Hello,
Finally enjoying some long overdue clear skies, I went hunting for some faint, distant solar system bodies, straddling the midnight hours of 1st & 2nd May 2011. My goal was to record Haumea, Makemake, Pluto and Quaoar, having previously recorded Eris in its discovery year.
Makemake would be quite low in the NE and I only had a small window of opportunity, framed between the canopies of a couple of large trees, shooting directly into the light dome of Brisbane. I used 5 minute sub frames, binned 2x2 (800x600) for Haumea and Makemake and the full resolution of the ST2000XM (1600x1200) for 10 min subs for Pluto and Quaoar. All taken with the Tak Mewlon 180 F12 operating at F9.6 with the Tak Flattener/Reducer. This was my first decent session in over 12 months and there was a lot of re-acquainting necessary betwixt man and machine, with a few clumsy moments thrown in!
In the attached images, I am reasonably confident that I have suitable candidates for Haumea and Makemake due to the relatively sparse star fields surrounding them, but I am a little less confident of Pluto and Quaoar due to their rich star fields. Unfortunately, my 6 GB of USNO databases does not integrate with The Sky X Professional so I may have to re-visit these images when I can access more stars.
Haumea
Haumea is a dwarf planet found in the Kuiper belt. It has a mass of about 1/3 that of Pluto. On December 28, 2004, Mike Brown and his team discovered Haumea on images they had taken with the 1.3 m SMARTS Telescope at the Palomar Observatory in the United States on May 6, 2004.
(136108) Haumea, Magnitude: 17.36
Orbit Period: 281.7 years
Diameter: 1700 - 5400 km
Earth Distance: 50.1 AU
Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controv...very_of_Haumea
Makemake
Makemake, formally designated (136472) Makemake, is the third-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System and one of the two largest Kuiper belt objects (KBO) in the classical KBO population. Its diameter is roughly three-quarters that of Pluto.
Initially known as 2005 FY9 and later given the minor planet number 136472, it was discovered on March 31, 2005, by a team led by Michael Brown, and announced on July 29, 2005.
(136472) Makemake, Magnitude: 16.89
Orbit Period: 305.6 years
Diameter: 2300 - 7100 km
Earth Distance: 51.6 AU
Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makemake_(dwarf_planet)
Pluto
The search for “Planet X”. On February 18, 1930, after nearly a year of searching, Clyde Tombaugh discovered a possible moving object on photographic plates taken on January 23 and January 29 of that year. A lesser-quality photograph taken on January 21 helped confirm the movement. After the observatory obtained further confirmatory photographs, news of the discovery was telegraphed to the Harvard College Observatory on March 13, 1930.
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System (after Eris) and the tenth most massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun. Originally classified as a planet, Pluto is now considered the largest member of a distinct population known as the Kuiper belt.
From its discovery in 1930 until 2006, Pluto was considered the Solar System's ninth planet. In the late 1970s, following the discovery of minor planet 2060 Chiron in the outer Solar System and the recognition of Pluto's relatively low mass, its status as a major planet began to be questioned. In the late 20th and early 21st century, many objects similar to Pluto were discovered in the outer Solar System, notably the scattered disc object Eris in 2005, which is 27% more massive than Pluto. On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) defined what it means to be a "planet" within the Solar System. This definition excluded Pluto as a planet and added it as a member of the new category "dwarf planet" along with Eris and Ceres. After the reclassification, Pluto was added to the list of minor planets and given the number 134340. A number of scientists continue to hold that Pluto should be classified as a planet.
(134340) Pluto, Magnitude: 14.51
Orbit Period: 248.1 years
Diameter: 2600 - 8300 km
Earth Distance: 31.4 AU
Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto
Quaoar
In 2002, Brown and Trujillo used the Palomar Oschin Schmidt telescope to record Quaoar as an 18.5-magnitude object creeping across the summer constellation Ophiuchus. Quaoar is less than 1/100,000 the brightness of the faintest star seen by the human eye.
(50000) Quaoar, Magnitude: 19.05
Orbit Period: 284.9 years
Diameter: 560 - 1800 km
Earth Distance: 42.4 AU
NASA Science
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news...7oct_newworld/
Cheers
Dennis
EDIT:Incorrectly identified Quaoar chart replaced with a more positive candidate and included a composite image of an inverted image and the USNO B1.0 downloaded chart!
2nd EDIT:A more suitable candidate for Quaoar has now been identified in
Msg#15. See attached images in that message for what is probably the real Quaoar.
Cheers
Dennis
![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
mate talk about pushing the bounds......
