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

Contents  on 9 August '07

• Minor-Object News -- seven items
• Minor-Object Science -- two papers
• IAU Minor Planet Center
  • NEOCP Activity -- four listings: 2 new, 2 updated
  • New MPECs -- two MPECs
  • Observers -- ten 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.

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

Minor-Object News  on 9 August '07

• "SEDS 'Got Vision' Space Art Contest," SEDS at SpaceRef.com 9 Aug. - Quote: "The Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) today formally announced the opening of submissions for a nation-wide all-student space art contest ... ending October 1st 2007." {permalink}
• "How to convert an asteroid into a rocket," Scenta.co.uk 9 Aug. - Quote: "Proposals for deflecting NEAs have included blasting them with nuclear explosives, tugging them with nuclear-powered spacecraft or painting them white on one side so that reflected solar energy will nudge the asteroid off course. However, exploding an asteroid could send many fragments Earthbound, and tugging and painting can only push the asteroid a few kilometres off course, said ... Daniele Fargion from the University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy." - Note: For more about Fargion's proposal, see our July 31st report with a link to the revised science paper, and we reported yesterday about a NASA intercept concept study that includes, but isn't limited to, nuclear warheads. {permalink}
  • "An earth-shattering debate that merits gravity," The Herald 9 Aug. - Quote: "Rather than smashing it to smithereens, the aim would be to give it a gentle shove while still far away -- just enough of a bump to alter its course and make it miss the earth. Nudging a 21 million-tonne boulder would, of course, be no mean feat." {permalink}
• "Perseids Provide Practice for September Shower," Peter Jenniskens/SETI Inst. at Space.com 9 Aug. - Quote: "Comet Kiess returned from the Oort cloud of comets on the outskirts of the solar system only in recent history. Before that, Kiess spent 4.5 billion years in the Oort cloud, where cosmic rays baked its crust over the age of the solar system." {permalink}
  • "Strange Lights: The 2007 Aurigid Meteor Shower," Science@NASA 8 Aug. - Quote: "An independent model of the debris stream calculated by Danielle Moser, a colleague of [Bill Cooke at NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO)], predicts a peak time of 11:26 UT [September 1st]. 'That's in good agreement with Jenniskens and Vaubaillon,' says Cooke. 'However, our model predicts a mostly empty stream and a very weak shower.'" - Note: See A/CC's August 7th report with many links for more info on the 2007 Aurigids, including help for amateur observers. {permalink}
• "Astronomers Find New Star 'Family'," Space.com 9 Aug. - Quote: "Astronomers have spotted a small group of young stellar 'siblings' in a dusty stellar nursery 848 light-years away." - Note: See also CfA's news release yesterday. {permalink}
• "Can meteorites carry primitive life from one planet to another?" Univ. of Aberdeen 8 Aug. - Quote: "Scheduled for launch on September 14 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, the unmanned Foton M3 mission will carry 35 ESA experiments in life and physical sciences, including a rock experiment designed by Professor John Parnell [to] look at what happens to a rock sample from Orkney during re-entry into space... [The rock has been] specially sculpted to the right shape (about the size of a bowler hat) and was then attached to the side of the Russian spacecraft. The choice of Orcadian rock is an ideal material to send into space because it is organic-rich, is extremely hard and robust, and can also be used as a target for impact cratering experiments." {permalink}

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

Minor-Object Science  on 9 August '07

• "Ammonia Imaging of the Disks in the NGC 1333 IRAS 4A Protobinary System" by Choi, Minho with Ken'ichi Tatematsu, Geumsook Park & Miju Kang, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 9 Aug. - Quote: "The ammonia maps show two compact sources, one for each protostar, and they are probably protostellar accretion disks. The disk associated with IRAS 4A2 is seen nearly edge-on and shows an indication of rotation. The A2 disk is brighter in the ammonia lines but dimmer in the dust continuum than its sibling disk, with the ammonia-to-dust flux ratios different by about an order of magnitude. This difference suggests that the twin disks have surprisingly dissimilar characters, one gas-rich and the other dusty [which in turn suggests] that stars belonging to a multiple system do not necessarily evolve in phase with each other." {permalink}
• "Statistics of Core Lifetimes in Numerical Simulations of Turbulent, Magnetically Supercritical Molecular Clouds" by Galvan-Madrid, Roberto with Enrique Vazquez-Semadeni, Jongsoo Kim & Javier Ballesteros-Paredes, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 9 Aug. - Quote: "We present measurements of the mean dense core lifetimes in numerical simulations of magnetically supercritical, turbulent, isothermal molecular clouds, in order to compare with observational determinations... We also present estimates of the fraction of cores in the 'prestellar', 'stellar', and 'failed' (those cores that redisperse back into the environment) stages." - Note: This is a revision to the late-April original paper, which was not reported here, but should have been, since molecular cloud collapse is where the formation of meteors, comets, asteroids, and planets begins. The authors emphasize a number of resolution limitations in their work and say that they hope to perform a study at Solar-mass resolution "in the near future." {permalink}

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

NEOCP Activity  on 9 August '07

The MPC's NEO Confirmation Page has 4 listings: 2 new, 2 updated

When last checked at 2354 UTC today, the Minor Planet Center's NEO discovery Confirmation Page (NEOCP) had two new and two updated listings. Of these, three were "one nighters." So far Major News has counted a total of five 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.

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

New MPECs  on 9 August '07

Minor Planet Electronic Circulars

As of last check at 2354 UTC, there have been two MPECs issued today from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• MPEC 2007-P22 time-stamped "06:07 UT" - Daily Orbit Update - see below
• MPEC 2007-P23 time-stamped "20:35 UT" - Comet C/2007 P1 (McNaught)

MPEC 2007-P23 - "20:35 UT" - Comet C/2007 P1 (McNaught)

• CK07P010   C/2007 P1 (i=123.0°, q=0.633 AU, TP=2007 Mar. 26.439 TT) from the Siding Spring Survey (SSS) (Aug. 7.72-76p4, 8.66-70p4, 8.75-76p4 & 9.69-70p2) and Reedy Creek Obs. (Aug. 9.73-74p2)

<< DOU on 9 Aug. '07 >>  MPEC 2007-P22 - "06:07 UT" - Daily Orbit Update

• Observations of risk-listed objects
• K07M24L   2007 ML24 (arc=35 days, H=19.1 ~513m) from David Tholen's team on Mauna Kea (July 26.59p4)
• Observations of small asteroids (H>22.0)
• K07O03H   2007 OH3 (arc=19 days, H=24.5 ~43m) from Astronomical Research Obs. (ARO) (Aug. 8.27-29p3)
• K07K02D   2007 KD2 (Q=4.435 AU, arc=82 days, H=23.1 ~81m) from ARO (Aug. 8.15-18p3)
• Observations of other objects
• K07N05C   2007 NC5 (q=0.277 AU, Q=4.617 AU, arc=35 days, H=18.0 ~851m) from New Millennium Obs. (Aug. 5.05-08p4) and Petit Jean Mtn. South Obs. (PJMSO) (Aug. 8.36p6)
• K07N00Q   2007 NQ (arc=29 days, H=19.4 ~446m) from ARO (Aug. 8.13-15p4) and PJMSO (Aug. 8.21-22p5)
• K07M13M   2007 MM13 (i=38.2°, arc=46 days, H=17.7 ~977m) from PJMSO (Aug. 8.19-20p6)
• K07M13L   2007 ML13 (arc=47 days, H=20.1 ~323m) from ARO (Aug. 8.12p3)
• K07M00H   2007 MH (arc=51 days, H=20.9 ~224m) from ARO (Aug. 8.11p1)
• K07L32R   2007 LR32 (arc=76 days, H=17.2 ~1.23 km) from New Millennium Obs. (Aug. 5.07-10p5), Magdalena Ridge Obs. (MRO) (Aug. 6.38-39p5), PJMSO (Aug. 8.34-35p6), and Dark Roseanne Obs. (Aug. 9.16-17p4)
• K07L15B   2007 LB15 (arc=56 days, H=19.5 ~426m) from PJMSO (Aug. 8.25p5)
• K07L15A   2007 LA15 (arc=56 days, H=19.5 ~426m) from PJMSO (Aug. 8.18-19p6)
• K07L08V   2007 LV8 (arc=57 days, H=20.2 ~309m) from PJMSO (Aug. 8.23-24p6)
• K07L00L   2007 LL (arc=61 days, H=20.4 ~282m) from ARO (Aug. 8.08-11p3)
• K07H82X   2007 HX82 (Q=4.096 AU, arc=104 days, H=20.5 ~269m) from PJMSO (Aug. 8.31-32p4)
• K07C26K   2007 CK26 (arc=2 opp, H=19.0 ~537m) from PJMSO (Aug. 8.29p7)
• K06G00B   2006 GB from PJMSO (Aug. 8.17p5)
• K05G00G   2005 GG (arc=3 opp, H=16.0 ~2.14 km, q=0.694 AU) from SSS (Aug. 8.56-60p3)
• K04S09T   2004 ST9 (arc=2 opp, H=18.0 ~851m) from New Millennium Obs. (Aug. 6.90-97p6) and PJMSO (Aug. 8.30p5)
• K04B11E   2004 BE11 (arc=2 opp, H=19.4 ~446m) from LINEAR (Aug. 8.27-32p5)
• K00W06G   2000 WG6 (arc=4 opp, H=17.5 ~1.07 km) from SSS (Aug. 8.56-57p2)
• K00Q07T   2000 QT7 (arc=2 opp, H=20.0 ~339m) from LINEAR (Aug. 8.33-37p5)
• J99V06O   1999 VO6 from PJMSO (Aug. 8.26-27p4)
• E5656   145656 4788 P-L from New Millennium Obs. (Aug. 6.87-94p8) and PJMSO (Aug. 8.28p5)
• D6818   136818 Selqet (1997 MW1) from New Millennium Obs. (Aug. 6.90-94p4)
• 87309   87309 2000 QP from PJMSO (Aug. 8.28p5)
• 86324   86324 1999 WA2 from New Millennium Obs. (Aug. 6.89-91p4) and PJMSO (Aug. 8.27p6)
• 85275   85275 1994 LY from New Millennium Obs. (Aug. 6.87-93p8) and PJMSO (Aug. 8.22-23p5)
• 24443   24443 2000 OG from CAST Obs. (July 22.87p1) and PJMSO (Aug. 8.16p5)
• 21277   21277 1996 TO5 from PJMSO (Aug. 8.33p5)
• 16636   16636 1993 QP from PJMSO (Aug. 8.35p5)
• 02100   2100 Ra-Shalom (1978 RA) from LINEAR (Aug. 8.40-44p4)

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

Observers  on 9 August '07

Ten observing facilities appear in today's MPECs.

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

Impact Risk Monitoring  on 9 August '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.

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

Chronology  on 9 August '07

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