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                                 Asteroid Discoveries and Confirmations (40 total as of Jan 2011)

                                 Asteroid Photometry and Light Curves (5 total as of Jan 2011)

                                  Asteroid Recovery and Astrometry (2100 total as of Feb 2011)

                                  Near Earth Asteroid Observations (52 total as of March 2008):

                                   Silver Spring Observatory (H85)

                                                     Blackbird Observatory, New Mexico (H08)

                                                       Alder Springs Observatory, California  (G53)

 

Recovery of Faint Asteroids

   Asteroids that are only observed for a short time can have calculated orbits which have large uncertainties and may be in danger of being lost.  Therefore, it is important to recover and observe these asteroids in order to refine their orbital parameters. While some asteroids have not been seen for years, others, although measured (even many times by the surveys), were never identified. Adding these to the database of unidentified objects increases the amount of computer time needed for identification exponentially.
   Securing the orbit of these objects allows the assignment of still unidentified measurements, and assures that the asteroid will never be lost, and it probably will be numbered at the next opposition.

  We are just starting (September 2005) such a survey at Silver Spring Observatory (H85).

  We perform targeted searches of faint objects (magnitude between 19 and 20 and beyond) with large uncertainties and in danger of being lost, using a dedicated software by J.C. Pelle allowing a high confidence in the identification of the recovered object.

  We have already realized some success, including the discovery of a new objects (2005 TT15 and 2005 VL2) in the same FOV as targets.  Following a trajectory correction maneuver (TCM), on 2005 Nov. 10, of the probe WMAP orbiting the Earth-Sun L2 point (Orbits at the L2 point aren't stable, then TCM are needed), we successfully observed the probe on the 2005 Nov. 12.

             
WMAP probe at 1.46 million km
Image K. Levin

 

Asteroid Discoveries 

Date Obs Object Observer Measurer Arc/Obs mag
2005/10/03 H85 2005TT15 (242693) K. Levin N. Teamo 6-opp/87 19.6
2005/11/06 H85 2005 VL2 K. Levin J. C. Pelle 3-opp/72 19.1
2006/01/30 H08 2006 BN212 J. R. Gabany K. Levin 4-opp/36 20.4
2006/03/20 H85 2006 FD  K. Levin J. C. Pelle 93d/26 19.6
2007/11/08 H08 2007 VW125 K. Levin J.C. Pelle 21d/8 21.6
2008/12/07 H08 2008 XW6 K. Levin N. Teamo 45d/11 20.0
2009/01/15 H08 2009 AT16 K. Levin N. Teamo 3V/4 21.2
2009/01/19 H08 2009 BT9 K. Levin N. Teamo 2V/5 21.4
2009/01/19 H08 2009 BU9 K. Levin N. Teamo 2V/4 21.8
2009/01/19 H08 2009 BV9 K. Levin N. Teamo 2V/4 21.9
2009/10/25 H08 2009 UY91 K. Levin N. Teamo 4-opp/27 20.3
2009/10/25 H08 2009 UP19 K. Levin N. Teamo 4-opp/50 19.7
2009/10/25 H08 2009 UD20 K. Levin N. Teamo 3-opp/61 20.0
2009/11/16 H08 2009 WU K. Levin N. Teamo 2-opp/35 20.0
2010/11/30 G53 2010 W73V K. Levin N. Teamo 13d/6 21.3
2010/11/30 G53 2010 W73U K. Levin N. Teamo 8d/8 21.8
2010/11/30 G53 2010 X82U K. Levin N. Teamo 3-opp/34 21.1
2010/12/08 G53 2010 X82X K. Levin N. Teamo 5d/6 20.7
2010/12/02 G53 2010 X82P K. Levin N. Teamo 11d/8 21.7
2010/12/02 G53 2010 X82Q K. Levin N. Teamo 11d/8 21.9
2010/12/02 G53 KT0X28 K. Levin N. Teamo 0/3 22.0
2010/12/02 G53 KT0X29 K. Levin N. Teamo 0/2 22.0
2010/12/08 G53 2010 X82W K. Levin N. Teamo 5d/6 21.2
2010/12/13 G53 KT0XD3 K. Levin N. Teamo 0/3 21.8
2010/12/13 G53 KT0XD4 K. Levin N. Teamo 0/3 21.9
2010/12/29 H85 2011 AC2 K. Levin N. Teamo 46d/28 19.8
2011/01/17 G53 2011 BH2 K. Levin N. Teamo 4-opp/36 20.6
2011/01/17 G53 2011 BQ11 K. Levin N. Teamo 13d/15 19.9
2011/01/21 G53 2011 BA11 K. Levin N. Teamo 4d/9 20.3
2011/01/23 G53 2011 BD19 K. Levin N. Teamo 2V/6  19.9
2011/01/24 G53 2011 BQ15 K. Levin N. Teamo 1V/6 20.9
2011/01/24 G53 2011 BR11 K. Levin N. Teamo 1d/5 21.6
2011/01/24 G53 2011 BA13 K. Levin N. Teamo 1V/4 21.4
2011/01/24 G53 2011 BA16 K. Levin N. Teamo 6d/10 20.5
2011/01/24 G53 2011 BB13 K. Levin N. Teamo 6d/10 21.0
2011/01/24 G53 2011 BB16 K. Levin N. Teamo 1V/6 21.6
2011/01/23 G53 2011 BC12 K. Levin N. Teamo 2V/6 21.6
2011/01/24 G53 2011 BT18 K. Levin N. Teamo  1V/6  21.4
2011/01/24 G53 2011 BU18 K. Levin N. Teamo  1V/6  21.8
2011/01/24 G53 2011 BV18 K. Levin N. Teamo  6d/10  21.9
2011/02/06 G53 2011 CA69 K. Levin N. Teamo 1V/5 20.6
2011/02/06 G53 2011 CB69 K. Levin N. Teamo 1V/5 21.6
2011/02/06 G53 2011 CC69 K. Levin N. Teamo 1V/5 21.2
             
             


 

Confirmations

Object Date Obs Observer Measurer
 5U16CFC 2005/10/31 H85 K. Levin N. Teamo
2007 JF22 2007/05/14 H85 K. Levin N. Teamo
2007 LA (NEO) 2007/06/07 H85 K. Levin J. C. Pelle
2004 ET21 (NEO) 2007/09/17 H85 K. Levin J. C. Pelle
2007 RE20 2007/11/07 H08 K. Levin J. C. Pelle
2007 YK1 2007/12/18 H85 K. Levin N. Teamo
2008 EK 2008/03/02 H85 K. Levin N. Teamo
 2008 EE 2008/03/02 H85 K. Levin N. Teamo
2008 FB 2008/03/24 H85 K. Levin N. Teamo
2008 KU2 (NEO) 2008/05/29 H85 K. Levin J. C. Pelle
Comet C/2008 2008/08/20 H85 K. Levin N. Teamo
2009 BD81 (NEO) 2009/02/02 H85 K. Levin N. Teamo
2009 CQ1 (NEO) 2009/02/04 H85 K. Levin N. Teamo
2009 CE3 2009/02/06 H85 K. Levin N. Teamo
         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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