PDA

View Full Version here: : Animation of Eris, Dwarf Planet at 96 AU


Dennis
18-06-2010, 08:51 PM
Hello,

Back in Sept 2006 I managed to record the apparent movement of magnitude 18.7 dwarf planet Eris over 4 consecutive nights. I recently re-visited this data with my newly acquired Photoshop skills and managed to extract an animation of these events. I also surprised myself by “discovering” another (known) asteroid lurking in the data, the magnitude 18.6 object 2000 GO88 which I recorded entering the field (at top) on 19th Sept with 3 x 10 minute exposures and then exiting the same field (at bottom) on 20th Sept, again using 3 x 10 minute exposures – a pure stroke of luck!

On the 20th Sept the magnitude 17.1 asteroid 2003 XY14 flitted across the 6 x 10 minute frames to be followed on 22nd Sept by the magnitude 17.6 asteroid, 1999 SV7. A busy piece of sky!

Eris was discovered on January 5, 2005 and lies some 96.7 AU from the Sun, at roughly three times the distance of Pluto. According to Wiki, with the exception of some comets, Eris and its moon Dysnomia are the most distant known natural objects in the Solar System.

Here are some useful links describing Eris:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(dwarf_planet)
http://www.planetary.org/news/2006/0914_Eris_Goddess_of_Strife_Joins_S olar.html
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/E/Eris.html

I’ve attached an animation showing only the apparent motion of Eris and also a “flattened” image showing all the asteroid action recorded over the 4 night’s imaging runs. Along with a few faint PGC galaxies, I also managed to identify a magnitude 19.21 star in the field.

Thanks for looking!

Dennis

Clayton
18-06-2010, 08:58 PM
Great stuff Dennis. Thank's for posting

jjjnettie
18-06-2010, 09:30 PM
:) Splendid work, as usual Dennis.

Dennis
19-06-2010, 11:35 AM
Thank you Clayton and Jeanette!:)

If anyone else would like to have a go at recording Eris, I have attached a screen print from SkyTools which shows that from Brisbane, for 2010, the ideal viewing slot extends from Oct to Dec as shown on the YearBar Tab in the Object Information Panel.

Cheers

Dennis

astroron
19-06-2010, 12:34 PM
Great work Dennis:thumbsup:

peter_4059
19-06-2010, 12:43 PM
Great project Dennis.

JD2439975
19-06-2010, 02:09 PM
Wow that is a busy patch of sky, 5 fast movers!
Quality work with an informative write up...top stuff. :thumbsup:

Lester
19-06-2010, 03:39 PM
Top capture of Eris, Dennis. Thanks for the view.

Kevnool
19-06-2010, 05:00 PM
I always enjoy your work Dennis.
Cheers Kev.

jjjnettie
19-06-2010, 05:42 PM
Every single image is gold. :)

h0ughy
19-06-2010, 05:46 PM
Dennis you always are a level above...excellent work!!

pgc hunter
19-06-2010, 08:27 PM
3 bodies and some very faint galaxies to boot, all in hi res. Awesome.

SkyViking
19-06-2010, 10:05 PM
Thats fantastic Dennis, congratulations! Excellent image, and indeed a busy patch :)
I like the detail with the mag19.21 star by the way :) What's your limiting magnitude with the C9.25 and SBIG cam Dennis? I have reached 19.25-19.50 with the webcam, but that's with a 10 inch. Then again the webcam's QE is supposedly a great deal lower than the SBIG's.
Since I don't use guiding I'm currently limited to 30s exposures due to my G11 mount seriously being in need of some new grease for improved tracking performance... (it used to give me pinpoint stars at up to 4 minutes). With the current 30s I only reach around mag 18.50, but I'll fix the G11 soon and take a 'deep field' with a stack of 3-4min exposures just for the fun of it. It would be great to get beyond mag 20 :)

Dennis
19-06-2010, 10:34 PM
Thank you all very much for your kind comments, they are much appreciated.

Even though the ST7 is the older parallel model with the smaller TC211 guide chip, it seems that there is still much life left in the old trooper yet; a bit like me!;):lol:

Cheers

Dennis

Dennis
19-06-2010, 10:35 PM
Hi Rolf

You’ve been turning out some very impressive results with that webcam of yours; must be those clear, sparkling Kiwi skies eh!;):)

With the C9.25 at F6.3 and the SBIG ST7 (30 min sub frames) I think that I once got down to around mag 21.8 from our back garden in suburban Brisbane when looking for Sycorax, one of the moons of Uranus.

Cheers

Dennis

DavidU
19-06-2010, 11:08 PM
That's just not right.:lol:
Superb effort.

Omaroo
20-06-2010, 08:18 AM
That's wonderful work Dennis. I've just recently become interested in Eris just after seeing it mentioned a little on the latest "Voyage to the Planets" series. What a lonely not-so little piece of rock it is. A great result you've shown us here. Congrats! :thumbsup:

SkyViking
21-06-2010, 06:35 AM
Thanks Dennis, is great fun to push the equipment to the limit isnt' it.
Mag 21.8 thats impressive! Makes sense also given that my webcam has only around 1/3 the QE of the ST7 (from memory) and you also take longer subs. I must get an SBIG... hopefully next year.

StephenM
21-06-2010, 08:51 PM
Very impressive Dennis!

Cheers,
Stephen

OICURMT
22-06-2010, 12:42 AM
I am utterly amazed at some of the works the people here perform.

Shots like this pique my interest in getting a camera and trying it for myself. If I can come even close to some of the quality images I see here, I'd be more than happy.

OIC!

Ric
23-06-2010, 01:05 PM
Fantastic Dennis.

I will never tire of these type of animations and the way you labelled it with the mags as well was very helpful.

Cheers

Darth Wader
23-06-2010, 01:36 PM
Another fantastic capture. Nice work Dennis.:thumbsup:

Cheers
Wade

Greg Bock
27-10-2011, 12:02 PM
The size of Eris has been measured using occultation techniques.
see here for info.http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1142/

BTW, fantastic work as usual Dennis, love it.

Matt Wastell
29-10-2011, 03:56 PM
Yep - I enjoy these a lot!