For some reason, the Moon does not appear in the "Sun, Moon and Planets" Target List on my home computer, although the Moon's path through the sky is shown on the 24-hour Day-Night graphic.  It does appear on my observatory PC though.  So I must have somehow disabled the Moon from appearing in the Target List.  But I cannot see how I did that.

Yours truly,

Jack Huerkamp

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The recently discovered MP 2022 GS3 is predicted to make a close approach to earth. Using elements from the MPC for 2022 Apr 10, the NEA is predicted to reach a peak brightness of 15.3 magnitude. Best visibility is from the southern hemisphere on the evening of Apr 13 & the morning of Apr 14 when it will be moving rapidly through Lupus & Norma. Here's a chart of the predicted path as seen from Aukland Observatory: [attachment=2322]

Maximum motion is predicted to be >100"/min!

I hope you guys get some decent weather for once.
Good hunting,

Phil S.

Hi MP Hunters,

Here's a second MP that's predicted to have a close approach on the morning of Apr 7. It's not quite as bright as 2022 GN1, only predicted to reach 16.6 magnitude which is beyond my 13" scope. Here's the predicted path: [attachment=2315]

It will be moving fast at ~287"/min.

This one is also in Ursa Major. Almost the same place as 2022 GN1 at peak brightness but moving in a different direction.

Again, good hunting,

Phil S.

Hi MP hunters,

The NEA 2022 GN1 is predicted to make a close approach tonight April 5 ~2200 EDT & reach peak brightness of 15.2 magnitude. Here's the predicted path: [attachment=2314]

The elements for the ephemeris were downloaded from the MPC today (NEAs at Today's Epoch). This one is a real screamer, moving at >20"/sec! At a Declination of ~+50 this one is a northern hemisphere object, though.

The waxing crescent moon is about 70° to the west.

Good hunting,

Phil S.

It appears that near April Fools Day we had a couple of small rocks pass inside 1/4 LD.

First rock 2022 GC, missed by 0.147825LD on March 31 2022, 20:47:12. When brightest (14.3), it was below my horizon and had not been discovered yet.

Then 2022 GQ flew by 0.12879LD on April 1 2022, 11:58:17CDT. Again, not yet discovered (inside our orbit). and when outside, too faint for me.

These close pass distances were topo for my location.

These rocks from space, once again show we can get clipped without even knowing it. Cool stuff.

Hi
I entered some brief notes and they displayed ok until I added another target.

The notes still exist but are not displayed with "Show All (read only)" selected.

How do I make them visible in the list without selecting each one and choosing "My Attachments"

thanks
Mick

I can export to file or stx file from Visual but am unable to see them in the import browser of Imaging.
I know the folder name and can browse to it but no files can be seen.

thanks
Mick

Hello!

The attached STX list contains 44 red supergiants with apparent magnitude 8 or less (on average in case of variable stars). Most (35) are of spectral type M with the remainder of type K.

They owe their monster status to their enormous hefts and luminosities.

Good description of these monsters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_supergiant

Attached Files

  Red Supergiants.stx (Size: 640 bytes / Downloads: 18)

Hi MP hunters,

The NEA 2017 WN13 is predicted to make a close approach in early April. According to ST4v, using the osculating elements for 2022 Mar 30 0000, peak brightness of 16.3 magnitude will occur around 2200 EDT on Apr 2. It will be in Hydra moving at 65.5"/min. While it's beyond my 13" scope from Ohio, ST4v predicts that it would be visible from southern hemisphere sites, like Aukland, NZ on the nights of Apr 2 in Hydra & Apr 3 in Pyxis (77"/min).

The uncertainty code for this object is 1 so the orbit is well defined.

This MP is right on the limits of what's detectable in a 13" telescope.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate, but these close approaches seem to be jinxing that (no surprise).

Phil S.

SkyTools saves Visual Observing lists and Imaging Target lists as .stx files. These files can be read by both SkyTools Visual or Imaging.

To share a list:

1. Open the Nightly Planner (Visual) or Target Selection (Imaging) tool and select the list you want to share.

2. Click on Share/Export List and select Save as stx File

3. When prompted, give your list a name and description.

4. Save the file where you can find it again

5. Start a post on this forum. Describe the list and attach it as a File Attachment by dragging it from Windows File Explorer to the Attachments are at the bottom of the "Post New Thread" window.

To import a shared list:

1. Click (or right-click) on the Attached file link of a forum post. Exactly how this works will depend on your browser. Save the stx file somewhere you can find it and note the name.

2. Open the Nightly Planner (Visual) or Target Selection (Imaging) tool

3. Click on Get Observing Lists and select Read from SkyTools (.stx) File.

4. Browse to the location of the file you downloaded and select it. Tip: take care to select the folder you want to place your file into so you can easily find the list and note the name of the list, which may differ from the name of the stx file.