Interesting possibilities for an outburst of the Tau Herculids in late May. This shower has been linked to the breakup of comet 73P/ Schwassman-Wachman 3 in 1995.

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essential...se-shower/

Hi MP hunters,

If you want a laugh, have ST4v speak the Object Info for the NEA 2022 FT2.

At least I got a LOL out of it.

Phil S.

Hi MP hunters,

It looks like we have another winner. The Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) 2022 FB2 is predicted to approach within ~150,000 km on Mar 28 at 1200 EDT when it will be in Antlia moving at 17.3"/sec. Max brightness is predicted to be 13.2 magnitude on Mar 28@1000 EDT in Crater moving at 12.5"/sec. I calculated the ephemeris at 2 hour intervals so, if you plan to observe this object, I recommend that you download the MPC's NEAs at Today's Epoch data file using ST4v's minor planet data tools to get the most recent elements & calculate an ephemeris for your observing location. If you just download the elements for 2022 FB2 from the MPC, you'll get the elements for the standard epoch - 2022 Jan 21, though.

This looks like a good object for folks in the southern hemisphere. I hope this is enough warning. Here's the predicted path as seen from Sydney, Australia: [attachment=2302]

Phil S.

Hello,

I attach an STX file. The list contains the stars of special spectral characteristics that Angelo Secchi submitted to the French Academie des Sciences in 1868.

Secchi investigated the stars contained in Schjellerup's Catalogue of Red Stars and found these 16 stars (a 17th star is not clearly identified) to be markedly different from all others. Today we know them as carbon stars.

The rating is based on Secchi's aesthetic evaluation.

tiha

Attached Files

  Secchi's Rubes.stx (Size: 1.18 KB / Downloads: 16)

Yesterday morning ~4:12CDT, a rock from space about the size of DWs Mini Cooper flew by at a distance of just 18,811Km. While only mag 14.8, it was moving 3.2°/min!! At the time, it was well below my horizon (alt = -46°) in the SSW.
Lately, it has been clear that we are getting a good many small rocks passing close by and even impacting at times. At time, there are 41 rocks within 0.05AU of my location. Good example is the previous discovery 2022 FD, discovered just 2.4 days earlier. 31 of these rocks are new discoveries. Makes one wonder.

2d view from above. Sun to upper left.

   

Hi

how do I transfer my data from ST3 to ST4?

thanks
Mick

The MP 2013 BO76 is predicted to make a close approach best visible from the southern hemisphere in the next few days. According to ST4v the current predicted position is in Centaurus at 15.8 magnitude. Peak brightness is predicted to occur around 2022 Mar 22 0300 EDT, but that's in daylight for Australia. It's predicted to be 16th magnitude or brighter from Mar 18 - 25.

Phil S.

Here's a fun one. Fetch the osculating elements at horizons for a new temporary designation 2 meter rock called 2022 EB5. Or at https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K22/K22EH8.html. Make sure to grab them a few days prior to now as this little rock splashed down north of Iceland ~21:23UTC today. Not found in MPC Today, MPC or JPL. Interesting to watch the track get highly perturbed as it enters the Earth/Moon system ~20:00UT. It was just discovered by a Hungarian observatory today at 00:48UT so only 20 hours b4 impact. Amazing stuff! Only a couple of other observatories made a few contributing astrometric observations b4 impact. The last one being at 2022 03 11.87033UT. There seems to be an image at https://www.projectpluto.com/temp/ds9_10.png
Should be some sonic detections coming soon.

The last update to version 4.0j R12 Visual broke the “Type” column. It now displays what looks thing that should be in description. No longer Galaxy, Glob, Open Cluster. I now get type as “Young, Very Old, Elliptical, Lenticular”, ect. How do I fix this?    

Hi MP Hunters,

The NEO 2022 ES3 is predicted to reach maximum brightness of 16.6 magnitude at midnight on March 14 in Japan. It will be 439,000 km from earth moving at 400"/min. through Ursa Major.

With the nearly full moon interfering, a large scope will be needed to observe this fast-moving object.

Good luck,

Phil S.