I've got to get better at this. I thought I might have had a chance to snag 2021 NA whizzing by last night (July 2 21:00-23:00CDT). I fetched MPC NEA Today (July 2) and did the ephem for time and date when close and bright. Showed best and apparent at 22:00 July 2. This small rock was moving over 900"/min but near the limit of scope plus there were some clouds moving in and out. Did not find it. Just now compared ephem with one from Horizons and position was different. Enough that I could have easily been looking 1.5° too far SE. I need to get better at this. It takes a lot of patience to track down and chase one of these faint fast movers.

Hello,

I'm quite new to ST and I've a question to the scheduler.

I've planed a project that has a total integration time of about 4.4 hr. When I want to schedule the project it only uses around 3 hr, allthough I've selected the min. Quality to B. Please see also the screenshots.

Why is the project not scheduled over the whole night with the given min. Quality?

Hope you can help me.

Greetings
Alex

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Clearly I don't have a good understanding how the Scheduler works.

So, how do I get a Project to schedule over multiple nights? What controls govern doing such? Can you set a date range or something?

I can only get a single night schedule (obviously tonight is very limited due to Moon which is correct). The Lagoon neb has scheduled correctly for tonight, but no other nights. The Orion neb won't schedule tonight, as it has already set, but what about other nights?

Thanks
Bob

   

Hi All,

There will be a close approach of asteroid 2010 XJ11 on 2021 Jun 29-30. It's predicted to reach mag 16.5 and be moving at ~100"/minute on the night of the 30th around midnight.

Good luck,

Phil S.

Hi All,

Minor planet 2021 ME1 has a close approach on 26-27 June 2021 visible from latitude ~30°N and points south. 

It's moving ~50"/minute.

Good luck,

Phil S.

Hi All,

Just received notice that iTelescope has opened a new scope in Chile. The name is T70 at Deep Sky Chile.

Phil S.

What determines star common names? For example, I have been trying to get Polaris Australis labelled with its common name, to no avail. So, I guess its not rated that highly

Thanks
Bob

Can you create filters for the Optolong LRGB, and narrow band so they can be imported into Imaging?

I didn't run across this rock on the CNEOS page nor at Spaceweather. It was found using the DBPS in ST4. It looks to have a nice close approach in the very early hours of June 15th high in the west with no moon. Maybe 14th magnitude, moving ~20"/min. Although the rock will be moving away, it should appear to get somewhat brighter as the phase angle improves over the next several days. Another chance to detect it comes the next morning (16th) ~6,7 & 8 UT high in the southern sky, still moving relatively quickly. Again, no moon. And again, the next morning (17th) 7, 8 & 9 UT high in the southern sky. No moon. Still good phase angle and maybe magnitudes in the 12s. Because of the geometry this rock exhibits, there are still a couple of hours in the predawn skies on the 18th & 19th with elongation and phase angle still decent but getting slower, lower, and fainter as it sweeps the southern skies. The rock comes over the top and moves outside our orbit for good viewing from the northern hemisphere.

Hello
 
On some recent images I took of PN ESO 216-2, the field star GSC 08225-985 is recorded more like a faint fuzzy DSO rather than having a stellar profile like the other field stars. I was actually taking images of Planetary Nebula PN G288.7+08.1 (ESO 216-2) at R.A. 11h18m09.7s Dec. -52°10'02" (2000) in Centaurus, Magnitude: 15.50, Size: 36" when I noticed that the field star (GSC 08225-985) looked distinctly fuzzy and unlike the other nicely resolved field stars. It appears more like the faint PGC Galaxies I often see in my images.
 
The “fuzzy” field star is identified as:
SkyTools 4 Imaging Data
J111827.8-520821
R.A. 11h18m27.9s Dec. -52°08'21" (2000)
Centaurus
Magnitude: 13.22
 
 
I have checked the Sesame Name Resolver on-line Query and it returned:
J111827.8-520821           11:18:27.8  -52:08:21
 
I also checked Aladin Lite and on that image the object appears in the Gaia EDR3 and 2MASS databases.
 
I have attached 5 files showing this “fuzzy” object, from the basic Raw File to Files with Labels and IDs from the SkyTools 4 Imaging Application.
 
I took a similar series of images on 6th June with a different camera (ZWO ASI 1600 MM Pro) and with the telescope tube rotated in a different position (approx. 45 degrees) and the same “fuzzy” object appears in that image too, so it is unlikely to be camera related or some reflection artefact?
 
The imaging system is:
Takahashi Mewlon 210 F11.5 (210mm aperture)
Takahashi x0.8 Reducer
F9.4 at 1932mm focal length
ZWO AIS 294 MM Pro Cooled Camera
106 x 30 sec exposures
10th June 2021
Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
 
Cheers
 
Dennis Simmons

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