Quote:
Originally Posted by mswhin63
I am sure there are other sites available we can register what you have found unfortunately I don't know of those sites.
I will have one of my Uni lectures tomorrow I might ask my lecturer if he knows of an Australian site to registering unknown minor planets or asteroids.
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Hi Malcolm,
When it comes to reporting a possible discovery there is a set process that the IAU have. Follow the process and you have pretty much done all you can. The process is found at the site below and that's pretty much it in a nutshell.
There has to be much care in the process or it can get out of hand, as happened about 20 years ago when an amateur astronomer reported to the Australian amateur community a "supernova" in Omega Centauri, what was it? nothing other than his poor observation. The excitement of the moment has to be calmly addressed. I have heard that CBAT (Central Bureau Astronomical Telegrams) are forever getting "I saw this I saw, I have imaged this" emails. CBAT are the ultimate bull#%@# filter before a discovery is sent out to professional observatories and subscribers. Emails without detail, confirmation and other required process no doubt end up where they belong, in the trash bin, it's blunt but thats the way it is.
There is much more responsibility placed on the observer and in particular with imaging to do your homework, there are a multitude of things to rule out, not the least artifacts, known objects (like minor planets and variables) and with some CCD cameras they can and do "bleed" bright objects into the next image, showing as what we call ill defined non star-like floaters or blobs.
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/HowT...Discovery.html
Regards
Peter