SSS (May 16.54-56p4)

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Observers  on 17 May '07

Eighteen observing facilities appeared in this day's MPECs.

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Impact Risk Monitoring  on 17 May '07

Legend: VI# = VI count, Prob Cum = cumulative probability, PS Cum/Max = cumulative/maximum Palermo Scale, TS = Torino Scale

For a list of all risk-rated objects recently in view, see our ephemerides page.

An impact solution, also known as a "virtual impactor" (VI), is not a prediction but rather a possibility derived from an orbit calculation that cannot be eliminated yet based on the existing data. Elimination can come quickly with just a little further observation or may take weeks or months, sometimes years. Once superceded or eliminated, a former impact solution has zero relevance to an object's risk. See Jon Giorgini's "Understanding Risk Pages" for more about all this.

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Chronology  on 17 May '07

Times are UTC for when the items were noted by Major News.