Close Approach of 2019 AV13

[PMSchu]

CNEOS predicts that this NEO will make a close approach on 2022 Aug 20 21:21 ±00:02 UT at a distance of 0.03531 AU (10x 2022 PW). H=22.1, 'Rarity'=1, Condition Code=2.

Using orbital elements from 2022 Aug 9 00:00 UT, ST4v predicts that this NEO will reach a peak brightness of 16.1 magnitude on Aug 18 00:00 EDT when it will be at 0.04 AU moving through Capricornus at 18.5"/min. It's predicted to fade slightly to 16.3 magnitude by Aug 20, again ~00:00 EDT when it will be in Aquila moving at 21.3"/min. Here's an Interactive Atlas chart showing the predicted path of this NEO: [attachment=2457]

This object has been on the CNEOS website for ~1 month with an uncertainty of close approach time of several days. It must have been recently reacquired. They've got it nailed down now, until it gets purturbed.

Happy hunting,

Phil S.

[Dennis]

Hi Phil

Thanks for the heads up, I've just set up to acquire this object and I think that I can just make out a faint trail in a couple of the exposures I have just made (still gathering them).

I'll have some more news in the morning once I have grabbed the set, got some sleep and then processed them.

The skies are very milky with much light pollution, making it quite hard to dig this one out, quite sad to see all that wasted energy from so many unnecessary lights...

Cheers

Dennis

[PMSchu]

Hi Dennis,

I hope that you were able to capture this NEO. How close was it to the predicted path? The elements that I used to predict the path are 11 days old, but they should be accurate. Your observations are the gold standard for how well the orbit predictions are doing.

Phil S.

[bigmasterdrago]

Thanks for posting on this big rock. I was curious when you mentioned future perturbations. Looked at only close approaches under 0.05AU and found these:
        Date TDB                    Dist AU    Mag
  August 19 2084, 03:59:36 | 0.037850 | 16.84
  August 20 2113, 14:30:42 | 0.037210 | 16.75
  August 23 2167, 12:30:26 | 0.049799 | 17.66
  August 21 2258, 15:36:25 | 0.046182 | 17.49
Then for thousands of years no real close pass even though the orbit looks not to get perturbed. I do love playing with orbits. This one remains out of reach at mag 16ish.

[Dennis]

Okay, after an unexpected delay (some friends lobbed in unannounced) I have managed to process some of the 2019 AV13 data from 20 Aug 2022.

This is a 1600x1200 crop from a 60 sec exposure tracking on 2019 AV13 so the star trails are "60 secs" long.

The 60 sec image file was taken at 2022-08-20T11:41:29.594 UTC.

I measured the J2000 coordinates of 2019 AV13 to be:

RA (2000.0): 19h 57m 59.2s
Dec (2000.0): +07° 56' 56".

Image Scale: 0.6910 arcseconds/pixel
Position Angle: 1° 29' from north through east.

On the images that I recorded tracking at the sidereal rate so 2019 AV13 would appear as short dashes, I could barely make out the trail as I blinked the frames and some required imaginary averted vision to detect a possible trail, so these were not really usable.

Tak Mewlon 210 F11.5, Tak x0.8 Reducer, QHY268M CMOS Camera.
Single 60 sec exposure.
Effective Focal length approx. 2150mm due to the spacing of the Reducer/Camera.

Cheers

Dennis

   

[PMSchu]

BMD, I'd say 2019 AV13 remains out of reach due to 2084  . ST4v says it's already faded to 17.2 magnitude. Do you know someone with a time machine perchance?

Phil S.

[PMSchu]

Gold standard hell, Dennis. Based on this result you look like the platinum standard. Most impressive!!

Here's the Interactive Atlas chart showing your position & the ST4v predicted position: [attachment=2468]

When I initially did the comparison, I was using the Columbus, Ohio observing location & the positions didn't align. The predicted track was off to the southwest, but when I used the coordinates of your observing location I got the result above! The effect of parallax is significant even at 0.04 AU. The position was shifted by 6' 5" at PA 28° from the Columbus position to the Brisbane position.

I couldn't find the UCAC4 catalog in SkyTools so I used the Tycho-2 catalog plus the HIP. Normally I use the HD, Tycho-2 & GSC catalogs for the fainter stars. There are a lot to choose from. 

Phil S.

[Dennis]

Thanks Phil, I appreciate the follow up information and details.

For the mount to be able to track on the Asteroid, I have to use the mount's software to implement certain bespoke functions, hence the UCAC4 star designations from that internal catalogue.

The good news is that once I have connected to the mount via that SW and initialised it, I can still launch ST4 and under ASCOM connectivity, have all the ST4 capability and functions available.

Cheers

Dennis

[bigmasterdrago]

This is becoming some real precision software. Kudos to Technoking!