Asteroid 2015 RN35

[Zubenel (Wes)]

Is there anyone else out there tonight that is rising to the ESA call ??
https://www.space.com/amateur-astron...stmas-asteroid

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Tonight is good, tomorrow is perfect.

Prediction from samford so your location will differ! Happy Hunting

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

I would love to give it a shot, but the faintest mag I can see from my backyard is 13.5. At 14th mag this is out of my range unfortunately

[Averton (P and C)]

Good luck

[Zubenel (Wes)]

Turns Out Astrojunks ( Thx Johnathon) kindly provided coordinates didnt align with what gelled with Sky safari 5 was telling me. So much for relying on it in the future. Sky safari 7 showed a different location for the asteroid with coordinates looking plausible . So 700 frames at 3sec were trashed. Moving to the SS7 position high cloud rolled in. Got 200 frames which may or may not have the asteroid. I’d like to look into integrating plate solving and auto go to with the Argonavis/ servocat combo. Gary might like to incorporate in the new model!!!

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

Originally Posted by Zubenel

Turns Out Astrojunks ( Thx Johnathon) kindly provided coordinates didnt align with what gel with Sky safari 5 was telling me. So much for relying on it in the future. Sky safari 7 shoed a different location for the asteroid with coordinates looking plausible . So 700 frames at 3sec were trashed. Moving to the SS7 position high cloud rolled in. Got 200 frames which may or may not have tge asteroid. I’d like to look into integrating plate solving and auto go to with the Argonavis/ servocat combo. Gary might like to incorporate in the new model!!!

Wes,

The probable reason for your issue is that the orbital elements in SS might be incorrect. I extracted the current Bessel elements out of MPEph. Simulation curriculum may have entered the elements years ago before the orbit was refined. The elements in my version of Sky Safari 6 are all different to the current MPEph element components. As far as I know, SS doesn't allow you to edit object orbital elements. It's "big" brother SNP does support that.

Just use horizons to generate an ephemeris for your location. Works every time. If you calc the ephemeris, go to a star on the path and wait, the asteroid will drift through.

If any of your other software allows orbit refinement, use MPEPH to generate fresh elements and re-enter the objects elements or edit the existing Besselian elements.

Here are the elements for this object extracted from MPEph
Number 2015 RN35
Mag._____23.15
a________1.474578
e_________0.347406
i_________0.2342
Node ____147.958
w________269.6934
L________51.0989
Epoch____2460000.5

It's not rocket science....oh hang on....it is rocket science but don't worry, MPEph does all the heavy lifting for you.

Horizons indicates a predicted magnitude around 13.5-15 for a few nights so you still have a few nights to try this.

Good Luck
Joe

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

All planetarium software calculates the position of objects based on geocentric coordinates which is absolutely fine for the vast majority of solar system objects. For NEO's it is a bit of a lottery and can easily be a few degrees out if it is near by as parallax comes into play.

For really accurate positions you can put your own coordinates into the MPC ephemerides generator, or use an existing observatory code near to you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_observatory_codes Be careful, it's case sensitive.

My observatory is Q79, so anyone in Brisbane should be ok.

It locate the target, goto the exact coordinates with five or ten mins to spare, and wait for the target to drift into view. I haven't looked yet bit if it's a dense star field it can be pretty difficult to spot so take a few mins of video and scan it to pick up the object. Once aquired, record it as you wish

Attached are tonights coordinates at 10 min intervals.

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Thar she goes...

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GFz...nnel=astrojunk

I fear that you tube may have over compressed this - but here is about half an hour of footage of the asteroid crossing nearly a degree of FoV.

Did anyone else get to see it?

[Londoner (Mick)]

Nice capture.



Mick

[Averton (P and C)]

Originally Posted by AstroJunk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GFz...nnel=astrojunk

I fear that you tube may have over compressed this - but here is about half an hour of footage of the asteroid crossing nearly a degree of FoV.

Did anyone else get to see it?

Awesome capture, really well done

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Thanks! TBH, I was amazed to get a gap in the clouds. As usual, the Minor Planet Centre prediction was absolutely on the mark.

[Zubenel (Wes)]

Originally Posted by AstroJunk

All planetarium software calculates the position of objects based on geocentric coordinates which is absolutely fine for the vast majority of solar system objects. For NEO's it is a bit of a lottery and can easily be a few degrees out if it is near by as parallax comes into play.

For really accurate positions you can put your own coordinates into the MPC ephemerides generator, or use an existing observatory code near to you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_observatory_codes Be careful, it's case sensitive.

My observatory is Q79, so anyone in Brisbane should be ok.

It locate the target, goto the exact coordinates with five or ten mins to spare, and wait for the target to drift into view. I haven't looked yet bit if it's a dense star field it can be pretty difficult to spot so take a few mins of video and scan it to pick up the object. Once aquired, record it as you wish

Attached are tonight's coordinates at 10 min intervals.

Thanks for all the input .First outing to capture a NEO was a fail but lessons learnt.Turns out both sets of coords from either version of SS were wildly out .. I have had a yearning to bag one of these for a while. MPC coordinates are the way to go. JB you will realise that getting a precise coord with the big dob can be a black art. Using the MPC predicted position and finding /recognising a star along the way will be the way to go. Some have figured out plate sovling with the servocat but not me not yet.... This image was the second attempt which I believe goes to , in my estimation 20th mag.Thanks . Just looked at the minor planet centre... not straight forward so will need to a lot some time to squeeze out a similar table to what Jb supplied...... Great capture too BTW,