Astro: Eris

That's what you take when you see clouds only 10 minutes away that will
shut you down for the night right after you are set up. It's moving at
about 0.7" per hour so getting an "movie" of it like I like to do will
take many clear nights in a row. Not likely. This is simply 4 two
minute shots. Fifth got clobbered by the clouds that were closer than I
thought.

It's motion is so slow that it will take several weeks to cross this
frame. This image was taken the evening of the 22nd (UT). Even today
it is just now reaching the bright double star (vertical) toward the
right side of the frame. Image is 1.5" per pixel. I cropped it to
include a few faint fuzzies. With such short exposure they are just
blobs but I have to have a faint fuzzy or two in even my planetary images.

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Good shooting Rick. I wasn't even aware that Eris is bright enough to be
imaged by amateurs without long exposure times. Do you know how bright/faint
it was at the time of your image? Guide 8 doesn't seem to find Eris.

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
ter.com...
That's what you take when you see clouds only 10 minutes away that will
shut you down for the night right after you are set up. It's moving at
about 0.7" per hour so getting an "movie" of it like I like to do will
take many clear nights in a row. Not likely. This is simply 4 two
minute shots. Fifth got clobbered by the clouds that were closer than I
thought.

It's motion is so slow that it will take several weeks to cross this
frame. This image was taken the evening of the 22nd (UT). Even today
it is just now reaching the bright double star (vertical) toward the
right side of the frame. Image is 1.5" per pixel. I cropped it to
include a few faint fuzzies. With such short exposure they are just
blobs but I have to have a faint fuzzy or two in even my planetary images.

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Oops, I didn't mean to leave that out. Per my measurements it is 18.2
but per the minor planet center it is 18.7 so there's a half magnitude
difference.

I've seen some reports of there being more frozen N2 on the surface than
when it was discovered. That likely has changed the albedo and might
explain the difference.

Sedna, while closer is much darker and somewhat smaller. It isn't far
from Eris in the sky so had wanted to try for it as well. It though is
listed at 21 or so. So will be more difficult.

Rick



Stefan Lilge wrote:

Good shooting Rick. I wasn't even aware that Eris is bright enough to be
imaged by amateurs without long exposure times. Do you know how bright/faint
it was at the time of your image? Guide 8 doesn't seem to find Eris.

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
ter.com...

That's what you take when you see clouds only 10 minutes away that will
shut you down for the night right after you are set up. It's moving at
about 0.7" per hour so getting an "movie" of it like I like to do will
take many clear nights in a row. Not likely. This is simply 4 two
minute shots. Fifth got clobbered by the clouds that were closer than I
thought.

It's motion is so slow that it will take several weeks to cross this
frame. This image was taken the evening of the 22nd (UT). Even today
it is just now reaching the bright double star (vertical) toward the
right side of the frame. Image is 1.5" per pixel. I cropped it to
include a few faint fuzzies. With such short exposure they are just
blobs but I have to have a faint fuzzy or two in even my planetary images.

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

As to Guide 8 just go to the minor planet center's ephemeris page;
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html
and put Eris (and Sedna if you wish) into the box then go down to the
bottom of the page and check the Guide (Project Pluto) box and it will
then give you a file formatted for Guide. Save it and use Guide's
import minor planet function and it will pick up those you requested.
At least that's how it works for The Sky when I check its box. The page
accepts common names as well as the more formal designations.

Rick

Rick Johnson wrote:

Oops, I didn't mean to leave that out. Per my measurements it is 18.2
but per the minor planet center it is 18.7 so there's a half magnitude
difference.

I've seen some reports of there being more frozen N2 on the surface than
when it was discovered. That likely has changed the albedo and might
explain the difference.

Sedna, while closer is much darker and somewhat smaller. It isn't far
from Eris in the sky so had wanted to try for it as well. It though is
listed at 21 or so. So will be more difficult.

Rick



Stefan Lilge wrote:

Good shooting Rick. I wasn't even aware that Eris is bright enough to
be imaged by amateurs without long exposure times. Do you know how
bright/faint it was at the time of your image? Guide 8 doesn't seem to
find Eris.

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
ter.com...

That's what you take when you see clouds only 10 minutes away that will
shut you down for the night right after you are set up. It's moving at
about 0.7" per hour so getting an "movie" of it like I like to do will
take many clear nights in a row. Not likely. This is simply 4 two
minute shots. Fifth got clobbered by the clouds that were closer than I
thought.

It's motion is so slow that it will take several weeks to cross this
frame. This image was taken the evening of the 22nd (UT). Even today
it is just now reaching the bright double star (vertical) toward the
right side of the frame. Image is 1.5" per pixel. I cropped it to
include a few faint fuzzies. With such short exposure they are just
blobs but I have to have a faint fuzzy or two in even my planetary
images.

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Thanks Rick.
Now knowing that Eris is brighter than 19 mag I told Guide8 to show me a
list of all asteroids brighter than mag 19 and it had Eris. But if I search
for an asteroid called "Eris" Guide8 gives me an error, it only finds Eris
if I search for the number of Eris (136199, which of course I don't know
unless I look it up somewhere).

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
ter.com...
As to Guide 8 just go to the minor planet center's ephemeris page;
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html
and put Eris (and Sedna if you wish) into the box then go down to the
bottom of the page and check the Guide (Project Pluto) box and it will
then give you a file formatted for Guide. Save it and use Guide's import
minor planet function and it will pick up those you requested. At least
that's how it works for The Sky when I check its box. The page accepts
common names as well as the more formal designations.

Rick

Rick Johnson wrote:

Oops, I didn't mean to leave that out. Per my measurements it is 18.2
but per the minor planet center it is 18.7 so there's a half magnitude
difference.

I've seen some reports of there being more frozen N2 on the surface than
when it was discovered. That likely has changed the albedo and might
explain the difference.

Sedna, while closer is much darker and somewhat smaller. It isn't far
from Eris in the sky so had wanted to try for it as well. It though is
listed at 21 or so. So will be more difficult.

Rick



Stefan Lilge wrote:

Good shooting Rick. I wasn't even aware that Eris is bright enough to be
imaged by amateurs without long exposure times. Do you know how
bright/faint it was at the time of your image? Guide 8 doesn't seem to
find Eris.

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
ter.com...

That's what you take when you see clouds only 10 minutes away that will
shut you down for the night right after you are set up. It's moving at
about 0.7" per hour so getting an "movie" of it like I like to do will
take many clear nights in a row. Not likely. This is simply 4 two
minute shots. Fifth got clobbered by the clouds that were closer than
I
thought.

It's motion is so slow that it will take several weeks to cross this
frame. This image was taken the evening of the 22nd (UT). Even today
it is just now reaching the bright double star (vertical) toward the
right side of the frame. Image is 1.5" per pixel. I cropped it to
include a few faint fuzzies. With such short exposure they are just
blobs but I have to have a faint fuzzy or two in even my planetary
images.

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

I had the same problem with The Sky. The database was made before the
name was known. But when I import it under the name then I can always
access it by name or formal designation.

Rick


Stefan Lilge wrote:
Thanks Rick.
Now knowing that Eris is brighter than 19 mag I told Guide8 to show me a
list of all asteroids brighter than mag 19 and it had Eris. But if I search
for an asteroid called "Eris" Guide8 gives me an error, it only finds Eris
if I search for the number of Eris (136199, which of course I don't know
unless I look it up somewhere).

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
ter.com...

As to Guide 8 just go to the minor planet center's ephemeris page;
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html
and put Eris (and Sedna if you wish) into the box then go down to the
bottom of the page and check the Guide (Project Pluto) box and it will
then give you a file formatted for Guide. Save it and use Guide's import
minor planet function and it will pick up those you requested. At least
that's how it works for The Sky when I check its box. The page accepts
common names as well as the more formal designations.

Rick

Rick Johnson wrote:


Oops, I didn't mean to leave that out. Per my measurements it is 18.2
but per the minor planet center it is 18.7 so there's a half magnitude
difference.

I've seen some reports of there being more frozen N2 on the surface than
when it was discovered. That likely has changed the albedo and might
explain the difference.

Sedna, while closer is much darker and somewhat smaller. It isn't far
from Eris in the sky so had wanted to try for it as well. It though is
listed at 21 or so. So will be more difficult.

Rick



Stefan Lilge wrote:


Good shooting Rick. I wasn't even aware that Eris is bright enough to be
imaged by amateurs without long exposure times. Do you know how
bright/faint it was at the time of your image? Guide 8 doesn't seem to
find Eris.

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
monster.com...


That's what you take when you see clouds only 10 minutes away that will
shut you down for the night right after you are set up. It's moving at
about 0.7" per hour so getting an "movie" of it like I like to do will
take many clear nights in a row. Not likely. This is simply 4 two
minute shots. Fifth got clobbered by the clouds that were closer than
I
thought.

It's motion is so slow that it will take several weeks to cross this
frame. This image was taken the evening of the 22nd (UT). Even today
it is just now reaching the bright double star (vertical) toward the
right side of the frame. Image is 1.5" per pixel. I cropped it to
include a few faint fuzzies. With such short exposure they are just
blobs but I have to have a faint fuzzy or two in even my planetary
images.

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Hi Rick - great thought ... amazing, I had just put Pluto, Eris,
Quaoar,Haumea, and Makemake on the to-do list this year. I'm finally
getting roughly 20 mag on a regular basis. Thanks for posting this one.
- take care - Rod - ps - I don't hope for a movie here but rather just
a nice "blink" gif someday.


Rick Johnson wrote:
That's what you take when you see clouds only 10 minutes away that will
shut you down for the night right after you are set up. It's moving at
about 0.7" per hour so getting an "movie" of it like I like to do will
take many clear nights in a row. Not likely. This is simply 4 two
minute shots. Fifth got clobbered by the clouds that were closer than I
thought.

It's motion is so slow that it will take several weeks to cross this
frame. This image was taken the evening of the 22nd (UT). Even today
it is just now reaching the bright double star (vertical) toward the
right side of the frame. Image is 1.5" per pixel. I cropped it to
include a few faint fuzzies. With such short exposure they are just
blobs but I have to have a faint fuzzy or two in even my planetary images.

Rick


------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd like to do a "blink" but so far weather has made that impossible.
Now it is getting too far west. West of the meridian it is in my
Meridian Tree then getting into the fog that forms after dark over that
part of the lake. There are springs there that keep some water open
even at -40C. They send up a fog of ice crystals you can't image
through. Bad enough in summer with water droplets often in the air on
humid nights in that part of the sky but come winter I'm dead below
about 10 degrees declination west of the meridian. This may be a next
year project.

Rick

rod wrote:

Hi Rick - great thought ... amazing, I had just put Pluto, Eris,
Quaoar,Haumea, and Makemake on the to-do list this year. I'm finally
getting roughly 20 mag on a regular basis. Thanks for posting this one.
- take care - Rod - ps - I don't hope for a movie here but rather just
a nice "blink" gif someday.


Rick Johnson wrote:

That's what you take when you see clouds only 10 minutes away that
will shut you down for the night right after you are set up. It's
moving at about 0.7" per hour so getting an "movie" of it like I like
to do will take many clear nights in a row. Not likely. This is
simply 4 two minute shots. Fifth got clobbered by the clouds that
were closer than I thought.

It's motion is so slow that it will take several weeks to cross this
frame. This image was taken the evening of the 22nd (UT). Even today
it is just now reaching the bright double star (vertical) toward the
right side of the frame. Image is 1.5" per pixel. I cropped it to
include a few faint fuzzies. With such short exposure they are just
blobs but I have to have a faint fuzzy or two in even my planetary
images.

Rick


------------------------------------------------------------------------


--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Arrgghhh - I setup tonight to take images of Eris, Pallas, et al. I'm
about 50% clouds; useless (I've quit for the eve and had a long eve last
night). I hear you about the too far west regarding Eris, it slipped
away too quickly tonight.

Again - thanks for posting Eris - very cool - and good eve - Rod


Rick Johnson wrote:
I'd like to do a "blink" but so far weather has made that impossible.
Now it is getting too far west. West of the meridian it is in my
Meridian Tree then getting into the fog that forms after dark over that
part of the lake. There are springs there that keep some water open
even at -40C. They send up a fog of ice crystals you can't image
through. Bad enough in summer with water droplets often in the air on
humid nights in that part of the sky but come winter I'm dead below
about 10 degrees declination west of the meridian. This may be a next
year project.

Rick

rod wrote:

Hi Rick - great thought ... amazing, I had just put Pluto, Eris,
Quaoar,Haumea, and Makemake on the to-do list this year. I'm finally
getting roughly 20 mag on a regular basis. Thanks for posting this
one. - take care - Rod - ps - I don't hope for a movie here but
rather just a nice "blink" gif someday.


Rick Johnson wrote:

That's what you take when you see clouds only 10 minutes away that
will shut you down for the night right after you are set up. It's
moving at about 0.7" per hour so getting an "movie" of it like I like
to do will take many clear nights in a row. Not likely. This is
simply 4 two minute shots. Fifth got clobbered by the clouds that
were closer than I thought.

It's motion is so slow that it will take several weeks to cross this
frame. This image was taken the evening of the 22nd (UT). Even
today it is just now reaching the bright double star (vertical)
toward the right side of the frame. Image is 1.5" per pixel. I
cropped it to include a few faint fuzzies. With such short exposure
they are just blobs but I have to have a faint fuzzy or two in even
my planetary images.

Rick


------------------------------------------------------------------------