Light pollution question

[pberrett]

Hi everyone

I recently discovered my first comet (Soho 2523) using images downloaded from the Soho website (http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil).

This has peaked my interest in astronomy and got me wondering whether I might be able to discover an asteroid.

I have been pondering about getting a computerised telescope of my own to take photos of the night sky and scan then for any moving objects however of course there is the issue of light pollution. I live in Boronia which is 30k east of Melbourne and on the edge of suburbia and we get some light pollution here but I can still see lots of stars.

Is it unrealistic to expect that one could discover an asteroid or near earth object in this environment, or am I far out enough from the city lights?

Also can one overcome light pollution by looking at the night sky in the infrared or similar optical frequencies?

cheers Peter

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Peter

I am no expert in this area but as no one has replied yet I will give my thoughts.

It is possible to do this with moderately light polluted areas. You will need a good camera on a tracking platform that can take reasonable length exposures. You can then stack these photos over a longer period and look for items that move (streaks) against the background of fixed stars.

If you do find a moving object you will need to track it over a number of days or weeks plotting its position at least three times to construct its orbit parameters and then see if they agree with any known object. There are thousands of objects already known.

Barry

[MattT]

Peter have a look at Cloudy Nights forum in the US in the NEO forum. Near Earth Objects. There is a thread at the beginning called 'NASA wants backyard observers' which from memory has all some of the answers you have asked about. On the wrong computer to do a link....
Matt

[pberrett]

Thanks for the responses, Matt I noted that NASA are seeking comments re citizen participation in finding objects so I provide a response to them suggesting that they set up a web page like the Soho comet hunting page where amateurs can download images and hunt for steroids. If they find one they can then be credited as the discoverer and get to name it.

cheers Peter

[naskies]

There's a really great eight-part introductory tutorial here on discovering asteroids:

http://www.itelescope.net/astro-science/2012/12/4/discovering-asteroids-whats-the-story.html