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| 2023 WA Whizzer |
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Posted by: bigmasterdrago - 2023-11-19, 01:32 PM - Forum: Observing Close Approaching Asteroids
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Currently magnitude 38 due to extremely small phase angle, this little rock from space did a very close flyby on 17 Nov 03:40UT of just 24,296Km. I call these "whizzers". Unfortunately for us observers the initial reported observation by ATLAS Chile, Rio Hurtado on 2023-11-16 at mag 18, came too late.
It very quickly reach magnitude 11, very high in my sky the same day at 21:15 CST moving a degree and a half per minute!
Within the next hour, this small rock became totally unobservable as its phase angle dropped to single digits.
It takes a lot of work to get these recent discoveries into SkyTools and then get them plotted correctly. It's all about gravity.
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| Bulk Project Creation? |
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Posted by: portopa - 2023-11-16, 11:17 PM - Forum: How do I do it in SkyTools 4 Imaging?
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So I have 15 minor planets identified on my Target Selection tab. Is there a way to have the system select them all and create Projects for them all?
I see I can expedite the process by using the Project Template function after creating a new Imaging Project (works well), just wondering if there is an even faster way to create projects for a large group of targets?
v/r
Paul
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| BAMBOS 600: problems filtering and sorting |
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Posted by: bramweisman - 2023-11-10, 03:38 PM - Forum: How do I do it in SkyTools 4 Visual?
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I'm working with the BAMBOS 600 list, with the intention of observing objects that I've never observed that are below DEC -50 as I have a rare opportunity in Chile the next two nights. I'm encountering some odd behaviors.
When I set all objects with log entries to "Observed", and then uncheck "Show Observed", several objects with log entries appear, which weren't appearing when all "Show All" was current status. It took some wrangling, but I was finally able to get all the logged objects to "Observed". I'm not even sure what steps I took at this point.
Thanks,
Bram
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| 2023 VA |
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Posted by: bigmasterdrago - 2023-11-02, 04:03 AM - Forum: Observing Close Approaching Asteroids
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Looks like in a few hours (00:28:06CDT) this very small rock will make a very close pass (24,261Km).
The only place I've been able to find elements was at:
https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/...id=2023+VA
Only 23 observation over less than 24 hours. Uncertainty = 8.
It appears that it might reach 12th magnitude and be moving 5724"/m (1.6°/m) low in the north from Houston.
Just thought I would throw this out there, but due to the high uncertainty, late notice, low altitude (~20°), and speed, it might be very difficult to locate.
This is truly one where you need very close osculating elements from Horizons.
Kenneth Drake
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| 4 Galilean moons, Amalthea and 8 of the outer satellites of Jupiter. |
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Posted by: Dennis - 2023-10-21, 03:22 AM - Forum: Solar System Imaging
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I used SkyTools Imaging 4 (ST4) to plan for and enjoy a very successful imaging session, recording the classical 4 Galilean satellites of Jupiter, the fainter inner body Amalthea and 8 of the fainter outer, irregular satellites.
Celestron C9.25 Edge HD F10 at prime focus (2350mm).
ASI2600MM Pro (Bin 2x2) for the outer, fainter moons. 60 sec exposures, Gain=0, Offset=15. (The Sky X Pro Camera Add On).
Player One Saturn SQR (Bin 1x1) for the 4 Galilean satellites and Amalthea. (SharpCap).
Bortle 7 skies.
I used SkyTools Imaging 4 (ST4) to locate and GoTo all the satellites, other than Leda, whose data I obtained from the JPL Horizons website. ST4 provided the following information for my location in Brisbane, set for the mid-time of my session.
Name Mag PA° Sep"
Io 4.8 247.4 95.1
Europa 5.1 75.8 156.8
Ganymede 4.4 226.8 53.6
Callisto 5.4 281.0 72.3
Amalthea 13.9 230.8 9.5
Himalia 14.6 223.6 3538.0
Elara 16.6 98.7 1682.8
Pasiphae 16.8 277.4 12164.8
Sinope 18.1 273.4 2576.9
Lysithea 18.2 168.9 1982.4
Carme 17.8 236.3 8051.9
Ananke 18.7 76.2 7649.4
Sinope was the most affected by the spill over of unwanted glare from the Jovian disc, so I had to place it towards the edge to lessen the impact. The whole project was made so easy through being able to obtain all the bodies data (apart from Leda) in ST4 and use ST4 to slew to each body in turn. I grabbed between 10 and 15 frames of 60 secs each which easily recorded these brighter satellites.
The positional data for Leda was obtained from the JPL Horizons website and I slewed to the RA and DEC coordinates to locate it. I grabbed 56x60 sec frames for the much fainter Leda. The recorded position is a good candidate when compared to the JPL position but to be certain, I would probably have to image it again to see if it has moved.
2023-Oct-20 15:00UT.
RA=02 38 05.41 DEC=+13 51 51.0.
Magnitude 20.068.
01 27 25 AEST
******** ASTROMETRIC SOLUTION RESULTS ********
Scale: 0.6460 arcseconds/pixel
Size (pixels): 3124 x 2088
Angular Size: 0° 33' 38" x 0° 22' 29"
Position Angle: 0° 49' from north through east
Mirror Image: No
RMS: 0.68 (X: 0.56 Y: 0.38)
Number of Stars Used in Solution: 102 (100%)
FWHM: 3.29 pixels, 2.13 arcseconds
**********************************************
I used Player One Saturn SQR (Bin 1x1) for the Jovian disc and Amalthea, with the 4 Galilean satellites of Europa, Callisto, Io and Ganymede as it had a higher framerate of 42 fps.
The 4-panel frames are full res crops where I have overlaid the text from ST4 over the BYW image, as a colour Layer in PS CC, to identify the satellites.
Dennis
Here are a few screen shots of SkyTools 4 Imaging that proved invaluable in tracking down these faint objects and determing the West Elongation of Amalthea.
Dennis
I have zoomed in for this scree capture, so some of the outer satellites lie outside the field of view.
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