2022-07-06, 10:36 PM
(This post was last modified: 2022-07-06, 10:48 PM by bigmasterdrago.)
Since this guy is so fast and nearby, I thought I would experiment. Just grabbing the NEAs at Today's Epoch will not cut it. The only way to get a precise position of this very close fast mover is to import (copy/paste) an osculating element set using Horizons very near the time of observation. Otherwise I get positional errors of 19m54s in RA & 4°56'3" in DEC using those from Horizons vs todays epoch from my location at closest. It's moving near 1/2°/minute. With each step in time drastically altering its orbital elements. It appears that using the July 4 elements at Horizons and using specialty software, the close approach to my yard falls at 8:52CDT on July 7th at a distance of 87,374Km (0.00058404280872AU) with a speed of 1590"/min, magnitude 16.3, altitude 14°. I love to experiment. Just keep wanting one bright enough in a dark sky to eek out in my portable scope. Using ST4 to fetch those timely osculating elements matches those figures.
Both the MPC and Lowell are using elements for JD 2459800.5 (Aug 9 0:00UT) while those found at JPL are July 4.
Both the MPC and Lowell are using elements for JD 2459800.5 (Aug 9 0:00UT) while those found at JPL are July 4.