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Interstellar Object A/2017 U1

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#1 Rankinstudio

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Posted 26 October 2017 - 01:50 PM

This has been quite the buzz the last few days. I was able to get two observations on it before it became too faint for my setup:

 

A2017U1.jpg

 

First documented case of an interstellar object passing into the solar system. It shot around the sun and is now on its way back out to wander the galaxy. 

 

The eccentricity is solving above 1.18, highest of any object ever found. It has a hyperbolic orbit. 

 

http://www.ifa.hawai...s/interstellar/

 

http://www.minorplan...ct_id=A/2017 U1


Edited by Rankinstudio, 26 October 2017 - 02:03 PM.


#2 ToxMan

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Posted 26 October 2017 - 06:15 PM

Nice work, David.

 

I'd be interested to know what all you did in preparation and capture.

 

Paul



#3 Rankinstudio

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Posted 26 October 2017 - 07:49 PM

Nice work, David.

 

I'd be interested to know what all you did in preparation and capture.

 

Paul

Thanks Paul

 

Just need to be sure you have a very accurate time and access to the previous observations. From there you can use FindOrb to generate ephemeris for future positions along with the velocity and position angle it is going for stacking with its motion while trying to recover it.

 

https://www.projectp...om/find_orb.htm

 

This thing was on the MPC NEOCP page for a while, you can use their ephemeris generator when they are on the NEOCP to track them down as well.

 

Cheers!

David


Edited by Rankinstudio, 26 October 2017 - 07:53 PM.


#4 DarkRise

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Posted 28 October 2017 - 05:20 PM

This has been quite the buzz the last few days. I was able to get two observations on it before it became too faint for my setup:

 

attachicon.gifA2017U1.jpg

 

First documented case of an interstellar object passing into the solar system. It shot around the sun and is now on its way back out to wander the galaxy. 

 

The eccentricity is solving above 1.18, highest of any object ever found. It has a hyperbolic orbit. 

 

http://www.ifa.hawai...s/interstellar/

 

http://www.minorplan...ct_id=A/2017 U1

 

Do you think you could provide more detail about the equipment used to capture the object? What is the object magnitude?



#5 Rankinstudio

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Posted 28 October 2017 - 05:25 PM

 

This has been quite the buzz the last few days. I was able to get two observations on it before it became too faint for my setup:

 

attachicon.gifA2017U1.jpg

 

First documented case of an interstellar object passing into the solar system. It shot around the sun and is now on its way back out to wander the galaxy. 

 

The eccentricity is solving above 1.18, highest of any object ever found. It has a hyperbolic orbit. 

 

http://www.ifa.hawai...s/interstellar/

 

http://www.minorplan...ct_id=A/2017 U1

 

Do you think you could provide more detail about the equipment used to capture the object? What is the object magnitude?

 

Equipment:

12" F4 OTA

Atik 414EXM (unfiltered)

HDX110 

 

40, 40 second exposures. 

At the time I shot it, it was approaching mag 21. It is well fainter than 22 now.

Cheers!



#6 Planethunter80

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Posted 28 October 2017 - 06:41 PM

Absolutely Awesome. I have been so interested in this since they started reporting on it.

 

Thanks for taking the time to capture the image.waytogo.gif 



#7 old_frankland

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Posted 29 October 2017 - 12:27 PM

Impressive results!



#8 Marc Delcroix

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Posted 29 October 2017 - 12:39 PM

Excellent shot for a unique target!



#9 Rankinstudio

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Posted 29 October 2017 - 01:02 PM

Thanks guys!



#10 555aaa

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Posted 30 October 2017 - 10:13 PM

Looks like the Vulcan science ship came by about 200 years too early.
Cool image. Wondering if you used Astrometrica's stack and track feature.

#11 Rankinstudio

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Posted 30 October 2017 - 11:12 PM

Looks like the Vulcan science ship came by about 200 years too early.
Cool image. Wondering if you used Astrometrica's stack and track feature.

Thanks. The image and astrometry were done in Astrometrica :)

 

Cheers,



#12 overnight

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Posted 30 October 2017 - 11:44 PM

You can actually see it! Nice job! waytogo.gif bow.gif



#13 Rankinstudio

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Posted 31 October 2017 - 12:40 AM

You can actually see it! Nice job! waytogo.gif bow.gif

Thanks! 



#14 happylimpet

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Posted 03 November 2017 - 04:28 AM

Profoundly jealous!!!!! Was so hoping to get this but clouded out.....however delighted 'one of us' got it!!!



#15 Mason Dixon

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Posted 03 November 2017 - 01:46 PM

Saw this on APOD and wondered if anybody here had bagged it, sure enough it was, congrats!



#16 Rankinstudio

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Posted 03 November 2017 - 02:11 PM

Thanks guys!

 

I was out imaging the night it really started firing off some interesting discussions on the mailing lists out there so I decided to give it a run before bed (had to get up at 5am). Should have given it another 40 mins of exposure to get better astrometry, but was happy that I caught it before it faded too much.

 

Cheers



#17 Augustus

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Posted 03 November 2017 - 06:43 PM

Amazing!



#18 Rankinstudio

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Posted 06 November 2017 - 06:54 PM

This is a cool update. As this asteroid / dead comet is the first of its kind the IAU ran into some nomenclature issues and decided to come up with a new designation and naming system for these objects that is similar to comets: https://www.minorpla...K17/K17V17.html

 

"Correct forms for referring to this object are therefore: 1I; 1I/2017 U1;

1I/'Oumuamua; and 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua)."

 

They were able to give it a name, and it received the very first I numbered designation for Interstellar object.



#19 kbev

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Posted 06 November 2017 - 11:13 PM

And they never even stopped to say 'Hi'...

 

I had noticed late last week they had reclassified it as an asteroid (A/2017 U1), glad to see the reclassification to interstellar!  Hopefully we'll see more of these being discovered going forward.

 

Edit: I see you have it listed as A/2017 U1 on your image.  


Edited by kbev, 06 November 2017 - 11:24 PM.


#20 Rankinstudio

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Posted 07 November 2017 - 10:06 AM

And they never even stopped to say 'Hi'...

 

I had noticed late last week they had reclassified it as an asteroid (A/2017 U1), glad to see the reclassification to interstellar!  Hopefully we'll see more of these being discovered going forward.

 

Edit: I see you have it listed as A/2017 U1 on your image.  

Yep, it was originally C/2017 U1 as they assumed comet or someone reported cometary activity. I believe the VLT then did a deep stack and found no evidence of outgassing and reported that to the MPC which then changed the designation to A/2017 U1. After confirming it was indeed interstellar, it is now 1I/2017 U1. Its been on a designation / naming roller coaster for sure. 



#21 Jeff Verona

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Posted 07 November 2017 - 01:10 PM

I recommend the “Physics: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics” section of http://Arxiv.org to anyone who’s interested in this object (or planetary/exoplanetary science in general).  So far the data suggest an unusually red object which is probably solid rather than volatile. There’s been some speculation as to its place of origin as well.


Edited by Jeff Verona, 07 November 2017 - 01:11 PM.


#22 careysub

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Posted 20 November 2017 - 09:22 PM

 

And they never even stopped to say 'Hi'...

 

I had noticed late last week they had reclassified it as an asteroid (A/2017 U1), glad to see the reclassification to interstellar!  Hopefully we'll see more of these being discovered going forward.

 

Edit: I see you have it listed as A/2017 U1 on your image.  

Yep, it was originally C/2017 U1 as they assumed comet or someone reported cometary activity. I believe the VLT then did a deep stack and found no evidence of outgassing and reported that to the MPC which then changed the designation to A/2017 U1. After confirming it was indeed interstellar, it is now 1I/2017 U1. Its been on a designation / naming roller coaster for sure. 

 

And now it has a proper name: ‘Oumuamua.

Nature today reveals this about the object:

"Our observations reveal the object to be asteroidal, with no hint of cometary activity despite an approach within 0.25 au of the Sun. Spectroscopic measurements show that the object’s surface is consistent with comets or organic-rich asteroid surfaces found in our own Solar System. Light-curve observations indicate that the object has an extreme oblong shape, with a 10:1 axis ratio and a mean radius of 102±4 m, assuming an albedo of 0.04. Very few objects in our Solar System have such an extreme light curve."

So it is 400 meters long, and 40 meters wide.

I'm thinking, dusty alien spacecraft.



#23 kbev

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Posted 21 November 2017 - 05:36 AM

And they never even stopped to say 'Hi'...

I had noticed late last week they had reclassified it as an asteroid (A/2017 U1), glad to see the reclassification to interstellar! Hopefully we'll see more of these being discovered going forward.

Edit: I see you have it listed as A/2017 U1 on your image.

Yep, it was originally C/2017 U1 as they assumed comet or someone reported cometary activity. I believe the VLT then did a deep stack and found no evidence of outgassing and reported that to the MPC which then changed the designation to A/2017 U1. After confirming it was indeed interstellar, it is now 1I/2017 U1. Its been on a designation / naming roller coaster for sure.
And now it has a proper name: ‘Oumuamua.
Nature today reveals this about the object:

"Our observations reveal the object to be asteroidal, with no hint of cometary activity despite an approach within 0.25 au of the Sun. Spectroscopic measurements show that the object’s surface is consistent with comets or organic-rich asteroid surfaces found in our own Solar System. Light-curve observations indicate that the object has an extreme oblong shape, with a 10:1 axis ratio and a mean radius of 102±4 m, assuming an albedo of 0.04. Very few objects in our Solar System have such an extreme light curve."

So it is 400 meters long, and 40 meters wide.

I'm thinking, dusty alien spacecraft.
Maybe they should have named it 'Rama'...

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#24 james7ca

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Posted 21 November 2017 - 05:36 AM

That's some really nice work.

 

I've got to be honest, however, and say that I think you only MAY have captured A/2017 U1. What I mean is that I can see other objects in that frame that are probably nothing more than noise and which appear much like what you've identified as A/2017 U1. Thus, can you really be 100% certain that you've actually captured your target object? How certain are you to its exact location?

 

I don't know, maybe you are relying on more than just the visual appearance that is given by this single image. I kind of went through a similar process when I imaged (maybe) nine of Saturn's moons in a single frame, where I couldn't be absolutely certain that I'd captured the moon Phoebe. Phoebe by itself isn't that difficult (magnitude 17), but it's fairly hard to capture something that faint when you also want to record Saturn's inner moons using the same scope, camera, and exposure (the last being the truly limiting factor). After a fair amount of additional work (determining the precise location, checking two different sequences of exposures) I finally decided that I probably HAD recorded Phoebe.

 

So, I wonder, do you have any other way to confirm that what you've identified is actually A/2017 U1? I can't say that it is NOT, and given that the location is accurate it looks quite probable that you've recorded it, but I don't think I could claim 100% certainty.


Edited by james7ca, 21 November 2017 - 06:31 AM.


#25 Rankinstudio

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Posted 21 November 2017 - 08:21 AM

That's some really nice work.

 

I've got to be honest, however, and say that I think you only MAY have captured A/2017 U1. What I mean is that I can see other objects in that frame that are probably nothing more than noise and which appear much like what you've identified as A/2017 U1. Thus, can you really be 100% certain that you've actually captured your target object? How certain are you to its exact location?

 

I don't know, maybe you are relying on more than just the visual appearance that is given by this single image. I kind of went through a similar process when I imaged (maybe) nine of Saturn's moons in a single frame, where I couldn't be absolutely certain that I'd captured the moon Phoebe. Phoebe by itself isn't that difficult (magnitude 17), but it's fairly hard to capture something that faint when you also want to record Saturn's inner moons using the same scope, camera, and exposure (the last being the truly limiting factor). After a fair amount of additional work (determining the precise location, checking two different sequences of exposures) I finally decided that I probably HAD recorded Phoebe.

 

So, I wonder, do you have any other way to confirm that what you've identified is actually A/2017 U1? I can't say that it is NOT, and given that the location is accurate it looks quite probable that you've recorded it, but I don't think I could claim 100% certainty.

 

I routinely find and confirm asteroids in the V21 range. This stack and track method helps with the SNR and can bring out fainter objects. 

 

And you are right, I'm not just relying on the visual appearance of the asteroid. The residuals of my two measurements agree within an arc second that it was the asteroid: http://rankinstudio.com/A_2017_U1

 

It's probably also worth pointing out that this is quite relative to your scope, camera, and skies. You say that mag 17 was difficult - in my scope mag 17 objects are very bright. I don't start having trouble actually resolving objects until they get fainter than mag 20.5.

Here is an example of a ~20.6 asteroid I found a while back. You can pretty clearly make it out: http://www.rankinstudio.com/K16Y00B

 

Cheers,

 

David


Edited by Rankinstudio, 21 November 2017 - 09:28 AM.



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