For those interested in these things, the MPC has changed the standard epoch of their MP orbital elements from 2022 Aug 9 to 2023 Feb 25. ST4v began to use the new value several days ago for the downloads of MPC's NEAs at Today's Epoch datafile.

I'm currently downloading MPC's MPCORB data file to update all of the MPs to the new epoch. If I correctly understand how ST4v handles the MP's orbital elements, all of the MPs currently in the database will have the new 2023 Feb 25 epoch. NEOs added by downloading the NEAs at Today's Epoch file will have that day's epoch if they are new discoveries, but current ones will retain the 2023 Feb 25 epoch until after 2023 Feb 25. NEOs that were in the DB before 2022 Nov 16 are included in the 2022 Aug 9 standard epoch 'group' so those objects can have 2 entries in the DB for element epochs & ST4v uses the epoch that's closest to the date of the position calculation. 

This won't matter to most ST4v users. It's just a heads up.

Phil S.

Looks like 29P has had a strong out burst again and is well within visual range.

Today's update to the Current Bright & Interesting Novae & Supernovae in ST4 Visual reports a new supernova in M 33 in Triangulum. The supernova is currently 13.5 magnitude.

This object is currently well placed for northern hemisphere evening viewing.

Phil S.

I was looking into next month and ran by a few near Earth approaches. I ran all of these using precision osculating elements provided by Horizons. These are all near the edge of my 13" and local conditions but are added to my calendar. Since they are close at near pass, I recommend plotting from your locations.

2015 RN35 on December 15, 08:10UT, makes a 1.78LD pass thru Fornax and Eridanus moving NE at just over 1.5'/min around mag 13.6. This big rock rock climbs into a much more favorable location for SE Texas as it reaches 42° and mag 13.3 (improved phase angle) in the predawn hours of Dec 16th. The 50% illuminated Moon is 90° away.

2018 YK2 on December 22, 05:34UT, this big rock makes a 2LD pass thru Lacerta moving NNE at 3.7'/min at mag 14.4. For me, very low in the NW. However, the next 24 hours offers a much higher vantage point (54° & due north - Camelopardalis) and phase angle improvement. Even though the distance doubles to 4LD and proper motion drops to 1'/min, the magnitude slightly brightens to 14.2.

2010 XC15 on December 27, 18:14UT, this very large rock makes a 2LD pass out of Bootes into Corona Borealis moving east at 2.6'/min near magnitude 14.0 when it's poorly placed for SE Texas. If I attempt observations 6 hours earlier, just prior to the onset of morning twilight, the big rock from space should be 63° up moving 2.4'/min in the east and ~mag 13.5. And still only slightly over 2LD away. The Moon is not a factor.

CNEOS predicts that the newly discovered NEO 2022 WA will make a close approach on 2022-Nov-18 06:43 ± < 00:01 UT at a distance of 0.00334 AU. H=26.8 magnitude, V relative=16.21 km/sec, 'Rarity' = 0, Condition Code = 6.  This MP was discovered at Mt. Lemmon Survey on 2022-11-16.

Using MPC's elements for November 17, 2022 00:00 UT, ST4v predicts that this MP will reach a peak brightness of 16.4 magnitude on November 17 at 2100 EST when the NEO will be moving through Andromeda at 318.5"/min at 571.2k km distance. Close approach (to the nearest hour) is predicted to occur on November 18 at 0200 EST (0700 UT) when 2022 WA at 17.0 magnitude will be moving through Cygnus at 398.0"/min, 501.5k km distant 16° above the horizon as seen from Columbus, Ohio. Unfortunately ST4v predicts that it will not be observable with a 13" telescope under those conditions.

Here's an Interactive Atlas chart showing the predicted position of 2022 WA on November 17-18 as seen from Columbus, Ohio: [attachment=2575]

Since this NEO will get very close, parallax will affect the predicted positions, so you'll need to make charts for your location to get accurate positions for this object. Not much warning for this one.

Good hunting.

Phil S.

I think this is strange ask.

I planning another narrow-band mosaic run with the Burke-Gaffney Observatory (BGO) in Halifax. Recently completed one with the Rosette Nebula.

The method I used to position the mount for each panel was offsetting.

The BGO allows centring the mount from a known point--I used a particular star--by providing a horizontal and vertical offset. The offset parameter is a percentage value based on the camera field. For example, if I use OFFSET=-35,0 then I'm saying I want an image 35% of the camera field (long edge) to the west (the negative sign) but at the same declination. After some trial and error, I found the horizontal (RA) offset of 75% gave a decent overlap for the mosaic panels.

I believe that SkyTools can tell me the RA and Dec of the centre of each panel in a mosaic. I suppose I could drive the BGO that way instead.

But I'm wondering if ST4I can calculate offsets for me.

Does it do this? Can I extract offset values for the centres based on a common central star?

CNEOS predicts that the NEO 2019 OR1 will make a close approach on 2022-Nov-21 02:28 ± < 00:01 UT at a distance of 0.04625 AU. H=20.8 magnitude, V relative=13.38 km/sec, 'Rarity'=1 & Condition Code=1. The size is estimated to be 180-410 m so it's 16.6 magnitude according to ST4v at 0.06 AU distant on November 16.

Using MPC's orbital elements for the epoch 2022 November 16 00:00 UT, ST4v predicts that this NEO will reach a maximum brightness of 16.5 magnitude on November 17 at 21:00 EST traveling through Pegasus at 19.5"/min. The minimum distance of 0.05 AU is predicted to occur on November 21 at 21:00 EST when it will be moving through Pisces at 16.8 magnitude and 24.2"/min. Older elements used to calculate the ephemeris in September indicated that this NEO would attain a peak brightness of 16.2 magnitude as indicated in the top portion of the Object Information dialog shown below, but the newer elements indicated otherwise. Consequently this object was downgraded from 4 stars to 3. This NEO passed very close to M 31 on the evening of November 14 when the predicted magnitude was 16.8.

Here's an Interactive Atlas chart showing the predicted path of this NEO from 2022 November 16-19 for Columbus, Ohio:  [attachment=2574]

Good hunting,

Phil S.

CNEOS predicts that the NEO 2005 LW3 will make a close approach on 2022-Nov-23 10:06 ± < 00:01 UT at a distance of 0.00762 AU. H=21.6 magnitude, V relative=13.49 km/sec, 'Rarity'=2 & Condition Code=0. The size is estimated to be 130-280 m so it's 20 magnitude according to ST4v at 0.06 AU distant on November 15.

Using MPC's orbital elements for the epoch 2022 November 13 00:00 UT, ST4v predicts that this NEO will reach a maximum brightness of 13.4 magnitude on November 23 at 19:00 EST traveling through Pegasus at 106.4"/min. The minimum distance of 1142.0k km is predicted to occur on November 23 at 05:00 EST when it will be moving through Aquarius at 14.0 magnitude and 148.3"/min.
Here's an Interactive Atlas chart showing the predicted path of this NEO from 2022 November 22-29 for Columbus, Ohio: [attachment=2572]

Note that this NEO will pass within 4' of the open cluster M 73 on 2022 Nov 22 1944 EST. It will also be less than 1° from M 72 and the Saturn Nebula around that time.

If the weather cooperates, this should be an excellent chance to observe a fast moving NEO moving through the eyepiece field. Here's an ST4v Scope Finder chart for November 23 using a 13.1" Newtonian reflector showing the motion through the eyepiece: [attachment=2573]

Good hunting,

Phil S.

CNEOS predicts that the newly discovered NEO 2022 VL1 will make a close approach on 2022-Nov-13 16:22 ± < 00:01 UT at a distance of 0.00303 AU. H=26.8 magnitude, V relative=8.70 km/sec, 'Rarity' = 0, Condition Code = 7.  This MP was discovered at ATLAS-MLO, Mauna Loa on 2022-11-11.

Using MPC's elements for November 13, 2022 00:00 UT, ST4v predicts that this MP will reach a peak brightness of 15.4 magnitude on November 13 at 05:00 EST when the NEO will be moving through Eridanus at 195.3"/min at 495.3k km distance. This is a southern hemisphere object. This may be too late to catch it as it fades rapidly.

Good hunting.

Phil S.

ver 4.0j R19 Visual Pro

When doing a Designation Search for Pismis 27, in the "Search Results" box it returns Pismis 27, further down in "Data for Currently Selected Target" shows NGC 6882.
   

However, using the Designation Search tool for NGC 6882, it cannot find it. The top entry in the "Search Results" box is NGC 6885.
And looking at the Info for 6885, it shows the "Also Known As" NGC 6882.
   

In the Harold Corwin's NGC list he has 6882 and 6885 equal to each other.
   

Furthermore, if I'm not mistaken, NGC numbers are basically in RA hour order. 6882 is near the end of the hour order at 20H. And Pismis 27 is at hour 6H

So, should Pismis 27 be linked to NGC 6882 as an Alternate ID?

Steve Goldberg
<Hoping he got that right, and understandable>