10 Oct. '04 Major News about Minor Objects

Major News for 10 Oct. 2004

Small objects
Discovery & follow-up for 4-10 October 2004

Discoveries of six small asteroids (defined at right) were announced in the last seven days, another nine were tracked, with some critical extensions in observation arcs, and the radar observation of one more was reported from late July. Twenty-six observing facilities participated in this week's work, including the Rent-A-Scope installation at New Mexico Skies from which independent remote-controlled observations from Belgium and Hawaii were made.

Two discoveries came from LONEOS in Arizona, two were made with the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope in Arizona, including one by an FMO Project online volunteer, and LINEAR in New Mexico found two.

There was one known fairly close Earth flyby last week, by 2004 TE10 at 2.7 lunar distances (LD) early Wednesday, some 25 hours before discovery. It also came to about 2.1 LD of the Moon. Nothing so close is predicted for this coming week.

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What’s so big about “small objects?” If an asteroid’s orbit brings it to within 0.05 astronomical units (AU) of Earth's orbit, it is categorized as “potentially 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 means less bright, thus smaller size. And 0.05 AU is about 19.5 times the distance between Earth and Moon (0.00256 AU). To be discovered and tracked, such objects usually must come close (a few are Earth’s nearest neighbors, coming closer than the Moon). They are exposed pieces of distant asteroid populations, and they have within their own population tomorrow’s meteors. And their discovery and follow-up represents today’s best amateur and professional asteroid observing work. Diameter & Earth MOID: In the following observation summary table, the stated diameters are rough best estimates from a standard but very inexact H-to-size formula using H (absolute magnitude, or brightness) from the JPL NEO Orbital Elements page, source also for Earth MOID (minimum orbital intersection distance). Current Minor Planet Center H is also given, along with the original H from each object's discovery MPEC. Other sources: Planetary MOIDs are from Lowell Observatory. Priorities, campaigns, and visibilities are from the European Spaceguard Central Node (SCN). And flyby distances and times are from the JPL Close Approach Table. See also the Sormano Observatory SAEL (H>22.0 and Earth MOID<0.015 AU), and NEODyS listings have yet another H calculation.

Small objects – panel 2/2 (table)

Major News for 10 Oct. 2004

Small object observation summary for 4-10 October 2004

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 RG164 K04RG4G Apollo	26 m/yd	25.59	25.8	25.1 2004-R75	0.006477 AU	Necessary, visibility ends 16 Oct.
2004 RG164 K04RG4G Apollo	2004 RG164 was observed on 5 Oct. with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope, adding 16.251 days to what had been an 8.816-day observing arc. This object has an MOID of 0.007 AU with Mars.
2004 TJ10 K04T10J Apollo	30 m/yd	25.26	25.2	25.2 2004-T35	0.044167 AU
2004 TJ10 K04T10J Apollo	NEW: 2004 TJ10 was discovered on 8 Oct. by FMO Project online volunteer Robert Klein while reviewing images from the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope. It was confirmed on 8 Oct. with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope and by Great Shefford Obs., and on 9 Oct. by Powell Obs., by Gianluca Masi and Franco Mallia via Southern TIE (SoTIE), again with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope, and by Three Buttes Obs.. This object was announced in MPEC 2004-T35 of 9 Oct. and will pass Earth at 17.2 lunar distances (LD) on 11 Oct.
2004 TV11 K04T11V Amor	43 m/yd	24.50	24.5	24.5 2004-T41	0.103979 AU
2004 TV11 K04T11V Amor	NEW: 2004 TV11 was discovered on 9 Oct. with the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope, was confirmed on 9 and 10 Oct. with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope, and on 10 Oct. by Grasslands Obs. It was announced in MPEC 2004-T41 of 10 Oct.
2004 SY4 K04S04Y Apollo	45 m/yd	24.36	24.4	24.3 2004-S26	0.017001 AU
2004 SY4 K04S04Y Apollo	2004 SY4 was observed on both sides of midnight 4-5 Oct. UT by Great Shefford Obs., adding 8.347 days to what had been a 7.071-day observing arc.
2004 SU55 K04S55U Amor	48 m/yd	24.25	24.4	24.3 2004-S60	0.050969 AU	Useful, visibility ends 19 Dec.
2004 SU55 K04S55U Amor	2004 SU55, which had last been reported from the night of 25 Sept., was observed on 3 Oct. by Farpoint Obs. and on 9 Oct. by LINEAR, extending a 7.071-day observation arc by 13.359 days. It has an MOID of 0.045 AU with Mars.
2004 RV164 K04RG4V Apollo	49 m/yd	24.19	24.3	24.4 2004-R80	0.000782 AU	Necessary, visibility ends 20 Oct.
2004 RV164 K04RG4V Apollo	2004 RV164 was observed on 8 Oct. by Jornada Obs., adding 20.190 days to what had been a 4.821-day observing arc.
2004 TE10 K04T10E Apollo	52 m/yd	24.05	24.2	24.3 2004-T31	0.004385 AU
2004 TE10 K04T10E Apollo	NEW: 2004 TE10 was discovered on 7 Oct. by LINEAR, was confirmed on 8 Oct. by CEAMIG-REA Obs., McCarthy Obs., Robert Hutsebaut with a Rent-A-Scope telescope at New Mexico Skies (see image above), Francisquito Obs., LINEAR, Sabino Canyon Obs., LONEOS, Table Mountain Obs., Mt. John Obs., and Great Shefford Obs., and on 9 Oct. by Gianluca Masi and team via SoTIE, Three Buttes Obs., and Judit Ries at McDonald Obs., and was announced in MPEC 2004-T31 of 9 Oct. This object was also observed on 9 Oct. by LINEAR. It passed Earth at 2.7 LD at 0727 UT on 6 Oct., and the discovery MPEC noted that it passed “.0054 AU from the Moon” (2.1 LD) that day. And it has an MOID of 0.003 AU with Mars.
2004 TW11 K04T11W Apollo	59 m/yd	23.78	23.9	23.9 2004-T42	0.053828 AU
2004 TW11 K04T11W Apollo	NEW: 2004 TW11 was discovered on 9 Oct. by LONEOS, was correlated with observations by LINEAR earlier that day, and was confirmed the same day by Hutsebaut via NM Skies, and on 10 Oct. by Table Mountain Obs., Farpoint Obs., and Grasslands Obs., and was announced in MPEC 2004-T42 of 10 Oct. It will pass Earth at 21.8 LD on 21 Oct.
2004 RC11 K04R11C Apollo	68 m/yd	23.50	23.6	23.6 2004-R46	0.005122 AU	Necessary, visibility ends 23 Oct.
2004 RC11 K04R11C Apollo	2004 RC11 was observed on 6 Oct. with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope, adding 15.019 days to a 13.052-day observing arc. It has an MOID of 0.023 AU with Mars.
2004 TA1 K04T01A Aten	78 m/yd	23.19	23.3	23.5 2004-T16	0.089362 AU	Necessary, visibility ends 30 Oct.
2004 TA1 K04T01A Aten	NEW: 2004 TA1 was discovered on 5 Oct. by LONEOS, was confirmed that day by Sabino Canyon Obs., KLENOT, and Great Shefford Obs., and on 6 Oct. by Three Buttes Obs., and was announced in MPEC 2004-T16 of 6 Oct. This object was also observed on 6 Oct. by Francisquito Obs., and on 7 and 9 Oct. by LINEAR. It has an MOID of 0.011 AU with Venus and passed Earth at 38.4 LD on 28 Sept.
2004 SC56 K04S56C Aten	92 m/yd	22.84	22.9	22.9 2004-S65	0.011571 AU	Urgent, visibility ends 16 Oct.
2004 SC56 K04S56C Aten	2004 SC56 was observed on 3 and 4 Oct. by Francisquito Obs., 3 Oct. by KLENOT, 3 and 5 Oct. by Hormersdorf Obs., 4 and 5 Oct. by Powell, Naef, and Jurassien-Vicques observatories, 4 and 6 Oct. by Great Shefford Obs., and 5 Oct. by Consell Obs. It has an MOID of 0.019 AU with Venus and passed Earth at 13.6 LD on 4 Oct.
2004 QF14 K04Q14F Apollo	99 m/yd	22.68	22.9	24.2 2004-Q46	0.017955 AU
2004 QF14 K04Q14F Apollo	2004 QF14 was observed on 5 Oct. with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope, adding 17.340 days to what had been a 23.645-day observation arc.
2004 RL251 K04RP1L Amor	102 m/yd	22.61	22.7	22.5 2004-R87	0.035545 AU	Useful, visibility ends 15 Nov.
2004 RL251 K04RP1L Amor	2004 RL251 was observed on 4 Oct. by Powell Obs., adding 10.226 days to what had been a 9.684-day observing arc. It has an MOID of 0.009 AU with Mars.
54509 2000 PH5 54509 Apollo	107 m/yd	22.51	22.7	21.9 2000-P32	0.001726 AU
54509 2000 PH5 54509 Apollo	54509 2000 PH5, believed to be co-orbital with Earth and the only numbered small asteroid, was reported this past week as observed on 27 and 28 July by radar from Arecibo.
2004 RQ252 K04RP2Q Apollo has VIs	116 m/yd	22.33	22.5	22.3 2004-S05	0.00008.6 AU	Urgent, vis. ends 12 Oct. / campaign
2004 RQ252 K04RP2Q Apollo has VIs	2004 RQ252 was observed on 3 and 8 Oct. by Reedy Creek Obs., and on 7 Oct. by the Southern Sky Survey (SSS). It was returned to the NEODyS risk list on 4 Oct. after being removed twice previously. It passed Earth at 21.3 LD on 9 Oct. and has an MOID of 0.045 AU with Venus.
2004 RE84 K04R84E Apollo	132 m/yd	22.04	22.2	22.6 2004-R55	0.020032 AU
2004 RE84 K04R84E Apollo	2004 RE84 was observed on 3 Oct. from Farpoint Obs. It has an MOID of 0.029 AU with Venus and passed Earth at 24.1 LD on 6 Oct.
2004 TD10 K04T10D Aten	140 m/yd	21.92	22.1	22.2 2004-T30	0.01237 AU
2004 TD10 K04T10D Aten	NEW: 2004 TD10 was discovered on 7 Oct. by LINEAR, was confirmed on 8 Oct. by LINEAR, Sabino Canyon Obs., Table Mountain Obs., and Mt. John Obs., and on 9 Oct. by Great Shefford Obs., from SoTIE (Masi, Mallia, and Roger Wilcox together), from NM Skies (Hutsebaut and Jim Bedient separately), and by Three Buttes Obs. and Ries at McDonald Obs., and was announced in MPEC 2004-T30 of 9 Oct. This object was also observed on 9 Oct. by LINEAR. It has MOIDs of 0.003 AU with Mercury and 0.003 AU with Venus and will pass Earth at 18.8 LD on 20 Oct.

Small object observation cross index [table top]

Object	Observed by MPC code
2004 QF14	291
2004 RC11	291
2004 RE84	734
2004 RG164	291
2004 RL251	649
2004 RQ252	428 & E12
2004 RV164	715
2004 SC56	176, 185, 246, 649, A13, A35, G70 & J95
2004 SU55	704 & 734
2004 SY4	J95
2004 TA1	246, 699, 704, 854, G70, G90 & J95
2004 TD10	474, 673, 704, 711, 854, G90, H06, I05 & J95
2004 TE10	474, 673, 699, 704, 711, 854, 932, G70, G90, H06, I05, I77 & J95
2004 TJ10	291, 649, 691, G90, I05 & J95
2004 TV11	291, 651 & 691
2004 TW11	651, 673, 699, 704, 734 & H06
54509 2000 PH5	251

Code	Observatory	Objects observed (days)
176	Consell Obs.	2004 SC56
185	Jurassien-Vicques Obs.	2004 SC56(2)
246	KLENOT	2004 SC56 & 2004 TA1
251	Arecibo	54509 2000 PH5(2)
291	Spacewatch 1.8m telescope	2004 QF14, 2004 RC11, 2004 RG164, 2004 TJ10(2) & 2004 TV11(2)
428	Reedy Creek Obs.	2004 RQ252(2)
474	Mt. John Obs.	2004 TD10 & 2004 TE10
649	Powell Obs.	2004 RL251, 2004 SC56(2) & 2004 TJ10
651	Grasslands Obs.	2004 TV11 & 2004 TW11
673	Table Mountain Obs.	2004 TD10, 2004 TE10 & 2004 TW11
691	Spacewatch 0.9m telescope	2004 TJ10 & 2004 TV11
699	LONEOS	2004 TA1, 2004 TE10 & 2004 TW11
704	LINEAR	2004 SU55, 2004 TA1(2), 2004 TD10(3), 2004 TE10(3) & 2004 TW11
711	Judit Ries at McDonald Obs.	2004 TD10 & 2004 TE10
715	Jornada Obs.	2004 RV164
734	Farpoint Obs.	2004 RE84, 2004 SU55 & 2004 TW11
854	Sabino Canyon Obs.	2004 TA1, 2004 TD10 & 2004 TE10
932	McCarthy Obs.	2004 TE10
A13	Naef Obs.	2004 SC56(2)
A35	Hormersdorf Obs.	2004 SC56(2)
E12	Southern Sky Survey (SSS)	2004 RQ252
G70	Francisquito Obs.	2004 SC56(2), 2004 TA1 & 2004 TE10
G90	Three Buttes Obs.	2004 TA1, 2004 TD10, 2004 TE10 & 2004 TJ10
H06	New Mexico Skies – Jim Bedient – Robert Hutsebaut	2004 TD10 2004 TD10, 2004 TE10 & 2004 TW11
I05	Southern TIE (SoTIE) – Gianluca Masi & team	2004 TD10, 2004 TE10 & 2004 TJ10
I77	CEAMIG-REA Obs.	2004 TE10
J95	Great Shefford Obs.	2004 SC56(2), 2004 SY4(2), 2004 TA1, 2004 TD10, 2004 TE10 & 2004 TJ10

News briefs – panel 1/1

Major News for 10 Oct. 2004

News briefs

Outer Solar System: SpaceRef.com has an item posted yesterday about using results from NASA and ESA spacecraft, including SOHO and Ulysses, to compile “for the first time a consistent set of the physical parameters of helium in the very local interstellar gas cloud. . . [This] can be used to model the interaction between the Sun and the surrounding interstellar gas and establish dimensions of the solar system.” Next up, it says, is extending “this effort to hydrogen, a more complex task because about half of the hydrogen atoms do not penetrate the outer boundary of our solar system, which strongly affects their flow.”

That report came from “a collaborative analysis effort hosted by the International Space Science Institute.” The ISSI site has lots of interesting material, including related research on the heliosphere in the local interstellar medium, a comet modeling project, and a new project on “Interaction of large meteoroids with atmosphere.”

Some comets and other distant objects, and the potentially large population of minor objects in the Oort Cloud, travel outside the Sun's heliosphere, so the interstellar medium is of interest in regard to their evolution and surface chemistry. Also of direct interest to minor object science is

resolving theories about how anomalous cosmic rays are generated by the heliosphere's termination shock and/or by interaction between the solar wind and dust from the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt (see October 2002 news).

Bits & pieces: Another item posted at SpaceRef.com yesterday is a solicitation for “information from potential sources” to look at “platform options for a deep space laser communications capability, including airship, aircraft, independent satellites, or hosting by other NASA assets (ISS, TDRS, etc.),” for working with the “Mars Laser Communication Demonstration terminal to be launched in 2009, as part of the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter mission.” Broadening bandwidth to Mars will help build the Interplanetary Internet (IPN), which in turn will help facilitate communication with future minor object missions.

An AP wire story at the Albuquerque Journal October 4th reports that New Mexico Tech has entered into a $4.5 million contract to have the main 2.4m telescope built for the new Magdalena Ridge Observatory using an existing prototype mirror from the Hubble Space Telescope (see April 28th news). [NMT October 2nd news release.]

Risk monitoring - panel 1/1

Major News for 10 Oct. 2004

Risk monitoring

10 Oct.

The Sunday Daily Orbit Update MPEC (DOU) has observation of 2004 RQ252 on Friday by Reedy Creek Observatory in Queensland, Australia. Today NEODyS slightly reduced its already low risk assessment for this small object, which is predicted to go out of view in two days.

The DOU has observation of 2004 TN1 by Jornada Observatory in New Mexico early today, and today NEODyS and JPL cut the number of their impact solutions for this object while also raising its overall risk ratings.

Today's DOU carries one position for 2004 TL10 from Sabino Canyon Observatory in Arizona yesterday morning, within the discovery/confirmation observation arc. Today NEODyS posted this object, and JPL changed its risk assessment slightly.

Today NEODyS joined JPL in posting 2004 TF10, for which new observations are not reported in today's DOU. The MPC Last Observation page is showing that TF10, along with 2004 TN1 and 2004 TL10, was caught this morning by Farpoint Observatory in Kansas.

Summary Risk Table - sources checked at 0511 UTC, 11 Oct
Object	Assessment	Years	VI	PS cum	PS max	T S	Arc days

2004 TN1	NEODyS 10/10	2013-2060	4	-2.65	-2.65	0	4.982
2004 TN1	JPL 10/10	2013-2060	4	-2.65	-2.66	0	4.982

2004 TL10	NEODyS 10/10	2041-2080	4	-4.51	-4.72	0	1.092
2004 TL10	JPL 10/10	2041-2085	7	-4.37	-4.62	0	1.092

2004 TF10	NEODyS 10/10	2012-2078	10	-4.77	-4.85	0	1.090
2004 TF10	JPL 10/9	2025-2101	18	-5.83	-6.33	0	1.090

2004 RQ252	NEODyS 10/10	2031-2064	2	-6.65	-6.71	0	22.775
2004 RQ252	JPL 10/3	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.