Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis
Space, what a busy place!
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Hi Dennis, space is indeed a busy place, at least in the solar system and environs.
This thread is timely as there is exciting developments in the NEA watch network of observers brought about by the recent passage of 2009 DD45, a 40-60m rock that was only discovered on 27th February by Rob McNaught and passed us by on the 2nd March at an altitude of 63,000km above Tahiti.
The passage was observed by two Australian observers; Dave Herald of Canberra and Hristo Pavlov of Epping. Dave's video can be viewed here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RKKgMDK7A4
Producing good astrometry for these fast moving (>100"/minute) is very difficult because there is not a good reliable way to tell the time of exposure of normal CCD images, accurate to 0.1 second, however these images were taken using intergrating video cameras (WAT-120N+s) in both cases AND each frame was time stamped with GPS Video Time Inserters (KIWI OSDs), accurate to 0.001seconds.
The upshot of all this is that VERY good astrometry of the asteroid was produced and submitted to the Minor Planet Centre (MPC). The MPC in turn couldn't handle the accuracy of the time base and had to change their procedures to properly record the astrometry submitted. The upshot of all this is that for very fast movers, video techniques will probably be the prefered method of observation.
Dave Herald and others are working with the MPC to produce a guide for future observations and it is all within the capability of the amateur astronomer. As soon as the guide is finalised and released, I'll post it here.
So, NEA observers wishing to contribute to the observing program should watch this space!
