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Contents  on 24 August '07

• Minor-Object News -- four items
• Minor-Object Science -- two papers
• IAU Minor Planet Center
  • NEOCP Activity -- three listings: 2 new, 1 updated
  • New MPECs -- three MPECs
  • Observers -- fourteen observing facilities
• Impact Risk Monitoring -- nothing to report
• 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 24 August '07

• "Jupiter: Friend or Foe?" Europlanet 24 Aug. - Quote: "The traditional belief that Jupiter acts as a celestial shield, deflecting asteroids and comets away from the inner Solar System, has been challenged [by computer modeling that] found that the impact rate in a Solar System with a planet like our Jupiter is about comparable to the case where there is no Jupiter at all. However, when the mass of Jupiter was between these two extremes, the Earth suffered an increased number of impacts from [Jupiter family comets]." {permalink}
• "Earth to Hit Aurigid Meteors?" Sky & Telescope 23 Aug. - Quote: "As to how many you might see, the safest forecast is perhaps 20 to 30 per hour. But [Esko] Lyytinen is predicting many more, with a zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) reaching a few hundred [100-1,000]." {permalink}
• "NASA and Internet Archive Team to Digitize Space Imagery," NASA 23 Aug. - Quote: "NASA and Internet Archive of San Francisco are partnering to scan, archive and manage the agency's vast collection of photographs, historic film and video. The imagery will be available through the Internet and free to the public, historians, scholars, students, and researchers. Currently, NASA has more than 20 major imagery collections online. With this partnership, those collections will be made available through a single, searchable 'one-stop-shop' archive of NASA imagery." - Note: Compare NASA's Using NASA Imagery policy with the IA's Terms of Use, which specifies that access to its collections is "granted for scholarship and research purposes only... In particular, you certify that your use of any part of the Archive's Collections will be noncommercial." {permalink}
• "Hack the Sky," Cosmic Log at MSNBC 23 Aug. - Quote: "Today you can see the night sky from your computer, using the newly announced Google Sky or a more traditional gallery [but other ventures] let you operate a real live telescope and take pictures by remote control... Slooh is due to expand its coverage to the southern sky... Global Rent-a-Scope already has 24/7 night-sky coverage [and the] pictures typically look sharper as well... But there is a cost difference." {permalink}

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Minor-Object Science  on 24 August '07

• "The Fourth Positive System of Carbon Monoxide in the Hubble Space Telescope Spectra of Comets" by Lupu, Roxana E. with Paul D. Feldman, Harold A. Weaver & Gian-Paolo Tozzi, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 24 Aug. - Quote: "The rich structure of the Fourth Positive System (A-X) of carbon monoxide accounts for many of the spectral features seen in long slit HST-STIS observations of comets 153P/Ikeya-Zhang, C/2001 Q4 (NEAT), and C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR), as well as in the HST-GHRS spectrum of comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake. A detailed CO fluorescence model is developed to derive the CO abundances in these comets by simultaneously fitting all of the observed A-X bands. The model includes the latest values for the oscillator strengths and state parameters, and accounts for optical depth effects due to line overlap and self-absorption. The model fits yield radial profiles of CO column density that are consistent with a predominantly native source for all the comets observed by STIS. The derived CO abundances relative to water in these comets span a wide range, from 0.44% for C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR), 7.2% for 153P/Ikeya-Zhang, 8.8% for C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) to 20.9% for C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake). The subtraction of the CO spectral features using this model leads to the first identification of a molecular hydrogen line pumped by solar HI Lyman-beta longward of 1200A in the spectrum of comet 153P/Ikeya-Zhang." {permalink}
• "Keck Hires Spectroscopy of Candidate Post T Tauri Stars" by Bubar, Eric J. with Jeremy R. King, David R. Soderblom & 2 others, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 24 Aug. - Quote: "We use high-signal-to-noise ... high resolution ... Keck HIRES spectroscopy of 13 candidate post T Tauri stars to derive basic physical parameters, lithium abundances and radial velocities... We conclude that our age oriented analysis is a robust means to select samples of nearby, young, isolated post T Tauri stars that otherwise masquerade as normal field stars." {permalink}

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NEOCP Activity  on 24 August '07

The MPC's NEO Confirmation Page has 3 listings: 2 new, 1 updated

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

To learn how observers use the NEOCP, see the Practical guide on how to observe NEOCP object by Birtwhistle et al. at Suno Observatory.

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New MPECs  on 24 August '07

Minor Planet Electronic Circulars

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

• MPEC 2007-Q18 time-stamped "00:38 UT" - 2007 QE3 - see below
• MPEC 2007-Q19 time-stamped "06:09 UT" - Daily Orbit Update - see below
• MPEC 2007-Q20 time-stamped "19:31 UT" - Comet C/2007 Q1 (Garradd)

MPEC 2007-Q20 - "19:31 UT" - Comet C/2007 Q1 (Garradd)

• CK07Q010   C/2007 Q1 (i=79.6°, q=2.777 AU, TP=2006 Dec. 6.785 TT) from the Siding Spring Survey (SSS) (Aug. 21.65-68p3, 21.74-80p8 & 23.76p1), Astronomical Research Obs. (ARO) (Aug. 22.27-28p3), Tiki Obs. (Aug. 22.47-53p3), Mt. John Obs. (Aug. 22.62p2 & 24.51-53p4), CAST Obs. (Aug. 24.03-04p3), and Schiaparelli Obs. (Aug. 24.05p1 & 24.09-10p2)

<< DOU on 24 Aug. '07 >>  MPEC 2007-Q19 - "06:09 UT" - Daily Orbit Update

• Observations of small asteroids (H>22.0)
• K07P09S   2007 PS9 (arc=10 days, H=23.5 ~68m) from ARO (Aug. 22.22-23p4)
• Observations of other objects
• K07Q03E   2007 QE3 (arc=2 days, H=19.8 ~371m) from CAST Obs. (Aug. 23.93-94p2) and Schiaparelli Obs. (Aug. 24.03-04p3)
• K07P28F   2007 PF28 (arc=9 days, H=19.0 ~537m) from Peschiera del Garda Obs. (Aug. 23.87-88p4)
• K07P08B   2007 PB8 (arc=13 days, H=20.8 ~234m) from the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope (Aug. 23.27-28p3)
• K07P06F   2007 PF6 (arc=15 days, H=20.7 ~245m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (Aug. 23.17-18p3)
• K07L32R   2007 LR32 (arc=90 days, H=17.2 ~1.23 km) from Peschiera del Garda Obs. (Aug. 23.92-93p4)
• K07L08V   2007 LV8 (arc=72 days, H=20.2 ~309m) from ARO (Aug. 23.13-14p3)
• K07L00D   2007 LD (arc=77 days, H=18.8 ~589m) from ARO (Aug. 23.10-12p2)
• K07H03W   2007 HW3 (Q=4.273 AU, arc=127 days, H=20.5 ~269m) from ARO (Aug. 23.24p1)
• K04R09N   2004 RN9 (arc=3 opp, H=20.8 ~234m) from ARO (Aug. 23.38-39p3)
• K04O11T   2004 OT11 (arc=3 opp, H=17.3 ~1.17 km) from Spacewatch 1.8m (Aug. 23.13-14p3)
• K03U10B   2003 UB10 (arc=4 opp, H=18.3 ~741m) from ARO (Aug. 22.30-33p3)
• K03E00R   2003 ER (i=36.1°, arc=3 opp, H=19.9 ~355m) from ARO (Aug. 23.29-33p3)
• K02T66D   2002 TD66 (arc=3 opp, H=19.9 ~355m) from the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope (Aug. 23.39p1)
• K01R12A   2001 RA12 (arc=4 opp, H=18.1 ~812m) from ARO (Aug. 22.36-39p3)
• K01Q96D   2001 QD96 (arc=4 opp, H=18.2 ~776m) from ARO (Aug. 23.36-37p3)
• K01M18T   2001 MT18 (arc=5 opp, H=18.2 ~776m) from Spacewatch 0.9m (Aug. 23.41-44p3)
• K00J10N   2000 JN10 (arc=3 opp, H=17.9 ~891m) from ARO (Aug. 23.39-40p3)
• F4453   154453 2003 CJ11 from New Millennium Obs. (April 15.83-87p4)
• D8883   138883 2000 YL29 from New Millennium Obs. (April 15.82-87p4)
• 85867   85867 1999 BY9 from Spacewatch 0.9m (Aug. 23.18-20p2)
• 16816   16816 1997 UF9 from SSS (Aug. 23.76-77p2)
• 16636   16636 1993 QP from Goodricke-Pigott Obs. (Aug. 23.24-26p2)
• 11284   11284 Belenus (1990 BA) from Spacewatch 0.9m (Aug. 23.18-21p3)

MPEC 2007-Q18 - "00:38 UT" - 2007 QE3

• K07Q03E   2007 QE3 (H=19.8 ~371m) was discovered at 0741 UT 22 Aug. by LINEAR, which observed it at Aug. 22.32-37p5. The discovery was confirmed by ARO (Aug. 23.26p3), Farra d'Isonzo Obs. (Aug. 23.92-93p2), and Remanzacco Obs. (Aug. 23.92p1).

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Observers  on 24 August '07

Fourteen observing facilities appear in today's MPECs.

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Impact Risk Monitoring  on 24 August '07

At last check (NEODyS and JPL at 2354 UTC) there was no risk monitoring news to report yet today. See the CRT for activity in the last month.

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Chronology  on 24 August '07

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