RE: [APML] Object Identification Challange

["Jay E. Potts" <jpotts@americanfocus.com>]

Thanks for all the good suggestions guys.

The MPC database tools seem to come up empty. So, I don't think I can get any further on
that front. It would be nice if a tool existed to extract some reasonably accurate
astrometric measurements, so that I could make a good observation in whatever the
predicted area of the sky this thing would be now. I would expect the low resolution of
these images would prohibit this, but I don't know that for a fact.

I believe the relatively slow motion of this thing compared to other satellites would mean
if it were a satellite, it would have to be in a very high orbit. If it were a space
vehicle launch, I would also expect it to move more rapidly, but if it were highly
inclined to the observer, It may be a possibility.

In any event, I am not aware of resources comprehensive enough to verify or exclude this
possibility, but I would like to be made aware of any other resources that could help
decide this.

At this point, It's position, brightness and motion still suggests to me that this was a
near miss by a relatively large NEA. It is certainly bright, and moving very fast for an
asteroid, but it moves much to slowly for any man made satellite I am aware of. If it is a
NEA, it would be a nice to get some accurate astrometric data.

~ Jay E. Potts
http://www.whirlpoolgalaxy.com (Astrophotography)
http://www.americanfocus.com (Landscapes & Wildlife)






-----Original Message-----
From: astro-photo-bounces@seds.org [mailto:astro-photo-bounces@seds.org] On Behalf Of
Keith Geary
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 12:56 PM
To: glennlray@mail.ev1.net; Discussion of Film Astrophotography
Subject: Re: [APML] Object Identification Challange

Good Work Glenn!, Pity though, that means it's still unresolved I guess,
What do you think Jay?
Keith..

----- Original Message -----
From: "Glenn Ray" <glennlray@mail.ev1.net>
To: "Discussion of Film Astrophotography" <astro-photo@seds.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 10:57 PM
Subject: Re: [APML] Object Identification Challange


> Good resource and suggestion, Keith.  Based on Jay's message and
> data shown in the animated gif, I plugged in the following numbers
> in the Minor Planet checker:
>
> Date:  2005 02 27.17 UT (8 hours ahead of the first image,
> ~2015PST)
> Center of search:  05 30 20 RA, -07 10 00 Dec (just above SAO
> 132192)
> Search diameter:  120 arcminutes (2 deg.)
>
> It found two minor planets, 2000 SF178 and 2002 HL13.  However,
> neither one had near the magnitude (19 and 18.8, resp.) nor motion
> (about 39"/hr each) and that the photographed object did.
>
> That object covered over 2 degrees in 10 minutes; had to be pretty
> close.
>
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
> From: "Keith Geary" <keithg1@eircom.net>
> Reply-To: Discussion of Film Astrophotography <astro-
> photo@seds.org>
> Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 20:08:30 -0000
>
> >Jay, What about this for a try? It's a check for minor planets
> which those
> >hunting supernova can use, it's maybe worth a try if you know the
> >coordinates. Good Luck
> >
> >http://scully.harvard.edu/~cgi/CheckSN
> >
> >Keith..
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Jay E. Potts" <jpotts@americanfocus.com>
> >To: "'Discussion of Film Astrophotography'" <astro-photo@seds.org>
> >Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 8:12 PM
> >Subject: [APML] Object Identification Challange
> >
> >
> >> A friend, who is just starting to learn the basics of
> astrophotography,
> >presented three
> >> images last week at one of our Astrophoto SIG meetings. The
> images
> >revealed a moving
> >> object in the constellation Orion during the evening of Feb
> 26th 2005.
> >Approx. Lat 47D-10M
> >> N, 120D-51M W (Cle Elum, WA).
> >>
> >> She was taking some quick piggy back shots using a 50mm lens,
> but was
> >using an alt-azm
> >> mount so exposure length was limited and field rotation is
> significant.
> >>
> >> In any event, she captured an object moving roughly from the
> direction of
> >the sun past the
> >> earth at a rate of speed that suggests perhaps it was a near
> earth
> >asteroid.
> >>
> >> The link below shows a greatly cropped three frame animation
> with exposure
> >lengths between
> >> 2 and 3 minutes. The object clearly is moving fast, and
> changing in
> >brightness quickly.
> >>
> >> Because resolution is poor, I've had no luck getting an
> imagelink in
> >TheSky to work, and I
> >> don't think PinPoint would have a chance at extracting decent
> astrometric
> >measurements. A
> >> quick search in TheSky does not show any minor planets in the
> area that
> >are remotely this
> >> bright. (Most are between 18-20th mag).
> >>
> >> So, I post this to see if anyone has an idea how to determine
> if this is a
> >known object, a
> >> new object, or can suggest a way to get at least a rough
> astrometric
> >measurement.
> >>
> >> Sort'of an interesting challenge. <g>
> >>
> >>
> http://www.whirlpoolgalaxy.com/temp/maxine_nagel_unknown123_labels.
> gif
> >>
> >> ~ Jay E. Potts
> >> http://www.whirlpoolgalaxy.com (Astrophotography)
> >> http://www.americanfocus.com (Landscapes & Wildlife)

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