asteroids

First two new NEOs observed from McDonald

The recently installed 1-meter telescope at McDonald Observatory has helped confirm its first two new Near Earth Objects (NEOs).  Both were candidates from PanSTARRS, and were followed up by a number of observatories including LCOGT. The first object, initially called P103Jah was detected by PanSTARRS on June 10th and  followed-up by Tim Lister on June 12. The object was officially designated as 2012 LK2 the next day.

Discovery of Main-Belt Comet P/2006 VW139 by Pan-STARRS1

Main belt asteroid (300163) 2006 VW139 (later designated P/2006 VW139 ) was discovered to exhibit comet-like activity by the Pan-STARRS1 survey telescope using automated point-spread-function analyses performed by PS1’s Moving Object Processing System. Deep follow-up observations show both a short (∼10" ) antisolar dust tail and a longer (∼60" ) dust trail aligned with the object’s orbit plane, similar to the morphology observed for another main-belt comet, P/2010 R2 (La Sagra), and other well-established comets, implying the action of a long-lived, sublimation-driven emission event.

Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

Stunning results with new NEO target program

You know that saying about waiting for a bus, and then two come along at once...well, with a new research project being carried out by amateur astronomers in the UK and Italy, in this case it was 7...new asteroids

Nick Howes, equipment consultant for UK Magazine Astronomy Now, has been using the twin 2m Faulkes Telescope North and Faulkes Telescope South for a few years, on comet observation and measurement work, but in the past few months,

Ticker Tape Model of the Solar System

Objectives: 

Name all the planets in our Solar System.

Describe the distances in our Solar System including the distances between planets, and between the Asteroid belt, the Kuiper Belt, and the Sun.

Describe three or more differences between the inner and outer Solar System.

How many planets are in our Solar System and what are their names? How far apart are they? What are the differences between them? This activity will help answer some of these questions, while providing the opportunity for you to ask your own.

Observing the aftermath of a main-belt asteroid collision

Here are the two images hot off the press. The observations of a strange asteroid were taken about 58 hr apart. It was reported that Steve Larson of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, had imaged the asteroid (596) Scheila on December 11.44-11.47 UT with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope at Catalina and found it to be in apparent outburst with a comet-like appearance. This is the first well-documented occasion that a main-belt asteroid has been seen to be surrounded by a fuzzy coma.

Pages