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Contents  on 23 July '07

• Minor-Object News -- seven items
• Minor-Object Science -- three papers
• IAU Minor Planet Center
  • NEOCP Activity -- two listings: 2 updated
  • New MPECs -- one MPEC
  • Observers -- eight observing facilities
• Impact Risk Monitoring -- one object reported
• Chronology

Resources:

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

The latest news: framed access (best), RSS news feed (flags updates), or redirection - Note: A/CC has a main Web site and a backup site.

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 through a calendar interface. And use the all-up news archive to access news from any time since A/CC began in early 2002. To keep track of what's new each day, watch the Chronology section.

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Minor-Object News  on 23 July '07

• "The threat from outer space," The Economist 23 July - Quote: "Although the chance of an impact may be small in any given year, the consequences could be enormous... [Perhaps] the biggest problem is humanity's indifference. Currently only America is spending any money on detection, and even there, politicians have other priorities."
• "UCI hosting world's top astronomers today," OC Register 23 July - Quote: "Everyone from the Caltech astronomer who helped strip Pluto of its status as a planet to the UC Santa Cruz scholar who helped find the 'Great Attractor' will gather at UC Irvine for the next three days to discuss the Thirty Meter Telescope, which is expected to become one of the most powerful science instruments ever built."
• "World Heritage status mooted for Tekapo sky," Radio New Zealand 23 July - Quote: "The Mount John Observatory above Tekapo is considered by many as the best place in the world to view the Southern Sky."
• "May looks to sky to complete PhD," BBC News 23 July - Quote: "Guitarist Brian May is to spend two days studying the night sky in the Canary Islands as he completes the PhD he abandoned in 1971 to join Queen. May is going to La Palma to observe the formation of 'zodiacal dust clouds'. The subject forms the basis of a thesis for London's Imperial College."
• Star Formation Newsletter: The July 22nd 177th edition (443Kb PDF) of the Star Formation Newsletter carries abstracts for 40-plus newly accepted papers, many with PDF links, that deal "with galactic (and nearby extragalactic) star formation studies, molecular clouds, early solar nebula studies, planet formation and debris disks." There is also one dissertation abstract and two meeting notices, one of which announces that presentations from the May "Multiplicity in Star Formation" workshop in Toronto are now available online. The previous edition, dated June 24th (332Kb PDF), included a notice of four post-doc "Origin and Evolution of Stars and Planetary Systems" positions opening in Portugal as well as new book news and the final announcement for the 70th Meteoritical Society Meeting next month in Tucson.
• "Arizona Radio Observatory Team Discovers Supergiant Star Spews Molecules Needed for Life," Univ. of Arizona 23 July - Quote: "'We think these molecules eventually flow from the star into the interstellar medium, which is the diffuse gas between stars. The diffuse gas eventually collapses into denser molecular clouds, and from these solar systems eventually form,' [Lucy] Ziurys said. Comets and meteorites dump about 40,000 tons of interstellar dust on Earth each year. We wouldn't be carbon-based life forms otherwise, Ziurys noted, because early Earth lost all of its original carbon in the form of a methane atmosphere."
• "Interstellar Chemistry Gets More Complex With New Charged-Molecule Discovery," NRAO 23 July - Quote: "Astronomers using data from the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have found the largest negatively-charged molecule yet seen in space. The discovery of the third negatively-charged molecule, called an anion, in less than a year and the size of the latest anion will force a drastic revision of theoretical models of interstellar chemistry, the astronomers say. 'This discovery' ... said Anthony J. Remijan ... 'also adds to the number of paths available for making the complex organic molecules and other large molecular species that may be precursors to life in the giant clouds from which stars and planets are formed.'"

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Minor-Object Science  on 23 July '07

• "Particle Stirring in Turbulent Gas Disks: Including Orbital Oscillations" by Youdin, Andrew N. with Yoram Lithwick, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 23 July - Quote: "We describe the diffusion and random velocities of solid particles due to stochastic forcing by turbulent gas. We include the orbital dynamics of Keplerian disks, both in-plane epicycles and vertical oscillations. We obtain a new result for the diffusion of solids... [From this] particles larger than ~10 cm in protoplanetary disks will suffer less radial diffusion and will settle closer to the midplane. Such a layer of boulders would be more prone to gravitational collapse."
• "High Spatial Resolution Observations of Two Young Protostars in the R Corona Australis Region" by Groppi, Christopher E. with Todd R. Hunter, Raymond Blundell & Goeran Sandell, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 23 July - Quote: "We present multi-wavelength, high spatial resolution imaging of the IRS 7 region in the R Corona Australis molecular cloud... Spectral energy distributions constructed from SMA, SCUBA and Spitzer data yield bolometric temperatures [that] along with the submillimeter to total luminosity ratios indicate that SMA 2 is a Class 0 protostar, while SMA 1 is a Class 0/Class I transitional object."
• "Implications of Interstellar Dust and Interstellar Magnetic Field at the Heliosphere" by Frisch, P.C., abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 23 July - Quote: "Tiny interstellar dust grains causing the polarization of light from the nearest stars are deflected sideways in the outer heliosheath regions, along with the interstellar magnetic field. Observations of optical polarization of stars beyond the heliosphere nose, suggest the direction of the upwind interstellar magnetic field is relatively constant."

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NEOCP Activity  on 23 July '07

The MPC's NEO Confirmation Page has 2 listings: 2 updated

When last checked at 2355 UTC today, the Minor Planet Center's NEO discovery Confirmation Page (NEOCP) had two updated listings. So far Major News has counted a total of three objects listed on the NEOCP at some point today.

To learn how observers use the NEOCP, see Suno Observatory's Practical guide on how to observe NEOCP object.

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New MPECs  on 23 July '07

Minor Planet Electronic Circulars

As of last check at 2355 UTC, there has been one MPEC issued today from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

<< DOU on 23 July '07 >>  MPEC 2007-O40 - "06:07 UT" - Daily Orbit Update

• Observations of small asteroids (H>22.0)
• K07O03H   2007 OH3 (arc=3 days, H=24.6 ~41m) from Guidestar Obs. (July 22.91-96p3)
• K07K02D   2007 KD2 (Q=4.434 AU, arc=65 days, H=23.2 ~78m) from Astronomical Research Obs. (ARO) (July 22.19p3)
• K07J16G   2007 JG16 (arc=72 days, H=23.6 ~65m) from ARO (July 22.29-32p2)
• Observations of other objects
• K07N05C   2007 NC5 (q=0.278 AU, Q=4.600 AU, arc=19 days, H=18.0 ~851m) from Guidestar Obs. (July 22.94-95p3)
• K07N00Q   2007 NQ (arc=11 days, H=19.4 ~446m) from Stia Obs. (July 18.85-86p2 & 21.85-86p4)
• K07M24C   2007 MC24 (arc=28 days, H=19.5 ~426m) from the Siding Spring Survey (SSS) (July 22.61-63p3)
• K07M24B   2007 MB24 (i=47.7°, arc=29 days, H=18.3 ~741m) from Sogel Obs. (July 22.95-97p3)
• K07M13L   2007 ML13 (arc=29 days, H=20.2 ~309m) from Stia Obs. (July 19.87-88p2 & 20.85-86p2)
• K07M00G   2007 MG (arc=35 days, H=20.9 ~224m) from ARO (July 22.13-16p2 at V=22.4-5)
• K07L32R   2007 LR32 (arc=58 days, H=17.3 ~1.17 km) from Hamamatsu-Yuto Obs. (July 22.61-62p4)
• K07J35J   2007 JJ35 (i=56.1°, arc=69 days, H=18.5 ~676m) from ARO (July 22.10-11p3)
• K07G00C   2007 GC (arc=106 days, H=21.3 ~186m) from ARO (July 22.16p3)
• K07DA3T   2007 DT103 (arc=146 days, H=18.6 ~645m) from Simeis Astrophysical Obs. (July 21.80p6)
• K07D40Z   2007 DZ40 (Q=4.842 AU, arc=150 days, H=18.5 ~676m) from ARO (July 22.17-18p3)
• K05O01U   2005 OU1 (arc=3 opp, H=20.2 ~309m) from ARO (July 22.36-37p3)
• K03SM2W   2003 SW222 (arc=3 opp, H=17.2 ~1.23 km) from ARO (July 22.29-33p3)
• K03M09T   2003 MT9 (q=0.200 AU, Q=4.874 AU, arc=2 opp, H=18.6 ~645m) from Eschenberg Obs. (July 22.84p4)
• K00W06G   2000 WG6 (arc=4 opp, H=17.6 ~1.02 km) from SSS (July 22.59-63p4)
• J99V22G   1999 VG22 (arc=5 opp, H=18.6 ~645m) from ARO (July 22.26-28p3)
• 85275   85275 1994 LY from Hamamatsu-Yuto Obs. (July 22.58p7)
• 07889   7889 1994 LX from SSS (July 22.74-76p4)
• 02212   2212 Hephaistos (1978 SB) from SSS (July 22.78-81p4)
• 01685   1685 Toro (1948 OA) from SSS (July 22.41-43p4)

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Observers  on 23 July '07

Eight observing facilities appear in today's MPECs.

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Impact Risk Monitoring  on 23 July '07

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

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 this.

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Chronology  on 23 July '07

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