CNEOS predicts that the recently discovered Apollo class NEO, 2024 TX13, will make a close approach on 2024-Nov-03 19:08±<00:01 UT at a distance of 0.00478 AU moving with V Relative=7.65 km/sec, H=24.7 magnitude, diameter 31 m - 70 m  and, 'Rarity'=1. There is currently an 18 day observation arc, the Condition Code=6 and the Earth MOID=0.000253784 AU. The solution date was 2024-Oct-29 08:11:14 PDT The initial reported observation was by Mt. Lemmon Survey on 2024-10-11. This NEO is too small to make the MPC's list of Potentially Hzardous Asteroids (PHAs).

Using MPC's orbital elements for 2024 Oct 29 0000 UT, ST4.1.11.14 predicts that this NEO will make its close approach (to the nearest hour) on 2024 Nov 3 1400 EST with the 16.2 magnitude MP traveling through Cancer at 133"/minute in daylight and below the horizon as seen from Columbus, Ohio. Peak brightness of 15.5 magnitude is predicted on November 2/3 with the NEO traveling from Auriga into Gemini at 90-100"/minute. This object will also be brighter than 16 magnitude on the night of November 1/2 when it will be traveling through Auriga at ~38"/minute.

Here's the Object Info dialog for this NEO: [attachment=3264]

For the most accurate predictions download the orbital elements from the JPL HORIZON system for a time near your time of observation.

Good hunting,

Phil S.

CNEOS predicts that the NEO 2020 WG will make a close approach on 2024-Oct-28 06:35±<00:01 UT at a distance of 0.02223 AU moving with  V Relative=9.43 km/sec, H=21.7 magnitude, diameter 120 m - 270 m and 'Rarity'=1. There is a 1331 day observation arc, the Condition Code=0 and the Earth MOID=0.0131107 AU. The solution date was 2024-Jul-06 06:21:14 PDT. The initial reported observation was by Mt. Lemmon Survey on 2020-11-16. This NEO is on the MPC's list of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs).

Using MPC's elements for 2024 Oct 17 0000 UT, ST4.1.11.13 Pro predicts that 2020 WG will reach a peak brightness of 14.8 magnitude on the evening of October 28/29 when the NEO will be 0.02 AU distant traveling through Pegasus at ~33"/minute. The close approach is predicted to occur (to the nearest hour) on 2024 Oct 28 at 0300 EDT (0700 UT) with the NEO 0.02 AU distant and 15.0 magnitude traveling through Pisces at 34.6"/minute. This MP is predicted to be brighter than 16 magnitude from October 25 in Aquarius to November 2 in Andromeda.

Here's the Object Info dialog for this NEO: [attachment=3262]

Good hunting,

Phil S.

CNEOS predicts that the large NEO, (450649) 2006 UY64, will make a close approach on 2024-Oct-22 15:11±<00:01 UT at a distance of 0.05667 AU moving with V Relative=13.47 km/sec, H=19.5 magnitude, diameter 340 m - 750 m and 'Rarity'=1. There is currently a 6563 day observation arc, the Condition Code=0 and the Earth MOID=0.0540125 AU. The solution date was 2024-Oct-13 06:17:00 PDT. This NEO was discovered at Siding Spring on 2006-10-25 by Siding Spring Survey. This object doesn't come close enough to make MPC's list of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs). There wasn't a significant change in the orbit from 2021 to 2024 as the CNEOS info shown in the Object Info dialog below shows.

Using MPC's elements for 2024 Aug 21 0000 UT, SkyTools 4.1 Visual predicts that this object will make its close approach (to the nearest hour) on 2024 Oct 22 at 1100 EDT (!500 UT) when the MP will be an estimated 14.3 magnitude and 0.06 AU distant traveling through Aries at 19.4"/minute in daylight and below the horizon in Columbus, Ohio. The peak brightness of 14.1 manitude is predicted to occur on the nights of both October 22/23 and October 23/24 with the NEO traveling through Aries at ~19"/minute and 0.06 AU distant. This object is predicted to be brighter than 16 magnitude from October 16 to 31. MPC's elements for 2024 Oct 15 0000 UT gave nearly identical predictions to those obtained using the elements for 2024 Aug 21 0000 UT.

Here's the Object Info dialog for this object: [attachment=3261]

Good hunting,

Phil S.

I'm confused.

I am running Skytools Professional 4.0.11.13 which does not include the new transparency settings.

However, Skytools doesn't tell me that there is a new version available.

How does one get Skytools 4.1

Phil Lanz

Greg will the modelling for A3 for forward scattering apply to all comets with the right geometry or is this just for A3?

CNEOS predicts that the large NEO (363027)1998 ST27 will make a close approach on 2024-Oct-12 01:52±<00:01 UT at a distance of 0.02380 AU moving with V Relative=16.63 km/sec, H=19.6 magnitude, diameter 0.578±0.228 km and 'Rarity'=2. There is currently a 9503 day observation arc, the Condition Code=0 and the Earth MOID=0.00992384 AU. The solution date was 2024-Sep-30 06:23:23 PDT. This NEO was discovered at Socorro on 1998-09-24 by LINEAR. This large object is on MPC's list of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHA).

Using MPC's elements for the epoch 2024 Sep 30 0000 UT, ST4.1.11.11 Visual Pro predicts that this NEO will reach a peak brightness of 13.0 magnitude on the early morning and evening of 2024 Oct 10 when the NEO will be traveling from Pegasus into Pisces at ~50"/minute. Close approach is predicted (to the nearest hour) on 2024 Oct 11 2200 EDT when the MP will be 0.02 AU distant traveling through Aquarius at 13.4 magnitude and 59"/minute. This large NEO should be brighter than 16th magnitude from October 3 (In Andromeda traveling ~4.3"/minute) to October 14 (In Telescopium traveling ~25.4"/minute in evening twilight near the horizon in Columbus, Ohio).

Here's the Object Info dialog for this NEO: [attachment=3258]

Good hunting,

Phil S.

Hello Everyone,

An update has been released with various bug fixes and a new Visual 4.1 feature, available to anyone with SkyTools Visual 4.1.

See the update web page for more information in the fixes:
https://skyhound.com/stupdate4.html

Progress continues on the upcoming EAA features for Visual 4.1. I will be previewing it at the El Dorado Star Party on October 31.

We have improved the SkyTools model calculations of brightness, visibility and SNR for comet Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) by including the surge due to forward scattering, which will improve its predictions in October.

The visual difficulty label "Apparent" has been replaced with "Perceptible" which we feel will be less confusing.

For Visual 4.1 users, a new Transparency selection replaced the weather settings. See this video for more information:

CNEOS predicts that the newly discovered NEO, 2024 SV2, will make a close approach on 2024-Sep-28 17:02±00:08 UT at a distance of 0.00033 AU moving with V Relative=11.52 km/sec, H=28.6 magnitude, diameter 5.0 m - 11 m and 'Rarity'=1. There is only a 1 day observation arc, the Condition Code=7 and the Earth MOID=0.00040797 AU. The solution date was 2024-Sep-27 06:42:02 PDT. The initial reported observation was by Pan-STARRS 2, Haleakala on 2024-09-26.

Using MPC's elements for the epoch 2024 Oct 17 0000 UT downloaded on 2024 Sep 27, ST4.1.11.10 Pro predicts that this NEO will reach a peak brightness of 13.0 magnitude on 2024 Sep 28 1200 EDT at a distance of 57.38k km when the MP will be traveling through Sculptor at 32.6"/second in daylight and below the horizon in Columbus, Ohio. Close approach is predicted (to the nearest hour) on 2024 Sep 28 1300 EDT at a distance of 54.97k km when the NEO is predicted to have faded to 13.9 magnitude traveling through Horologium at 36.5"/second still in daylight and below the horizon in Columbus. At close approach it will be moving more than the moon's diameter every minute!

Here's the Object Info dialog for this NEO: [attachment=3248]

The detection of this NEO is so recent that it hasn't been added to the MPC's datafile of orbital elements for NEOs as of 2024 Sep 27. The orbit is still being refined. The best place to obtain orbital elements for your SkyTools calculations is from NASA's HORIZONS website.

This object will be best observed from the southern hemisphere.

Good hunting,

Phil S.

First of all, I just want to say that the capabilities of this software are astounding. I use it primarily for planning, visualizing, charting, and logging both visual and imaging sessions. I've bought or tried most of the software that's out there and this one is such a pleasure to use. Thank you!

I am planning my calendar of events for 2025 and I've been using the Event Finder tab, but it's been tedious. I looked into the documentation and found reference to a "Current Events" feature that would seem to suit my needs (right now I'm manually entering in all the planets and Messier objects along the ecliptic to see if and when they might "appulse" each other). However, I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Can someone point out where this feature might be and confirm if I really can input a list of objects that can be checked for appulses, conjunctions, occultations, and such?
Alternatively, is there a way to select all the major planets and check to see if they come within 3 degrees or so or anything along their path throughout the year? If so, can I filter by type (e.g. galaxy, star cluster, etc.) or apparent mag?

One more thing, I ran the Sat. Events for the Jovian moons and received the dates and times for eclipses even if they could not be observed. For example, 1/1/2025 Io will be occulted by Jupiter at 19:54, eclipsed at 21:37, and emerge from the eclipse by 22:43. I imagine that I would not be able to view Io being eclipsed as it would already be occulted by Jupiter. However, I don't see a way to limit for non-visible eclipses. This does not seem to be a problem for occultations as it does not give me a time between the eclipse start and end that says when it is no longer being occulted despite still being in Jupiter's shadow.

If possible, it would also be nice to include a filter for when an appulse or occultation is too close to the sun. For example, on 1/27 Mercury and M75 will be 11' apart, but too close to the Sun for comfort.

Lastly, it would be nice to be able to export these events as a csv. Currently it all copies to the clipboard and pastes in Excel as a single column with all the values in it which makes it difficult to extract the dates, times, events, altitudes, etc. to filter on.

If any of what I'm saying already exists, please let me know.

Again, I just want to mention again how much I love this product. I suggest it to my friends and club members whenever they ask about how I plan, log, chart, etc. These are just some of the things I noticed that I feel would make it even better. Thank you!

I'm changing my OS on my old W7Pro64 desktop and just wanted to ask if I should download a new installation (current SkyTools4Setup.exe dated 9/28/2021). Or should I do a restore to the new OS? The only thing I've got that I would need to re-enter are a couple of locations.

Kenneth Drake