Hello,

I just noticed that the MPC has recently changed their standard epoch for the elements of minor planets in the MPCORB data file from 2024 Oct 17 to 2025 May 5.

Phil S.

Hello,
I was using the Nightly Planner to create an observing plan for a Messier Marathon and I noticed that as I changed the Transparency and Seeing settings, the number of objects scheduled for observation would change. It is my understanding that Transparency & Seeing affect the Observation Difficulty rating but I was curious how Nightly Planner uses the Transparency & Seeing settings to filter the number of objects scheduled for observation? My filters were set to Log filter: Any, Any quality, Ignore Difficulty, and Ignore Splitability.

The other thing is that if there is a filtering effect going on, I assumed the combination of Prime Transparency and Excellent Seeing to result in the largest number of objects scheduled for observation. In ST4 with the settings I used, that number was "105 out of 112 scheduled for observation". But when I changed the settings to Prime Transparency and Poor Seeing, that number increased to "110 out of 112 scheduled for observation." Another example that I would not intuit would be 

1. Excellent Seeing/Typical Transparency: 83 objects of 112 scheduled for observation
2. Good Seeing/Good Transparency: 88 objects of 112 scheduled for observation
3. Good Seeing/Typical Transparency: 91 objects of 112 scheduled for observation

I would've expected the first two combinations above to result in a higher number of objects scheduled for observation compared to the 3rd.

Settings:
Date: Evening of 3/29/2025
Observatory: Utah Desert Remote Observatory
Telescope: Antares 12 inch Dobsonian
Observer: New Observer 
Observing List: Messier

I included a screenshot of the settings I was using and a table of the number of objects out of 112 scheduled for observation as the transparency and seeing settings were changed, also attached to this post:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
       

CNEOS predicts that the recently discovered NEO, 2024 YR4, may collide with earth on 2032-Dec-22 09:02±20:53  UT. Here's an article describing the situation:

https://phys.org/news/2025-01-astronomer...earth.html

Here's hoping that it misses,

Phil S.

I am new to Skytools and only been trying to image the skies since last November.  My camera is a ZWO ASI 294mm PRO and unfortunately it is not listed in the Camera Pool.  There are about three available in the community pool but strangely enough the parameters of all three seem to be of when the camera is in Bin 2 mode.  Since I normally use my camera in the Bin 1 mode at gain 108, I tried to setup a new camera using parameters for the Bin 1 mode, but I am getting riduculously long exposure times.  I got the values from the manufacturer's website so I believe that the values should be correct. Should I actually be using the camera in Bin 2 mode.  FWIW the camera is coupled to a Willams Optics RedCat 61 WIFD.

The asteroid discovered on 2025 Jan 3 and designated 2018 CN41 (why it got that designation, I don't know) was really the Tesla Roadster launched back in 2018 on a Falcon Heavy booster.

Here's an article describing what happened:

https://theamericantribune.com/newly-dis...nto-space/

Phil S.

I recently installed ST4 Visual on a HP Laptop (4K & Nvidia Graphics). All my apps produce crystal clear text except ST4. I am trying to ascertain what I am doing wrong. Has anyone else experienced blurry text and if so then how did you remedy? See screen capture. Thanks.

   

CNEOS predicts that the newly discovered Apollo class NEO, 2025 BB2, will make a close approach on 2025-Feb-04 05:11±08:51 UT at a distance of 0.00195 AU moving with V Relative=6.53 km/sec, H=25.7 magnitude, diameter 20 m - 44 m and 'Rarity'=2. There is a 2 day observation arc, the Condition Code=9 and the Earth MOID=0.000316912 AU. The solution date was 2025-Jan-23 04:12:03 PST. The initial reported observation was by Pan-STARRS 1, Haleakala on 2025-01-21. This NEO is too small to make MPC's list of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHA). The uncertainty of the orbit is still rather high so the predicted positions aren't very accurate.

Using MPC's orbital elements for the epoch 2025 Jan 23 0000 UT, ST4.1.11.14 Pro predicts that 2025 BB2 will reach a peak brightness of 14.2 magnitude on 2025 Feb 4 0100 EST when the NEO will be traveling through Antlia at 245.3"/minute. This is also the predicted time of close approach (to the nearest hour). The NEO should be visible in Lepus on the evening of February 2 at 15.9 magnitude and on February 4 in the early morning in Antlia at 14.3 magnitude. This object will be best from the southern hemisphere.

Here's the Object Info dialog for this object:    

I'll provide an udate for this object after the orbit has been refined.

Phil S.

I am confused about the Mirror and Flip toggle buttons on the Interactive Atlas. I can turn them on or off and the atlas view mirrors or flips as expected. But which is on and which is off. I think that the darkened buttons as shown in this image means mirror and flip are off. At least when they are dark, the image matches the view in my planisphere. But my intuition tells me that dark should be mean on rather than off, but then the view is wrong. I checked the user instructions but did not see any mention about the button status indicator. I'm not saying it isn't there, I just didn't see anything. Anyway, the view in the image seems correct, but do I have mirror and flip turned on or turned off? I hope they are off, because if they are on, then there is more I don't understand.

Thanks,
Antone

   

Hello everybody,

The SOHO sun image that is used on SkyTools charts when displaying the sun is experiencing problems. The image file available for download is corrupted. Unfortunately SkyTools is not handling the corruption as it should, and attempting to display the Sun, and thus the image data, is causing a crash. I am working on a software solution and a workaround. For the time being it is best to follow this procedure:

1. Open the chart you want to use (e.g. the Interactive Atlas) on a target far away from the Sun
2. For each view, open the View Controls and remove the check box next to "Sun"
3. Click Close

This will effectively turn the drawing of the sun off on the charts.

If you want to check to see if they have resolved the problem, visit this link:
https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html#

SkyTools uses the image on the bottom left. When you see an image of the sun displayed there, you can safely re-enable it on the charts. Be sure to refresh the page if you have visited before.

Iris Nebula is missing catalog number NGC 7023.

.skylist  file

SkyObject=BeginObject
ObjectID=4,-1,-1
CatalogNumber=Iris Nebula
CatalogNumber=vdB 139
CatalogNumber=H IV-74
CatalogNumber=Bernes 39

Importing .skylist file to SkySafari 7 pro does not recognize   vdB 139,  H IV-74 or  Bernes 39. 
SkySafari does find NGC 7023. 

I changed CatalogNumber to NGC 7023. Imported a new list to SkySafari and it worked.

SkyObject=BeginObject
ObjectID=4,-1,-1
CatalogNumber=Iris Nebula
CatalogNumber=NGC 7023
CatalogNumber=H IV-74
CatalogNumber=Bernes 39