Asteroid images

At a recent meeting of the BAA I was told: "There are vast numbers of
suitable images on the Internet that have never been examined for
asteroids. Examining these would be a useful amateur project for the
cloudy nights."

Is this true and if so could some kind soul point me in the right
direction?

in article , Martin Nicholson
at wrote on 4/17/04 3:33:

At a recent meeting of the BAA I was told: "There are vast numbers of
suitable images on the Internet that have never been examined for
asteroids. Examining these would be a useful amateur project for the
cloudy nights."

Is this true and if so could some kind soul point me in the right
direction?

You may indeed find asteroids etc on such images. It may not be worth
the effort however as it would be rather difficult to relocate these objects
again from old photographs unless the orbits could be well established.

Ed Majden wrote in message ...
in article , Martin Nicholson
at wrote on 4/17/04 3:33:

At a recent meeting of the BAA I was told: "There are vast numbers of
suitable images on the Internet that have never been examined for
asteroids. Examining these would be a useful amateur project for the
cloudy nights."

Is this true and if so could some kind soul point me in the right
direction?

You may indeed find asteroids etc on such images. It may not be worth
the effort however as it would be rather difficult to relocate these objects
again from old photographs unless the orbits could be well established.

On a slightly different note...
Has anyone managed to observe brightness variations arising from the
spin on any of the brighter ( 10th magnitude) asteroids? I was
fascinated by the prospect when I looked at a radar image of 216
Kleopatra, showing its 'dog bone' shape...seems to good to be real!

in article , Ed Majden at
wrote on 4/30/04 15:03:

in article , Martin Nicholson
at wrote on 4/17/04 3:33:

At a recent meeting of the BAA I was told: "There are vast numbers of
suitable images on the Internet that have never been examined for
asteroids. Examining these would be a useful amateur project for the
cloudy nights."

Is this true and if so could some kind soul point me in the right
direction?

You may indeed find asteroids etc on such images. It may not be worth
the effort however as it would be rather difficult to relocate these objects
again from old photographs unless the orbits could be well established.


There is a FMO (fast moving object) program at Kit Peak using a 0.9
meter reflector that amateurs can participate in.

See: http://fmo.lpl.arizona.edu/FMO_home/index.cfm

You scan ccd images downloaded to your computer and examine the frames
for FMOs. If you find one a report is submitted to the operator and he/she
either confirms your detection or rejects it. The telescope operates most
clear nights except for a period during the full moon. If you sign up, good
luck, as finding a legit FMO is an infrequent occurrence.

In sci.astro.amateur Abdul Ahad wrote:
Ed Majden wrote in message ...
in article , Martin Nicholson
at wrote on 4/17/04 3:33:

At a recent meeting of the BAA I was told: "There are vast numbers of
suitable images on the Internet that have never been examined for
asteroids. Examining these would be a useful amateur project for the
cloudy nights."

....snip...
On a slightly different note...
Has anyone managed to observe brightness variations arising from the
spin on any of the brighter ( 10th magnitude) asteroids? I was
fascinated by the prospect when I looked at a radar image of 216
Kleopatra, showing its 'dog bone' shape...seems to good to be real!

That was the first "serious" observing I did in college - using a 60-cm
telescope and photomultiplier. The largest asteroids are (not
surprisingly) the roundest, so the most striking results come wtih
occasional close passes of smaller objects. Eros shws
spectacular variations, as was recognized visually early in the 20th
century - apparently the Lick refractor could just show its
subarcsecond elongation. For contemporary amateurs either
kind of observations should be well within the state of the art.
One other thing I learned quickly enough - interpreting an
optical light curve by itself is nontrivial, since there are
roles for projected shape, phase of an irregular object,
and actual bright and dark surface features. That last bit
needs IR data to sort out properly. Oh, and data spanning a
wide enough range in angle can nail down the rotational pole
of the asteroid.

Bill Keel

Bill Keel

Yes, It is possible to look for asteroids on older images like DSS1
and DSS2 apart from the recent NEAT images. I think you need to look
at NASA Skymorph website
http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/skymorph/skymorph.html
You might want to see the "Look for an asteroid or other moving
object" link. Most of what I found this useful for was pre-recovery
and extending the arcs of my asteroids so that they get numbered.
Astrometrica software can help you measure trails of asteroids on DSS
images. http://www.astrometrica.at/
Another possible project as suggested is the FMO project by
Spacewatch. Although a lot more people now scan the images (reducing
your chances of finding), when I first started on that just 3 people
were there and the odds of finding were much higher. I lot luck and
found the first FMO on Oct. 25th less than a month after they started
the project.
http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/new.html
Though I dont look at the images anymore its a fun project for those
having cloudy skies during the new moon week.
Finding rotating period of asteroids is also a cool project although
you need a telescope and better a CCD than a photometer. There are
lots of asteroids that dont have rotational periods and even those
that do have known periods might need more to do shape modeling
You can find more information at
http://www.minorplanetobserver.com/astlc/default.htm
I recently started doing lightcurve work on asteroids and will be
willing to help out anyone with what I learned so far.
clear skies
Vishnu Reddy Kanupuru
www.geocities.com/moonyguy



Ed Majden wrote in message ...
in article , Ed Majden at
wrote on 4/30/04 15:03:

in article , Martin Nicholson
at wrote on 4/17/04 3:33:

At a recent meeting of the BAA I was told: "There are vast numbers of
suitable images on the Internet that have never been examined for
asteroids. Examining these would be a useful amateur project for the
cloudy nights."

Is this true and if so could some kind soul point me in the right
direction?

You may indeed find asteroids etc on such images. It may not be worth
the effort however as it would be rather difficult to relocate these objects
again from old photographs unless the orbits could be well established.


There is a FMO (fast moving object) program at Kit Peak using a 0.9
meter reflector that amateurs can participate in.

See: http://fmo.lpl.arizona.edu/FMO_home/index.cfm

You scan ccd images downloaded to your computer and examine the frames
for FMOs. If you find one a report is submitted to the operator and he/she
either confirms your detection or rejects it. The telescope operates most
clear nights except for a period during the full moon. If you sign up, good
luck, as finding a legit FMO is an infrequent occurrence.

"William C. Keel" wrote in message ...
In sci.astro.amateur Abdul Ahad wrote:
Ed Majden wrote in message ...
in article , Martin Nicholson
at wrote on 4/17/04 3:33:

At a recent meeting of the BAA I was told: "There are vast numbers of
suitable images on the Internet that have never been examined for
asteroids. Examining these would be a useful amateur project for the
cloudy nights."

...snip...
On a slightly different note...
Has anyone managed to observe brightness variations arising from the
spin on any of the brighter ( 10th magnitude) asteroids? I was
fascinated by the prospect when I looked at a radar image of 216
Kleopatra, showing its 'dog bone' shape...seems to good to be real!

That was the first "serious" observing I did in college - using a 60-cm
telescope and photomultiplier. The largest asteroids are (not
surprisingly) the roundest, so the most striking results come wtih
occasional close passes of smaller objects. Eros shws
spectacular variations, as was recognized visually early in the 20th
century - apparently the Lick refractor could just show its
subarcsecond elongation.

#433 Eros rotates 'end over end' every 5 hours, based on NEAR's laser
altimeter measurements during that craft's orbital investigations and
an epic *first* landing on an asteroid back in Feb 2001. What a
'classic' success that mission was:
http://near.jhuapl.edu/

If someone was actually onboard the NEAR spacecraft looking out the
window during the approach phase, imagine how spooked they would feel
when a 20 mile long boulder of solid rock is hurtling towards you at
incredible speed with a threatening spin rate as well...

For contemporary amateurs either
kind of observations should be well within the state of the art.
One other thing I learned quickly enough - interpreting an
optical light curve by itself is nontrivial, since there are
roles for projected shape, phase of an irregular object,
and actual bright and dark surface features.

Would be great fun to try and differentiate the light curve due to
spin from that due to surface marking irregularities.
How much does a basic photometer cost that can register 0.1 magnitude
dips in brightness and is one easily available in the 'amateur'
accessories market?

That last bit
needs IR data to sort out properly. Oh, and data spanning a
wide enough range in angle can nail down the rotational pole
of the asteroid.



Bill Keel