<<   Top | Contents | News | Science | NEOCP | MPECs | Observers | Risks | Chronology | Index   >>

In this Webcam view from the 4-meter Mayall Telescope, smoke from the Alambre Fire rises from a canyon south of Kitt Peak at 1:39pm MST today. The Spacewatch 0.9- and 1.8-meter telescope domes are seen just beyond the foreground 2.3m Bok Telescope, with the 1.8-meter's structure to the left and not as tall. Credit: Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Contents  on 9 July '07

• Minor-Object News -- seven items
• Minor-Object Science -- four papers
• IAU Minor Planet Center
  • NEOCP Activity
  • New MPECs -- one MPEC
  • Observers -- thirteen observing facilities
• Impact Risk Monitoring -- nothing to report
• Chronology

Resources:

• Consolidated Risk Tables - CRT page
• Ephemerides for risk-rated objects
• Ephemerides for small asteroids

Navigation tips: Use the << and >> arrows on the menus for each regular section (Observers, Risks, etc.) to move to the previous and next day's news for that section. Use the Index menu item to access specific days this year with a calendar interface. And use the all-up news archive to access news anytime since A/CC began in early 2002. To keep track of what's new each day, watch the Chronology section.

<<   Top | Contents | News | Science | NEOCP | MPECs | Observers | Risks | Chronology | Index   >>

Minor-Object News  on 9 July '07

• Kitt Peak Evacuated: The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) Web site, reports that "7:50 p.m. Saturday, July 7, 2007: Kitt Peak National Observatory has been safely evacuated... All 20 people on the mountain for astronomy purposes and related support are off of the mountain." The home page notes that the south view Webcam on the observatory's KPCam page looks toward the Alambre Fire, from which smoke was visible when A/CC checked at 1:39pm Arizona time. (Some reports have the fire's name spelled as "Alhambre.")
  • "Kitt Peak Evacuated," KOLD-TV 9 July - Quote: "The fire was spotted around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. In just three and a half hours the fire grew to 250 acres... Staff and astronomers were evacuated at 7 p.m. on Saturday night from Kitt Peak. Visitors were asked to leave Kitt Peak earlier in the day."
  • "3,500-acre fire forces evacuation of Kitt Peak Observatory," Tucson Citizen 9 July - Quote: "A fire in the Baboquivari Mountains has consumed some 3,500 acres and was at 0 percent containment as of Monday morning, officials said... Lightning is suspected to have caused the fire [Friday evening], but that has not been confirmed."
  • "Alhambre Fire expands overnight," Arizona Daily Star 9 July - Quote: "Sunday afternoon, the fire was about a mile and a half south of Kitt Peak... [Fire division supervisor Tim] Connor said firefighters would dig a new line and lay retardant ... from the observatory's road to down into the valley between the observatory and the Baboquivari Mountains. Four fire engines were already at the observatory, with another four on the way."
• "Deep Impact Returns for an Interplanetary Three-For-One," Planetary Soc. 9 July - Quote: "Deep Impact wowed the world with its explosive investigation of a comet two years ago. Now the spacecraft has been given a new mission that combines two very different tasks. We talk with then and now Principal Investigator Mike A'Hearn." - Note: "Planetary Radio" audio program.
• "Why Some Huge Planets Hug Stars So Tight," Space.com 9 July - Quote: "Stars form in cloudy nebulas and, shortly after genesis, consume most of the gas of their birthplace and use the surrounding dust and leftover gas to form planets, according to standard theory... A new model suggests magnetic instabilities in the [circumstellar] disk cause gas to fall onto the star and also helps drag young planets into their final orbits."
• "Star Surface Polluted by Planetary Debris," ESO 6 July - Quote: "Looking at the chemical composition of stars that host planets, astronomers have found that while dwarf stars often show iron enrichment on their surface, giant stars do not. The astronomers think that the planetary debris falling onto the outer layer of the star produces a detectable effect in a dwarf star, but this pollution is diluted by the giant star and mixed into its interior." - Note: See related science paper below.

<<   Top | Contents | News | Science | NEOCP | MPECs | Observers | Risks | Chronology | Index   >>

Minor-Object Science  on 9 July '07

• "Evolved stars hint to an external origin of enhanced metallicity in planet-hosting stars" by Pasquini, L. with M.P. Doellinger, A. Weiss & 5 others, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 6 July - Quote: "The straightforward explanation is to attribute the difference between dwarfs and giants to the much larger masses of giants' convective envelopes. If the metal excess on the main sequence is due to pollution, the effects of dilution naturally explains why it is not observed among evolved stars. Although we cannot exclude other explanations, the lack of any preference for metal-rich systems among P-H giants could be a strong indication of the accretion of metal-rich material."
• "V-type asteroids in the middle Main Belt" by Roig, F. with D. Nesvorny, R. Gil-Hutton & D. Lazzaro, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 9 July - Quote: "The recent discovery of the first V-type asteroid in the middle belt, (21238) 1995WV7, located at ~2.54 AU, raises the question of whether it came from (4) Vesta or not. In this paper, we present spectroscopic observations indicating the existence of another V-type asteroid at ~2.53 AU, (40521) 1999RL95, and we investigate the possibility that these two asteroids evolved from the Vesta family to their present orbits by drifting in semi-major axis due to the Yarkovsky effect. The main problem with this scenario is that the asteroids need to cross the 3/1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter, which is highly unstable... We estimate that about 10% or more of the V-type bodies with D>1 km may come from the Vesta family by crossing over the 3/1 resonance. The remaining 90% must have a different origin."
• " The Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope (SPIRIT): High-resolution imaging and spectroscopy in the far-infrared" by Leisawitz, David with Charles Baker, Amy Barger & 52 others, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 9 July - Quote: "We report results of a recently-completed pre-Formulation Phase study of SPIRIT, a candidate NASA Origins Probe mission. SPIRIT is a spatial and spectral interferometer with an operating wavelength range 25-400 microns. SPIRIT will provide sub-arcsecond resolution images [and has primary scientific objectives that include]: (1) Learn how planetary systems form from protostellar disks, and how they acquire their inhomogeneous composition; (2) characterize the family of extrasolar planetary systems by imaging the structure in debris disks to understand how and where planets of different types form."
• "ExoPTF Science Uniquely Enabled by Far-IR Interferometry: Probing the Formation of Planetary Systems, and Finding and Characterizing Exoplanets" by Leisawitz, David with Tom Armstrong, Chad Bender & 28 others, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 9 July - Quote: "By providing sensitive sub-arcsecond images and integral field spectroscopy in the 25-400 micron wavelength range, a far-IR interferometer will revolutionize our understanding of planetary system formation... The technical challenges associated with interferometry in the far-IR are greatly relaxed relative to those encountered at shorter wavelengths or when starlight nulling is required."

<<   Top | Contents | News | Science | NEOCP | MPECs | Observers | Risks | Chronology | Index   >>

NEOCP Activity  on 9 July '07

The MPC's NEO Confirmation Page is currently empty

The NEOCP is currently empty and hasn't been noted by Major News as active yet today (last checked at 2143 UTC).

<<   Top | Contents | News | Science | NEOCP | MPECs | Observers | Risks | Chronology | Index   >>

New MPECs  on 9 July '07

Minor Planet Electronic Circulars

As of last check at 2143 UTC, there has been one MPEC issued today from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

<< DOU on 9 July '07 >>  MPEC 2007-N22 - "06:06 UT" - Daily Orbit Update

• Observations of small asteroids (H>22.0)
• K07L00T   2007 LT (arc=30 days, H=22.5 ~107m) from Farpoint Obs. (July 9.18-20p3)
• Observations of other objects
• K07M24B   2007 MB24 (i=47.8°, arc=15 days, H=18.5 ~676m) from Frasso Sabino Obs. (July 7.94-95p4), Capannoli Obs. (July 8.04-05p2), Powell Obs. (July 8.23-24p4), Petit Jean Mtn. South Obs. (PJMSO) (July 8.31p5), and Farra d'Isonzo Obs. (July 8.91p2)
• K07M20T   2007 MT20 (arc=14 days, H=18.6 ~645m) from New Millennium Obs. (July 6.92-99p9) and PJMSO (July 8.29-30p7)
• K07M13M   2007 MM13 (i=38.2°, arc=15 days, H=17.6 ~1.02 km) from Castelmartini Obs. (July 7.94-95p4) and PJMSO (July 8.23p6)
• K07M13L   2007 ML13 (arc=16 days, H=20.2 ~309m) from PJMSO (July 8.24-25p6)
• K07M00H   2007 MH (arc=21 days, H=21.0 ~214m) from Powell Obs. (July 8.25p4) and PJMSO (July 8.33-34p5)
• K07L32R   2007 LR32 (arc=44 days, H=17.2 ~1.23 km) from Parma Obs. (July 7.00-02p5)
• K07L15A   2007 LA15 (arc=25 days, H=19.4 ~446m) from Castelmartini Obs. (July 7.96-97p5) and PJMSO (July 8.22p5)
• K07L08V   2007 LV8 (arc=26 days, H=20.1 ~323m) from PJMSO (July 8.26-27p5)
• K07L00D   2007 LD (arc=31 days, H=18.9 ~562m) from PJMSO (July 8.18-19p6)
• K07H82X   2007 HX82 (Q=4.096 AU, arc=73 days, H=20.4 ~282m) from PJMSO (July 8.25-26p6)
• K07H00A   2007 HA (arc=6 days, H=20.4 ~282m) from CAST Obs. (April 17.85p1)
• K06Y02Y   2006 YY2 (arc=198 days, H=17.9 ~891m) from PJMSO (July 8.17-18p5)
• K06K89E   2006 KE89 (i=45.1°, q=0.211 AU, arc=2 opp, H=16.5 ~1.70 km) from PJMSO (July 8.15-16p5)
• K06G00B   2006 GB (arc=2 opp, H=20.3 ~295m) from PJMSO (July 8.20p5) and Farra d'Isonzo Obs. (July 8.86-87p3)
• K05N44W   2005 NW44 (arc=2 opp, H=20.4 ~282m) from New Millennium Obs. (July 6.90-95p7) and PJMSO (July 8.21p6)
• K04S09T   2004 ST9 (arc=2 opp, H=18.0 ~851m) from New Millennium Obs. (July 6.93-97p6), Frasso Sabino Obs. (July 7.96-97p4), and PJMSO (July 8.32p5)
• K02N04N   2002 NN4 (arc=4 opp, H=20.0 ~339m) from Astronomical Research Obs. (ARO) (July 8.35-38p4)
• K02K04F   2002 KF4 (i=37.2°, Q=4.571 AU, arc=3 opp, H=17.2 ~1.23 km) from CAST Obs. (April 15.89p1)
• F9399   159399 1998 UL1 from PJMSO (July 8.16-17p5)
• E5656   145656 4788 P-L from Capannoli Obs. (July 6.95p1 & 8.92p3)
• D6818   136818 1997 MW1 from New Millennium Obs. (July 6.92-00p11) and PJMSO (July 8.34-35p5)
• 85275   85275 1994 LY from PJMSO (July 8.27-29p5)
• 24443   24443 2000 OG from CAST Obs. (July 7.87p1) and Gualba Obs. (July 8.03-04p3)
• 07350   7350 1993 VA from the Lulin Sky Survey (LUSS) (July 7.81-82p3)

<<   Top | Contents | News | Science | NEOCP | MPECs | Observers | Risks | Chronology | Index   >>

Observers  on 9 July '07

Thirteen observing facilities appear in today's MPECs.

<<   Top | Contents | News | Science | NEOCP | MPECs | Observers | Risks | Chronology | Index   >>

Impact Risk Monitoring  on 9 July '07

At last check (NEODyS and JPL at 2143 UTC) there was no risk monitoring news to report yet today.

<<   Top | Contents | News | Science | NEOCP | MPECs | Observers | Risks | Chronology | Index   >>

Chronology  on 9 July '07

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