Anyone interested in NEOs?

[Jhroof]

Wow.  I'm the first to post on the new forum.   My current interest is tracking down Near Earth Objects.  The past couple of nights I have been following 444584 (2006 UK).  At around 15th mag it is about at the limit I can do from light polluted Orlando Fl. Anybody else interested in NEOs?

Also Greg, I sure would like a copy of Skytools 4 beta.  I have a licensed  copy of Skytools 3 Pro and use it all the time.

[theskyhound]

Hello and welcome! Are you also doing astrometry? Either way, I think you are going to find ST4 to be really useful. I've started doing astrometry on NEOs and NEOCP/PCCP objects myself. I've really enjoyed learning everything to be able to pull it off successfully. Along the way, I've been using my alpha version of ST4, and as a matter of course it has evolved some pretty cool features for this sort of thing.

I am doing the beta testing in stages, with each stage focused on different types of observing and/or equipment. I added a Beta Test forum as a subforum of "SkyTools 4" so keep an eye on it for announcements for beta testers there.

[Jhroof]

Hello and welcome! Are you also doing astrometry? Either way, I think you are going to find ST4 to be really useful. I've started doing astrometry on NEOs and NEOCP/PCCP objects myself. I've really enjoyed learning everything to be able to pull it off successfully. Along the way, I've been using my alpha version of ST4, and as a matter of course it has evolved some pretty cool features for this sort of thing.

I am doing the beta testing in stages, with each stage focused on different types of observing and/or equipment.  I added a Beta Test forum as a subforum of "SkyTools 4" so keep an eye on it for announcements for beta testers there.

At the moment, I am just hunting them down and logging them.  I want to see how dim I can go.  I'm not doing any measurements.  I would like to do that later.  I do notice that predicted position is usually a few minutes of arc off though.

[Pikaia]

I have seen two NEOs, and keep watching for new ones that might become bright on spaceweather.com.

The first was 2012 DA14 on 2013 Feb 15 when it missed Earth by around 20,000 miles. It was amazing to see it shooting across the sky, crossing the field of view of my telescope in less than two minutes.

The other was 2004 BL86 in 2015, which is about 1000 feet across and missed Earth by 3 lunar distances.

[theskyhound]

Once, a very long time ago, I saw a comet that moved in the eyepiece (IRAS-Araki-Alcock). Imagine this big bright fuzzy ball that you could see visibly move. I was young at the time and didn't appreciate how unique that was!

[Marie Lott]

I'm working on the AstroLeague's NEO observing program (described in this PDF) through the Target Asteroids! folks at the University of Arizona's Lunar & Planetary Laboratory.  I use SkyTools to plan which asteroids from the Target Asteroids list I'm going to try to capture.  I'm using Astrometrica software (free from "Target Asteroids!") to do the photometry & to generate an MPC report to send to the Minor Planet Center. The ones I've done so far are here: Target NEO log.  It's been a lot of fun so far.     

Marie

[theskyhound]

I'm working on the AstroLeague's NEO observing program (described in this PDF) through the Target Asteroids! folks at the University of Arizona's Lunar & Planetary Laboratory.  I use SkyTools to plan which asteroids from the Target Asteroids list I'm going to try to capture.  I'm using Astrometrica software (free from "Target Asteroids!") to do the photometry & to generate an MPC report to send to the Minor Planet Center. The ones I've done so far are here: [/url][url=http://www.3leaves.org/4715/mtl/TargetNEO.html]Target NEO log.  It's been a lot of fun so far.     

Marie

Cool. I'm using Astrometrica too. It has excellent core functions that are accurate and reliable. But I keep wanting to rewrite the interface!

[bigmasterdrago]

Once, a very long time ago, I saw a comet that moved in the eyepiece (IRAS-Araki-Alcock). Imagine this big bright fuzzy ball that you could see visibly move. I was young at the time and didn't appreciate how unique that was!

I saw this old thread and had to reply. I had begun my dive into amateur astronomy in Jan of 1983 using an Edmund Scientific Mag 6 Star Atlas. I joined the Houston Astronomical Society and saw my first comet from their dark site in May. I had the same impression as you. Amazing. Now I'm trying to watch "little" rocks fly by.