2012DA14 in Eta Carina at 4:58AM Saturday. Viewing party on Mornington Pen?
I was just plotting out the path of 2012DA14 using Sky Safari, and realised that it will be passing through Eta Carina at 4:58AM (viewed from the Mornington Peninsula). It will be approximate 44,000km from Earth at that point, and will be at the beginning of its approach to the nearest point. It will take about 2 minutes to transit Eta Carina, then will be moving for about an hour through dark skies toward it's nearest approach, and will disappear beneath the horizon just at about sunrise.
There is a wonderful viewing platform at the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society Briars location (near Mount Martha). I know it's crazy early, and who knows whether the asteroid will be visible easily at all. With the light of Eta Carina as a backdrop, who knows, it may be possible, and at least a good reference point. The weather seems to stand a chance of being clear, and it might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Any interest?
If so, I will contact MPAS, and perhaps somebody there will be interested in getting out one of the bigger telescopes for the event. I have a Celestron 6SE, and would bring that along (if it's good enough for such an object, no idea).
(Note, I am also trusting that Sky Safari's orbit calculations are correct! But, everybody seems to believe they are accurate.)
I was just plotting out the path of 2012DA12 using Sky Safari, and realised that it will be passing through Eta Carina at 4:58AM (viewed from the Mornington Peninsula).
Gary, it's 2012 DA14, but we know what you mean.
If you have SS Plus/Pro 3.7.3 for iOS, or 1.7.3 for Android (or 1.7.4 when it reaches the servers sometime today), or 1.7.3 for OSX, the predictions agree with what you'd get from JPL.
If you have SS Plus/Pro 3.7.3 for iOS, or 1.7.3 for Android (or 1.7.4 when it reaches the servers sometime today), or 1.7.3 for OSX, the predictions agree with what you'd get from JPL.
Egad. I wish I had made the typo in the POSTING instead of in the Subject!! Thanks. Yes, I knew it was DA14, my fingers just keep wanting to type a 12.
Yes, I am using SSPro 3.7.3 for iOS, so I'm assuming they're correct. Quite an amazing feature they have added to plot out the course of NEO's as they have. Turning on the "path visibility" options so you can see the orbital path, along with being able to change your perspective from Earth to the asteroid itself is quite remarkable. But, seeing it in the sky, even if just a shadowy moving tiny dot, would be even better.
Update: Figured out how to fix the subject line. Fixed it. Thank you for pointing it out.
I thought it went through Carina at about 6AM Daylight Savings Time when theres going to be quite bright twilight .
Or have I got it wrong ?
I set Lake Bathurst (35° 1'S 149° 39'E) in Sky Safari Pro.
01:40 it will pass within 50' of the SCP. 05h 14' 24" -89° 10' 6"
03:05 enters Cha. 11h 6' 36" -83° 15' 17"
03:53 enters Mus. 11h 21' 35" -75° 44' 40"
04:38 enters Cen. 11h 27' 58" -64° 55' 16"
04:43 passes Lambda Cen. 11h 28' 38" -62° 57' 15"
05:39 enters Hya but by then should be lost in the dawn. 11h 33' 34" -35° 35' 58"
Quote:
Originally Posted by bojan
It will be in Carina at 5AM local time.
Using the coords above for Lake Bathurst, I have it following the Mus/Car border and then the Cen/Vel border but never crossing into either Car or Vel. At home it gets closer to Car but still doesn't enter it.
Because it passes so close even those 240km make a difference.
Lake Bathurst will be a several minutes of arc off this plot but still well within the field of a wide angle low power eyepiece.
Any other Canberra based observers are welcome to download the charts. Further away, the positions will be too far off, better to do your own.
Skippy sky is indicating cloud cover for most of the ACT and lake Bathurst/George but clear after midnight out NW of the ACT border. If the weather follows this pattern and any Canberra based IIS observers are interested in heading out that way in convoy to try to observe this thing, please PM me and we'll tee up some arrangements. Obviously we'll need to make a fresh star chart & ephemeris!
Skippy is indicating that it *might* be clear down here on the Peninsula. If ever there was a time I needed my lucky rabbit's foot, this is it.
Anybody able to anticipate what the observational techniques will be? I am new to astronomy but a tech guy, so have "almost" mastered my C-6SE. But, I don't have a direct connect between Sky Safari and my scope yet, so I am plotting several points along the path and loading them into the user-defined coordinates on the scope.
Do you think it will be possible to see the asteroid (or it's shadow even) against the backdrop of Eta Carina, or even the sky as it grows slightly lighter? I have no idea how to approach observing such an object! Is it even possible with a 6" scope?
Skippy is indicating that it *might* be clear down here on the Peninsula. If ever there was a time I needed my lucky rabbit's foot, this is it.
Anybody able to anticipate what the observational techniques will be? I am new to astronomy but a tech guy, so have "almost" mastered my C-6SE. But, I don't have a direct connect between Sky Safari and my scope yet, so I am plotting several points along the path and loading them into the user-defined coordinates on the scope.
Do you think it will be possible to see the asteroid (or it's shadow even) against the backdrop of Eta Carina, or even the sky as it grows slightly lighter? I have no idea how to approach observing such an object! Is it even possible with a 6" scope?
Gary,
Should be possible with a 6" scope.
Are you able to find the "5-of-Diamonds", IC2602 next to Theta Carinae? From the Melbourne area, 2012 DA14 will pass through the cluster at about 4:45 am on Saturday morning. It will be about magnitude 9.5 at that time. About 15 minutes later it will be roughly mid-way between Eta Carinae and Herschel's cluster (NGC3532).
I'd say your best bet is to "camp" in that area from 4:30 onwards and see if you can spot something drifting against the stars.
Fingers crossed for some good weather.
Would appreciate a perspective from those who know about where the best chances are within an hour's drive of Melbourne.
Skippy Sky and 7Timer both seem to be predicting clear skies for the Melbourne area, if somewhat rubbish seeing.
Going north doesn't seem so good.
Hi graywiz
re Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society Briars location
i'm a member, but i'm stay home to watch it swing by
Call Greg at
Mobile: 0419 253 252
Email: welcome@mpas.asn.au
(the number is fr0m the website)
I'm sure someone will be down there!
Regards Domenic
Lake Bathurst will be a several minutes of arc off this plot but still well within the field of a wide angle low power eyepiece.
Any other Canberra based observers are welcome to download the charts. Further away, the positions will be too far off, better to do your own.
Skippy sky is indicating cloud cover for most of the ACT and lake Bathurst/George but clear after midnight out NW of the ACT border. If the weather follows this pattern and any Canberra based IIS observers are interested in heading out that way in convoy to try to observe this thing, please PM me and we'll tee up some arrangements. Obviously we'll need to make a fresh star chart & ephemeris!
I was just plotting out the path of 2012DA14 using Sky Safari, and realised that it will be passing through Eta Carina at 4:58AM (viewed from the Mornington Peninsula).
Hi mate,
May I ask how you got it into SS Pro? As I tried updating my data and it updated current asteroids but DA14 was not amongst them, nor could I seem to find a custom object entry?
Hi mate,
May I ask how you got it into SS Pro? As I tried updating my data and it updated current asteroids but DA14 was not amongst them, nor could I seem to find a custom object entry?
I had this same problem until I watched a Southern Stars video about DA14. It turns out that DA14 is not in the normal "Asteroids" search list, and you have to make sure you type it exactly right in the search box:
"2012 DA14" <-- make sure you include the space
That was my mistake. Not at all obvious!! At first, I thought I had the wrong version, I updated, reinstalled, etc. Then, when I watched their video and did exactly what they said, it worked.
I had this same problem until I watched a Southern Stars video about DA14. It turns out that DA14 is not in the normal "Asteroids" search list, and you have to make sure you type it exactly right in the search box:
"2012 DA14" <-- make sure you include the space
The exact spelling matters. SS are being generous in allowing a case insenitive search. DA14, Da and da14 are technically different objects. Try it out on JPL Horizons and you'll get no match for "2012 da14".
It is in the list, otherwise you could not find it with a search. It does not show up because they limit the list to asteroids brighter than around magnitude 15 (or something like that) and DA14 is much dimmer than the limit.
