Here we have a 120 sec exposure image of the NEO 2023 MU2 with the telescope tracking on the rapidly moving NEO. I could easily see the orbital movement in real time on the computer screen.
Whilst the good folks and visitors of the City of Brisbane were safely sleeping, I was keeping an eye on this 5 metre sized cosmic rock as it sailed by our back garden on Sunday 25th June 2023, at a closest approach of some 230,000 kms, well within the orbit of our Moon.
My first 120 sec exposure did not locate the NEO so I had to slew the telescope to each corner of the FOV and take a series of 120 sec exposures in the hope of locating the rapidly moving mag 16.8 object. One of these frames revealed the location of NEO 2023 MU2, some 25 arc mins off, that is behind the plotted position, so it was lagging.
Equipment- Takahashi Mewlon 210 F11.5
- QHY268M Camera
- Paramount MX+ Mount.
- FOV 33x22 arc mins.
- Image Scale: 0.32 arcsec/pixel
TSX Report for Centre of Chart with image of NEO 2023 MU2- RA (Topocentric): 19h 50m 39.845s
- Dec (Topocentric): -02° 45' 24.14"
- RA (2000.0): 19h 49m 25.589s
- Dec (2000.0): -02° 48' 55.41"
TSX Report for plotted position of NEO 2023 MU2- RA (Topocentric): 19h 51m 54.0s
- Dec (Topocentric): -02° 42' 39"
- RA (2000.0): 19h 50m 39.8s
- Dec (2000.0): -02° 46' 11"
Object Name: 2023 MU2- RA Rate (arcsecs/sec): 2.524225
- Dec Rate (arcsecs/sec): 0.706238
- Date/Time AEST: 25/06/2023 1:48:39 PM at exposure start
- Date/Time UTC: 25/06/2023 11:48:39.060 at exposure start
I have included a Screen Capture of The Sky X Pro showing the plotted position, overlaid with the image showing the actual position.
Cheers
Dennis Simmons