Asteroid 2014 RC Live coverage

Update: Three pane comparision of "relative" speed across the CCD.

Update 1430 UT (12:40 am Local time) I am off to bed now as the weather is closing in. The scope will grab a few more images around the closest approach at which time it will be a long streak right across the image. I'll have some more images and some mosaics and video uploaded tomorrow. Thanks for following the action.

Update 13:35 - Starting to motor now ..... 191 arcsecs per minute. Starting to brighten up now as well. Next shot at 14:00 UT or Midnight local time, where it will be absolutely flying at 214 arsecs per minute.

Update 12:45 UT Travelling at 177 Arcsecs per minute now. Including Animation!

Update 11:30UT (09:30pm Local) Really starting to pick up speed now travelling at 97 arcsecs per minute. I'll have an animation of this one shortly and a video eventually. Check back regularly as I am updating the images quickly now each 30-40 mins.

Update 10:35UT - Another 30 Sec image you can see the "streak" of the 30 seconds of movement getting longer as it covers more sky in each 30 sec frame. Travelling here at 87 Arcsecs per minute.

Update 10PM local time: Here is the first image, this is about 2 hours back now. I'll punch them out a little quicker now. This was at 10:00 UT or 8:pm Local time. You can see the moon is seriously messing with this image but we still managed to get it. There was some thin cloud drifting through as well. More soon.

Update: 09:30pm Local time 11:29 UT. It Looks like daylight under that nearly full moon at Siding Spring. The telescope I am using is front right in this image. Its going to be a tough get only 20 degrees away from the full moon.

Asteroid 2014 RC was discovered on the 31st of August by the Catalina Sky Survey and the Panstarrs Survey on consequtive nights. The Minor Planet center took a day or so to collate the observations and confirm they were the same object, publishing the MPEC 2014 R26 on September 3rd.

It was clear from the outset that this 15-26m object was going to make a very close pass, and tonight as Daniel Ricciardo lines up on the grid in the Italian Grand Prix, the asteroid will make a very close pass at 40,000 klms over Australia and New Zealand. It is thought to be about the same size as the Chelyabinsk meteorite.

Its Father's Day here and I have had a great day, and all the teenagers have retreated to work on their STEM elements of their education. So whilst Daniel Ricciardo battles it out with the William's boys I'll be drive another advanced piece of technology, targeting something travelling MUCH, MUCH, FASTER!!!!

The first set of images are in an will be posted shortly.

The aim is to show the rapid "apparent acceleration" as it whizzes past earth. Of course the speed of the asteroid doesn't change, just its apparent relative velocity appears to increase as it passes (like watching a car travelling at 100 klms per hour approach from a distance)

Asteroid 2013 TV135 (PHA)

UPDATE 2: 19/10/2013.

Last night I got another 6 images of asteroid 2013 TV135. I have stacked them here at 1.4 arcsecs/m at Position Angle 210.3 allowing for the movement of the asteroid. This is a technique astronomers use to build the signal to noise ratio and derive a more precise position.

Image Credit: P.Lake 6x120sec images stacked. T11 H06.

Asteroid 2013 TV135 images from H06 at iTelescope.net. I managed to grab 6 images and stack them. I was hoping for a few more but the roof closed due to weather .

Discovered by G. Borisov & T. Kryachko of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory Observatory, Nauchny, (095) on October 8th. Initially it is listed as a "Virtual Impactor" on Sentry JPL with a Rating of 1 on the Torino Scale. This is NOT that unusual for a new PHA, as at the time these measurements were taken there was only 8 days of arc available. It is expected that further observations will move this off the Torino Scale back to Rating 0 as the precision of the orbit improves over the next few days.

Asteroid 2013 TV135 will make a close approach to earth in the Year 2032 and is 410meters in diameter and is currently attracting a bit of media interest.

Its important to remember that new asteroids (this one has only 9 days of arc) usually don't stay on the Torino Scale (the risk register) for long, as further data updates increase the precision of the orbit, and usually quickly remove them as potential impactors.

UPDATED: October 19 Leonid Elenin makes the point on his blog (in Russian) that the current zone of uncertainty is about 1/5th of its orbit, so its way to early to be talking virtual impactors. Leonid's best estimate at this stage is an approach of about around 0.0077 AU which is close to about 1 Lunar Distance.

The most interesting aspect of the orbit, in the discussions I have seen, is the inclination to the ecliptic of 6.8 degrees and that it tracks close to Earth for a couple of hours. Removing the uncertainty around this time period will be the task facing observatories over the next few days/months.

Footnote: The 6 images here shown in the video had quite low signal to noise ratio which I improved a bit by stacking them in three pairs to improve the Signal to Noise ratio enough to get a good measure on them. This is partly due to the current full moon.

Fiction comes to life, as Dawn approaches orbit around Vesta

Image Credit: Gregory J. Whiffen JPL

I'm not sure what is more impressive - the scientific feat, or the sense of humor with which it has been carried out.

This excellent (and funny) video outlines the development of the Dawn mission control center and the use of an Ion Drive in the mission, and where the Ion drives first ....ah... connects with our scientific cultural heritage. [Star Trek Movies]
The actual concept of ion propulsion was first put to paper in 1911 by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky with Harold Kaufman testing the first prototype drive in 1959 after decades of research. Ion Drives have been used in a number of recent missions including Deep Space 1 and Hayabusa.

Image Credit: NASA JPL Dawn Mission



Chief Engineer Marc Rayman like all good Trekkies keeps a "ship's log". On July 13th Dawn was about 23,000 kilometers (14,000 miles) from Vesta, and approaching it at 37 meters per second (83 mph). Dawn remains on course as it continues ion thrusting to reach its first science orbit this weekend.

The Dawn spacecraft, on its way to Vesta then Ceres, will be the first spacecraft to enter an orbit around a main belt asteroid, it carries a scientific payload, with four experiments.

- Framing camera for guidance
- Infrared and visual spectrometer
- Gamma ray and Neutron spectrometer
- Gravity science

Mission controllers are looking for return of the following data:

1) Images of Vesta and Ceres in three colors and black and white

2) Full surface with mapping spectrometer in three bands, 0.35 to 0.9 micron, 0.8 to 2.5 micron and 2.4 to 5.0 micron

3) Neutron and gamma ray spectra to produce maps of the surface elemental composition of each asteroid, including the abundance of major rock-forming elements (O, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, and Fe), trace elements (Gd and Sm), long-lived radioactive elements (K, Th, and U), and light elements such as H, C, and N, which are the major constituents of ices.

4) Radio tracking to determine mass, gravity field, principal axes, rotational axis and moments of inertia.

Scientists hope to learn about the makeup and composition of main belt asteroids, study their elements, identify any metals, trace elements and ice.

Recently main belt asteroid Scheila exhibited a brief cometary outburst (photos here) providing further possible evidence that some asteroids could carry significant amounts of ice.

The ten Kilogram GRaND - Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrograph, perhaps the most complex of the instruments, will detect what radiates off the asteroid as it is hit by cosmic waves. The Mission "Splat Diagram" explains the different forms of radiation that are emitted and how this is captured by the instrument.

Based on the data the mission controllers hope to learn more about how the asteroids in the belt were formed.

Image: Data control interface for Ion Drive.


The data could also be also very useful, it we ever decide to paint an asteroid in an attempt to divert its path over a number of years. It would be good to know which color to use, and any additives. ;-)

Congratulations once again to the NASA JPL team.

UPDATE: July 16. Dawn has successfully entered orbit around Vesta.