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                                 Asteroid Discoveries and Confirmations (11 total as of Jan 2009)

                                 Asteroid Photometry and Light Curves (5 total as of March 2008)

                                  Asteroid Recovery and Astrometry (330 total as of March 2008)

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

                                   Silver Spring Observatory (H85)

                                                     Blackbird Observatory, New Mexico (H08)

 

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 

Object Date Obs Observer Measurer mag
2005 TT15 2005/10/03 H85 K. Levin N. Teamo  
2005 VL2 2005/11/06 H85 K. Levin J. C. Pelle  
2006 BN212 2006/01/30 H08 J. R. Gabany K. Levin  
2006 FD  2006/03/20 H85 K. Levin J. C. Pelle  
2007 VW125 2007/11/08 H08 K. Levin J.C. Pelle  
2008 XW6 2008/12/07 H08 K. Levin N. Teamo  
2009 AT16 2009/01/15 H08 K. Levin N. Teamo  
2009 BT9 2009/01/19 H08 K. Levin N. Teamo  
2009 BU9 2009/01/19 H08 K. Levin N. Teamo  
2009 BV9 2009/01/19 H08 K. Levin N. Teamo  
           
2009 UY91 2009/10/25 H08 K. Levin N. Teamo 20.6
2009 UP19 2009/10/25 H08 K. Levin N. Teamo  
2009 UD20 2009/10/25 H08 K. Levin N. Teamo 20.0
2009 WU 2009/11/16 H08 K. Levin N. Teamo 20.0
2009 W05 2009/11/16 H08 K. Levin N. Teamo  
           
           

 

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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