6 replies to this topic

[SeymoreStars]

Using the data below for demonstration purposes.  (This is 3 valid observations of object 6239 in ADES format)

 

permID |provID     |trkSub  |mode|stn |obsTime                |ra         |dec        |rmsRA|rmsDec|rmsFit|astCat  |mag  |rmsMag|band|photCat |photAp|logSNR|exp |notes|remarks
   6239|           | ABC0028| CMO|XXX |2025-01-04T02:01:57Z   |114.92783  |+40.05667  |0.11 |0.12  |0.16  |  Gaia3E|16.6 |0.08  |   G|  Gaia3E| 2.4  |1.94  |  60|     |
   6239|           | ABC0028| CMO|XXX |2025-01-04T02:14:30Z   |114.92000  |+40.06093  |0.12 |0.13  |0.18  |  Gaia3E|16.5 |0.04  |   G|  Gaia3E| 2.4  |1.99  |  60|     |
   6239|           | ABC0028| CMO|XXX |2025-01-04T02:27:02Z   |114.91213  |+40.06521  |0.12 |0.16  |0.20  |  Gaia3E|16.4 |0.05  |   G|  Gaia3E| 2.4  |2.03  |  60|     |

 

I am trying to prepare a game plan to capture data and want to avoid meandering all over the sky in haphazard fashion. these captures were spaced about 13 minutes apart and show clear movement.

 

Is the 13 minute interval good?  (6239 moves about 0.9 arc minutes in 25 minutes)

 

I assume this needs to be repeated for 6 other asteroids in the same night. The entire procedure needs to be repeated again another night also.

 

Is that correct? Am I missing anything else, as far as data collection is concerned?

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Edited by SeymoreStars, 13 February 2025 - 05:34 PM.

[StupendousMan]

That all seems reasonable to me.  Good luck!

[TheRoadRanger]

I have just been granted my observatory code by the MPC

I literally googled lists of minor planets and chose cool names lol then ran them through Stellarium to make sure they would be visible in the area of sky I have access to

Next step was to use the MPC ephemeris service to check predicted magnitudes were no more than 21 but dimmer than 16 (personal choice, new scope and wanted to see what it could do on a full moon)

Once I found 7 numbered objects, one of them a NEO atleast, I started on the next clear night I could!! Targeted all 7 using an asiair so had to manually enter ra/dec values taken from Stellarium and imaged the objects for about 30 minutes a piece (70x 25second subs)

Once that was all done, I took my flat frames and a few hours sleep then into tycho tracker to process!! I made a list of all the objects I successfully captured on the first night, I repeated this same process for the 2nd night and again compared what objects I successfully observed and hoped for 2 nights on 7 objects!!

It ended up being 3 nights work for me!! I observed 5/7 objects on the first night, a week later on the second night I observed all 7 of my originals which meant the next night I only had to observe 2!! Done all that, made sure I had 7 objects with 3 observations each, sorted them out and sent them off to the MPC via Tycho Tracker in ADES format!!

I submitted those around midnight Sunday local time in New Zealand and I was granted a code this morning …. Local time again

[SeymoreStars]

Great high level rundown of your procedure, all the best!!

 

Steve Hoffman

[jfgout]

I have just been granted my observatory code by the MPC

I literally googled lists of minor planets and chose cool names lol then ran them through Stellarium to make sure they would be visible in the area of sky I have access to

Next step was to use the MPC ephemeris service to check predicted magnitudes were no more than 21 but dimmer than 16 (personal choice, new scope and wanted to see what it could do on a full moon)

Once I found 7 numbered objects, one of them a NEO atleast, I started on the next clear night I could!! Targeted all 7 using an asiair so had to manually enter ra/dec values taken from Stellarium and imaged the objects for about 30 minutes a piece (70x 25second subs)

 

Congratulations on your observatory code! If you are looking for a better way to find asteroids that are visible from your location and have certain characteristics, there is a very convenient tool from the Lowell observatory: https://asteroid.low.../query-builder/

 

JF

[SeymoreStars]

Another website for Asteroid finding.

 

MPC website - https://minorplanetcenter.net/whatsup

 

 

 

 

 

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[TheRoadRanger]

Congratulations on your observatory code! If you are looking for a better way to find asteroids that are visible from your location and have certain characteristics, there is a very convenient tool from the Lowell observatory: https://asteroid.low.../query-builder/

JF

Cheers mate thank you, had a geez at that link and I quite like it, though the critical list they use doesn’t correspond with the MPC’s “Further Obs required” deal via their ephemeris tool but regardless it’s a handy site thank you

Edited by TheRoadRanger, 28 February 2025 - 07:21 PM.