This is a weird object that I found using the DBPS after updating the MPC elements for NEAs at Today's Epoch today. It's very bright & now moving retrograde WRT earth at 0.03 AU. The mag is currently 10.8, but ST4v estimates it will brighten to 9.5 mag between Sep 3-10 as we overtake it. It's not moving very fast & its orbit is close to earth's.
Might be worth a look if anyone's interested. I'm surprised it didn't appear in previous DBPS searches. It's also not listed on the CNEOS page at JPL.
I have ST4 Visual configured to audible say when the scope is slewing to a target, when the slew is complete, and when I have synced the scope to the cursor position. But I cannot get the scope's position to show up with crosshairs on the IA chart like with ST3 PRO. I would appreciate learning what I am missing in regards to the settings.
We rock hounds are just not getting any breaks. I fooled around with 2016 AJ193. A fairly large rock, think high H and fair size (1.3Km +/- .4km) that has a somewhat close approach (~9LD) on 21 Aug ~11CDT. Yep daylight! Then big moon and below our horizon. Shucks again! But, because of its size and approach profile, the phase presents a good view and brighter prior to close approach. A possible shot may present itself just b4 Nautical twilight ~5CDT the 20th. It then climbs as twilight approaches. Work it out from your location as it may be bright enough (mid 12 to mid 13) to follow and the error box is <1minute. Speed ~1'/min moving NE out of Fornax into Eridanus. Here is my dope from front yard. Unfortunately for me, from my yard, will be looking into Willis, Conroe and Houston. Not sure it's worth the drive to dark skies on a non-observing weekend.
I'm sure that you are the only one who can answer this question. In my version of ST - 4.0j R2 - Current Comets is found in the Default folder. Is there a way of moving this list to the Current folder? Actually I tried but it didn't take.
Dick
Caught by the Zwicky Transit Facility on Palomar Mountain on Aug 2.2UT, this little rock whipped in from above and passed on the dark side 2/3 toward the moons orbit. Moving past my yard low in the west in morning light (07:42CDT) at >15'/min and possibly in the mid 12 magnitude range. Another discovery too late to make hay, although this rock was only bright in daylight, it's just so frustrating to get late updates. I seriously doubt that I could have tracked it due to it being so near to the earth/moon system - lots of gravs. It's difficult to quickly get these elements into the software and then the ephemeris may have large errors. Not able to check this one, but discovered and tracked by 5 observatories for nearly 22 hours as it swung by.
Greg can I just check that the current comets has been updated in ST4? The date on the list says July 1st but the other current lists and the ST3 ones seem to say Aug 1st so I assume this is just a list title issue?
Had an unseeable this morning pass just 255,386Km out at possibly 15-16 mag. Was slightly below my horizon and after daylight so not even a possible witness. The discovery observations had it near opposition moving from north to south but inside lunar orbit so great phase angle. Moving quickly into southern hemisphere at 4'/m to 6'/m. A real screamer - Pegasus to Grus - 70° in 24 hours. Not a big rock at possibly 13 meters. When it was in a dark sky, too faint and moon. But cool to track anyway. Good practice.
I first read about the discovery of Quasars, these enigmatic, distant, energetic objects, as a schoolboy. I never imagined that one day, I would be able to record the stellar like presence of one through a small telescope in my back garden.
In SkyTools 4 Imaging, using the Database Power Search Tool for Extragalactic Objects, I found a list of Quasars, filtered by date and my location, with a Redshift z >4, visible in August.
The 1st entry (Q2237-0607 in Aquarius) in the list looked like a good candidate at mag 18.3 so I slewed to the location and grabbed a series of 40x30 sec images and was pleasantly surprised to find a good match.
I also found an interesting APOD that showed a “Redshift Lookup Table for our Universe” which itself linked to the original Technical Paper which can be viewed as a PDF. It is described as a “Paper-and-pencil cosmological calculator” for when you don’t have an Internet Connection.
SkyTools 4 Imaging Data (sub-set)
Q2237-0607
Quasar
R.A. 22h39m53.6s Dec.: -05°52'19" (2000) in Aquarius
Magnitude: 18.30 R
Size: stellar
Redshift (z): 4.55
Light Time: 12.0 Gyr
Apparent Data for 2021 Jul 30 GMT+10 at Brisbane, Australia:
Apparent RA: 22h41m01.1s, Apparent Dec: -05°45'33"
Or to put this another way, what's the best way to ask for help or to ask for a new feature?
This is going to seem obvious after you read it, but I get this all of the time.
Let's say that you are trying to accomplish something. You imagine how you might accomplish this thing using SkyTools, but you don't see that feature - the one you imagined. What often happens is that people ask me for their solution, without explaining what they are actually trying to accomplish. My response is inevitably going to be to turn around and ask what you are trying to accomplish. This is because there is often an existing way to do what you need to do. But if I don't know what that is, then I can't suggest it.
So here's the tip: tell me what you are trying to do, not how you want to do it. If you do that clearly, then I'll quickly be able to suggest an existing solution, and if one doesn't exist, I can start thinking about a good solution.
I just ran this small rock and although the orbit is still highly uncertain, it was interesting to look at its orbit. It appears to have came in from outside and swung well below our southern hemisphere, hence only 12 observations on the 19th. As it's magnitude caved quickly late on the 20th (21st UT) as it swept sunward and became far, far to faint to keep track of. At closest approach b4 that, it may have been 14th mag or so and moving 1/4°/min. It's minimum distance for me was ~200,000Km. Cool stuff, indeed.
