Erwin remembered - Minor planet 14664 Vandervelden

[astro_south (Andrew)]

Just come through from a fellow member (Peter Marples) of the Southern Astronomical Society:


Members and friends of the SAS,

Thanks to the efforts of our member in Japan Mr Ikufumi Makino, the memory and achievements of our dear friend Erwin Rene Van der velden will now be etched in the heavens forever . This week minor planet MPL 14664 has been named Vandervelden in his honour.

Not long after Erwin passed away Renato and I were asked by Ikufumi if we would put together a citation that could be presented for consideration of naming a minor planet . A close friend of Ikufumi's and a prolific minor planet discoverer Mr Urata would consider presenting minor planet 1999 BY25 to be named in honour of Erwin. A process was then undertaken that involves a committee from the International Astronomical Union see http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/info/HowNamed.html

It is now official and you can see details of this 17th magnitude Near Earth Object at http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?sstr=14664

The link will no doubt be placed on our webpage, so at anytime you can see where 14664 Vandervelden is.

The official citation is still to be released and will be made available as soon as possible.

14664 Vandervelden is a 17.6 magnitude object now in Lupus at a distance from the Earth of about 360million kilometres and currently shares its position in the sky not far from Jupiter, this I am sure would have been something Erwin would have been particularly proud of.

Those who are suitably equipped I throw out the challenge to image 14664 Vandervelden, and/or make a movie if its movement and send the same to me for presentation in Event Horizon and to his family who will be here in July. I have several images I have taken and will present these in the next Event Horizon.

Many of us still miss Erwin terribly, please join us in congratulating Erwin's family, knowing that Erwin's life and achievements were very significant and are now recognised in 14664 Vandervelden.

Thanks
Peter


...perhaps a fitting challenge for some of the imagers around here too!

[davidpretorius]

awesome!

well done guys.

now, for the challenge i would be assuming that at 17th mag, long exposure only????

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Brought a tear to the eye and a lump to the throat. Congratulations Erwin A very fitting tribute. Thank you to everyone who worked to bring this about, and thanks Andrew for letting us know.

Three cheers for Erwin

Hip Hip
Hip Hip
Hip Hip

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

What a great tribute! Good work to all who were involved!

[xstream (John)]

Yes, a wonderful tribute to Erwin who was most worthy of this honour.

[Striker (Tony)]

Doesn't this just make you feal all warm and fuzzy.

"Tooo Erwin".

[h0ughy (David)]

Well done, what an amazing tribute. will that name be automatically updated for minor planets into say Starry night pro etc, at Mag 17 it will be the only way to find it!

[Dennis]

Wow - what a fitting tribute to a wonderfully talented young man who brought so much to our hobby in his time on Earth. What a lovely way to remember Erwin; his talent, his contribution, his infectious enthusiasm and his prodigious astronomical exploits and achievements.

Cheers

Dennis

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

What a great tribute, Erwin certainly has his place in the heavens

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

How very cool!
For Erwin to have gained that much respect from the World's Astronomical Community is such an acheivement.

[iceman (Mike)]

Excellent news!

[Itchy]

This is really great news, and a great tribute to an amazing imager.

We will always miss you Erwin.

[fringe_dweller]

Thankyou for letting us all know that astro_south, thats a wonderful and fitting tribute.

[Robert_T]

A good call this one - to an amazing and clearly deserving individual!

[mattweather]

Where is this planet located?

Matt

[astro_south (Andrew)]

from the NASA site above....

*********************************** *******************
Date__(UT)__HR:MN R.A._(ICRF/J2000.0)_DEC APmag
*********************************** *******************
2006-Apr-24 00:00 14 52 57.21 -39 12 57.4 17.52
2006-Apr-25 00:00 14 52 02.04 -39 13 25.0 17.51
2006-Apr-26 00:00 14 51 06.23 -39 13 39.9 17.50
2006-Apr-27 00:00 14 50 09.83 -39 13 42.1 17.48
2006-Apr-28 00:00 14 49 12.92 -39 13 31.6 17.47
2006-Apr-29 00:00 14 48 15.54 -39 13 08.4 17.46
2006-Apr-30 00:00 14 47 17.78 -39 12 32.6 17.45
2006-May-01 00:00 14 46 19.69 -39 11 44.2 17.44
2006-May-02 00:00 14 45 21.33 -39 10 43.3 17.43
2006-May-03 00:00 14 44 22.79 -39 09 29.9 17.43
2006-May-04 00:00 14 43 24.10 -39 08 04.2 17.42
2006-May-05 00:00 14 42 25.36 -39 06 26.3 17.41
2006-May-06 00:00 14 41 26.61 -39 04 36.4 17.41
2006-May-07 00:00 14 40 27.92 -39 02 34.5 17.40
2006-May-08 00:00 14 39 29.36 -39 00 20.9 17.40
2006-May-09 00:00 14 38 30.99 -38 57 55.7 17.40
2006-May-10 00:00 14 37 32.86 -38 55 19.2 17.40
2006-May-11 00:00 14 36 35.04 -38 52 31.5 17.40
2006-May-12 00:00 14 35 37.60 -38 49 33.0 17.40
2006-May-13 00:00 14 34 40.58 -38 46 23.7 17.40
2006-May-14 00:00 14 33 44.05 -38 43 04.0 17.40
2006-May-15 00:00 14 32 48.06 -38 39 34.2 17.40
2006-May-16 00:00 14 31 52.67 -38 35 54.5 17.41
2006-May-17 00:00 14 30 57.93 -38 32 05.2 17.41
2006-May-18 00:00 14 30 03.89 -38 28 06.5 17.42
2006-May-19 00:00 14 29 10.61 -38 23 58.9 17.43
2006-May-20 00:00 14 28 18.15 -38 19 42.6 17.43
2006-May-21 00:00 14 27 26.55 -38 15 18.0 17.44
2006-May-22 00:00 14 26 35.86 -38 10 45.4 17.45
2006-May-23 00:00 14 25 46.13 -38 06 05.2 17.46
2006-May-24 00:00 14 24 57.41 -38 01 17.8 17.47

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

It's a Near Earth Object (asteroid) Matt and you can find some details about it here

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?sstr=14664

[mattweather]

That must be our new planet or something?

[astro_south (Andrew)]

some more from Peter Marples of SAS:

You will note the citation says (1466) Erwin ... not really sure why as it is officially (14664) Vandervelden, it was unable to be called Erwin as a very similar name existed and confusion would have been have been a problem, as it is there is another asteroid called van der velde. Further you will note the citation had to say a lot in a very short sentence. Several other more detailed drafts were rejected for being too long, so we had to ensure we got the information we needed across.
I note that Minor Planet data upgrades for several Astronomy software programmes now have 14664 Vandervelden included.
For those with the sky go to http://www.bisque.com/thesky/tom/ast...inor%20Planets then go to Lowell Observatory link it will automatically give you the zipped 20 meg file, save it then unzip it, replace the existing file astorb in the sky extended minor planets directory with the new one (which will be about 67meg), it is useful to do this time to time as asteroid elements are upgraded very often, and if you intend to image it you will need the position.
For those with other programmes go to http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephem...ftwareEls.html


Here is the citation announced on M.P.C. 5613 dated 2006 APR.13,

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(14664) Erwin = 1999 BY25
Discovered 1999 January 25 by T. Urata at Oohira.
Erwin Van der Velden (1966-2005) was an active and valued member of the Brisbane and Southern (Australian) Astronomical Societies. He developed supreme imaging techniques for planetary and deep sky objects taken by a Digital SLR camera and a Web-Cam.

Thanks indeed,
Peter Marples



Peter also reminded me of the other significant aspect of this object - it was discovered on the 25th of Jan.....Erwin's Birthday!

[tornado33]

Finder chart for it here
http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncg...&z=1&edump=-xe
Scott