16 Feb. '04 Major News about Minor Objects

Major News for 16 Feb. 2004

EasySky screen shots of Earth's neighborhood on 15 Feb. 2004 with known H>22.0 objects as green dots. Those observed are shown circled and with orbits. The ecliptic grid is set at 10 LD.

Small objects Discovery & follow-up 9-15 February

Last week four new small objects with absolute magnitude H>22.0 were announced, and ten others were tracked. And observations from last October 29th were reported for four more within their observing arcs by David Tholen's University of Hawaii team at Mauna Kea.

The discoveries came one each from the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS), the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope, NEAT's Mt. Palomar telescope, and LONEOS. They got lots of follow-up attention, but only Jornada Observatory went after multiple older discoveries — four of them, while Tenagra II Observatory and San Marcello Pistoiese Observatory bagged one apiece. LINEAR doesn't appear anywhere in this work.

Objects are listed smallest first. H and Earth MOID (minimum orbital intersection) are from JPL, and other MOIDs from Lowell Observatory. Earth MOIDs that would be categorized hazardous for larger objects are flagged yellow. Diameters are best estimates from a very inexact standard H-to-size formula. Priorities and visibilities are from the European Spaceguard Central Node. All data is from Sunday.

<< last week's report | skip the "Small objects" table | Small objects table >>

If an asteroid's orbit brings it to within 0.05 AU of Earth's orbit, it is categorized as "potentialy hazardous" unless it has an absolute magnitude H greater than 22.0, which corresponds to a diameter on the order of 135 meters/yards. Larger H is dimmer, thus smaller. 0.05 astronomical units (AU) is about 19.5 times the distance between Earth and Moon (0.00256 AU). Right: Composite from EasySky screen shots.

Small objects – part 2/2 (table)

Major News for 16 Feb. 2004

Small object observation summary for 9-15 February

H = absolute magnitude (brightness), from which size is roughly estimated — m/yd = meters/yards — [cross index]
All objects had observations reported last week. Those on a light-blue background had observations from only before the week.

Object	Estimated diameter	JPL H	MPC H	Discovery H in MPEC	Earth MOID	European Spaceguard Central Node priority/visibility/campaign
2004 BG41 Apollo	36 m/yd	24.89	24.9	24.8 2004-B36	0.01341 AU	Necessary, visibility ends 18 Feb.
2004 BG41 Apollo	2004 BG41 was observed on 14 Feb. by Jornada Obs.
2004 CQ Amor	37 m/yd	24.80	24.8	24.6 2004-C39	0.04001 AU	Useful, visibility ends 14 Mar.
2004 CQ Amor	NEW: 2004 CQ was discovered on 10 Feb. by the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS), was confirmed on 10 Feb. by Powell Obs., Crni Vrh Obs., Consell Obs., Obs. Astronomico de Mallorca (OAM), and Great Shefford Obs., and on 11 Feb. by Great Shefford Obs. (see image below), and was announced in MPEC 2004-C39 of 11 Feb. This object was also observed on 11 Feb. by Tenagra II Obs., San Marcello Pistoiese Obs., and La Canada Obs., on 12 Feb. by Desert Moon Obs. and Begues Obs., on 13 Feb. by Begues, Tenagra II, and La Canada observatories, and on 14 Feb. by Desert Moon Obs. and Pla D'Arguines Obs.
2004 CZ1 Apollo	43 m/yd	24.50	24.5	24.4 2004-C49	0.00409 AU	Urgent, visibility ends 24 Feb.
2004 CZ1 Apollo	NEW: 2004 CZ1 was discovered on 12 Feb. with the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope, was confirmed on 12 Feb. by Table Mountain Obs., the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope, Desert Moon Obs., Consell Obs., and KLENOT, and on 13 Feb. by Table Mountain Obs. and Three Buttes Obs., and was announced in MPEC 2004-C49 of 13 Feb. It was also observed on 13 Feb. by Sabino Canyon Obs., Sandlot Obs., and Tenagra II Obs.
2004 BY1 Aten	44 m/yd	24.43	24.5	25.0 2004-B10	0.02118 AU	Necessary, visibility ends 19 Feb.
2004 BY1 Aten	2004 BY1 was observed on 14 Feb. by Jornada Obs. It has an MOID of 0.004 AU with Venus.
2003 UO12 Apollo	45 m/yd	24.40	24.4	24.4 2003-U44	0.01504 AU
2003 UO12 Apollo	2003 UO12 was reported this last week as observed on 29 Oct. 2003 from Mauna Kea. It has MOIDs of 0.032 AU with Mars and 0.622 AU with Jupiter.
2003 UQ25 Apollo	49 m/yd	24.20	24.1	24.7 2003-U70	0.01626 AU
2003 UQ25 Apollo	2003 UQ25 was reported this last week as observed on 29 Oct. 2003 from Mauna Kea, within the existing observation arc. It has MOIDs of 0.000 AU with Mars and 0.940 AU with Jupiter.
2004 BF11 Amor	51 m/yd	24.09	24.1	24.2 2004-B15	0.14205 AU	Useful, visibility ends 24 Feb.
2004 BF11 Amor	2004 BF11 was observed on 14 Feb. by Jornada Obs. It has an MOID of 0.047 AU with Mars.
2004 CA2 Apollo	64 m/yd	23.63	23.8	23.4 2004-C50	0.00715 AU	Necessary, visibility ends 6 Mar.
2004 CA2 Apollo	NEW: 2004 CA2 was discovered on 12 Feb. by NEAT/Palomar, was confirmed on 12 Feb. by KLENOT, and on 13 Feb. by Three Buttes Obs., and was announced in MPEC 2004-C50 of 13 Feb. This object was also observed on 12 Feb. by Desert Eagle Obs. and Sormano Obs., on 13 Feb. by Table Mountain Obs. and Sandlot Obs., and on 15 Feb. by Pla D'Arguines Obs.
2003 UP25 Amor	78 m/yd	23.20	23.7	23.5 2003-U69	0.07794 AU
2003 UP25 Amor	2003 UP25 was reported this last week as observed on 29 Oct. 2003 from Mauna Kea.
2004 BB75 Amor	101 m/yd	22.63	23.1	22.6 2004-B65	0.03611 AU	Necessary, visibility ends 16 Mar.
2004 BB75 Amor	2004 BB75 was observed on 10 Feb. by Tenagra II Obs.
2004 BK11 Amor	106 m/yd	22.52	22.4	22.5 2004-B19	0.27819 AU	Useful, visibility ends 27 Feb.
2004 BK11 Amor	2004 BK11 was observed on 14 Feb. by Jornada Obs.
2004 BW18 Amor	126 m/yd	22.15	22.6	22.5 2004-B24	0.04564 AU	Useful, visibility ends 28 May
2004 BW18 Amor	2004 BW18 was observed on 10 Feb. by San Marcello Pistoiese Obs.
2003 UC22 Amor	134 m/yd	22.01	22.1	22.0 2003-U60	0.26564 AU
2003 UC22 Amor	2003 UC22 was reported this last week as observed on 29 Oct. 2003 from Mauna Kea.
2004 CE39 Apollo	164 m/yd	21.58	22.4	22.4 2004-C60	0.08283 AU
2004 CE39 Apollo	NEW: 2004 CE39 was discovered on 14 Feb. by LONEOS, was confirmed on 14 Feb. by NEAT/Palomar, and on 15 Feb. by Gnosca Obs. and Sandlot Obs., and was announced in MPEC 2004-C60 of 15 Feb.

Small object observation cross index [table top]

Object	Observed by MPC code
2003 QL96	568
2003 UC22	568
2003 UO12	568
2003 UP25	568
2003 UQ25	568
2004 BB75	926
2004 BF11	715
2004 BG41	715
2004 BK11	715
2004 BW18	104
2004 BY1	715
2004 CA2	246, 333, 587, 644, 673, 941, G90 & H36
2004 CE39	143, 644, 699 & H36
2004 CQ	104, 106, 170, 176, 448, 620, 649, 703, 926, 941, J87 & J95
2004 CZ1	176, 246, 291, 448, 673, 691, 854, 926, G90 & H36

Code	Observatory	Objects observed (days)
104	San Marcello Pistoiese Obs.	2004 BW18 & 2004 CQ
106	Crni Vrh Obs.	2004 CQ
143	Gnosca Obs.	2004 CE39
170	Begues Obs.	2004 CQ(2)
176	Consell Obs.	2004 CQ & 2004 CZ1
246	KLENOT	2004 CA2 & 2004 CZ1
291	Spacewatch 1.8m telescope	2004 CZ1
333	Desert Eagle Obs.	2004 CA2
448	Desert Moon Obs.	2004 CQ(2) & 2004 CZ1
568	Mauna Kea (David Tholen)	2003 QL96, 2003 UC22, 2003 UO12, 2003 UP25 & 2003 UQ25
587	Sormano Obs.	2004 CA2
620	Obs. Astron. de Mallorca	2004 CQ
644	NEAT/Palomar	2004 CA2 & 2004 CE39
649	Powell Obs.	2004 CQ
673	Table Mountain Obs.	2004 CA2 & 2004 CZ1(2)
691	Spacewatch 0.9m telescope	2004 CZ1
699	LONEOS	2004 CE39
703	Catalina Sky Survey (CSS)	2004 CQ
715	Jornada Obs.	2004 BF11, 2004 BG41, 2004 BK11 & 2004 BY1
854	Sabino Canyon Obs.	2004 CZ1
926	Tenagra II Obs.	2004 BB75, 2004 CQ(2) & 2004 CZ1
941	Pla D'Arguines Obs.	2004 CA2 & 2004 CQ
G90	Three Buttes Obs.	2004 CA2 & 2004 CZ1
H36	Sandlot Obs.	2004 CA2, 2004 CE39 & 2004 CZ1
J87	La Canada Obs.	2004 CQ(2)
J95	Great Shefford Obs.	2004 CQ(2)

Risk monitoring - part 1/1

Major News for 16 Feb. 2004

Risk monitoring

16 Feb.

Today NEODyS posted 2004 CK39, which was announced yesterday and posted overnight by JPL with a much different but also low-rated assessment. There are no observations reported in Monday's Daily Orbit Update MPEC for either of the objects listed with impact solutions and currently in view, but the Minor Planet Center (MPC) Last Observation page is showing that Powell Observatory in Kansas caught 2004 CK39 this morning.

The European Spaceguard Central Node today posted an observing campaign for 2004 CK39.

2004 BG121 was removed from the MPC NEO Confirmation Page (NEOCP) overnight. (If that sounds a little odd to you, see yesterday's news.)

Summary Risk Table - sources checked at 0505 UTC, 17 Feb
Object	Assessment	Years	VI	PS cum	PS max	T S	Arc days

2004 CK39	NEODyS 2/16	2011-2049	14	-5.51	-5.82	0	1.025
2004 CK39	JPL 2/16	2097-2097	1	-6.64	-6.64	0	1.025

2004 BG121	NEODyS 2/14	2005-2080	123	-3.65	-3.94	0	0.934
2004 BG121	JPL 2/13	R E M O V E D
VI = count of "virtual impactors" (impact solutions) See A/CC's Consolidated Risk Tables for more and maybe newer details, and check the monitors' links for latest info. Note that only objects recently in view are shown here.