| Monday | 18 October 2004 | 5:40pm MDT | 2004-10-18 UTC 2340 |
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The Asteroid/Comet Connection's Today's issue status: done
Cover: A satellite flies through this confirmation imagery of 2004 UE from Sormano Observatory last night in Italy (reduced 50% to fit). The discovery of this object was announced today and JPL soon posted it with impact solutions (see below). |
| Small objects – panel 1/2 | Major News for 18 Oct. 2004 |
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Small objects This has to be one of the richest reports since this weekly feature began with the new year. There was a rare recovery of a small asteroid, of 2003 UO25 with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope, and the new discovery of six more — four by LINEAR and two with the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope. The night-after-night routine tracking by amateur and professional observatories continued for six recent discoveries, and additional tracking was reported for five others from the previous week (four from a special run with the Whipple 1.2m telescope, see report) and one from mid-September. And Josep Julia Gomez went into the archives to successfully locate additional observations of three small asteroids back in 2002, including vital prediscovery positions for 2002 VX91 and new data for 2002 LY1 (which at H=21.9 is slightly too large to include in the tabular report below). Twenty-three facilities participated in the week's observing work. 2004 TC18 was discovered Tuesday and subsequently was calculated to have passed Earth at 11.5 lunar distances (LD) two days and eleven hours earlier. And 2004 TN20 passed at 8.9 LD on Tuesday, but would go unnoticed until Friday. Nothing this week is predicted to come within twice that distance, with 2004 TD10 the closest at 18.8 LD on Wednesday. This weekly report is usually published on Sundays, thus all details shown here come from yesterday, except that the observing priority and campaign notations are from today. |
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
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| Small objects – panel 2/2 (table) | Major News for 18 Oct. 2004 |
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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 TJ10 K04T10J Apollo | 32 m/yd | 25.10 | 25.1 | 25.2 2004-T35 | 0.04420 AU | |
| 2004 TJ10 was reported this past week as observed on 9 Oct. by LINEAR, within the existing 1.211-day observing arc. This object passed Earth at 17.2 lunar distances (LD) on 11 Oct. and was predicted to go out of view on 17 Oct. | ||||||
| 2004 TN20 K04T20N Aten | 36 m/yd | 24.84 | 25.1 | 25.1 2004-U04 | 0.021666 AU | Urgent, visibility ends 1 Nov. |
| NEW: 2004 TN20 passed Earth at 8.9 LD at 1050 UT on 12 Oct. and was discovered on 15 Oct. by LINEAR. The discovery was confirmed on 17 Oct. by Farpoint Obs. and the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS), and was announced in MPEC 2004-U04 of 17 Oct., but this object hasn't been reported observed since then. | ||||||
| 2004 TV11 K04T11V Amor | 43 m/yd | 24.50 | 24.5 | 24.5 2004-T41 | 0.102771 AU | Urgent, visibility ends 25 Oct. |
| 2004 TV11 was observed on 12 Oct. by KLENOT, adding 2.595 days to what had been a 1.120-day observation arc. | ||||||
| 2004 RV164 K04RG4V Apollo | 49 m/yd | 24.19 | 24.3 | 24.4 2004-R80 | 0.000782 AU | |
| It was reported this past week that 2004 RV164 was observed on 7 Oct. by Kyle Smalley with the Whipple Obs. 1.2m telescope, within but at the far end of an observing arc that was significantly extended by Jornada Obs. on 8 Oct. (report). Before being removed from the SCN Priority List after 16 Oct., this object was noted as going out of view on 20 Oct. See A/CC news about the Whipple observing effort conducted with a NASA NEO grant to Tim Spahr. | ||||||
| 2002 VX91 K02V91X Aten | 51 m/yd | 24.12 | 24.2 | 24.3 2002-V63 | 0.001675 AU | |
| 2002 VX91 was reported this past week as observed on 4 and 6 Nov. 2002 by NEAT/Haleakala, as discovered in the SkyMorph archive by Josep Julia Gomez. This added 7.717 days to the 19.065-day 2002 observation arc for this object, which has been observed since then, during a 31-day period in late 2003. See yesterday's “cover” image. | ||||||
| 2002 JR100 K02JA0R Aten | 51 m/yd | 24.09 | 24.4 | 23.5 2002-K02 | 0.018715 AU | |
| 2002 JR100 was reported this past week as observed on 15 May 2002 by NEAT's telescope at Mt. Palomar, found by Gomez within but adding three positions to the existing 36-position, 15.808-day observation arc. This object has an MOID of 0.010 AU with Venus. | ||||||
| 2004 TE10 K04T10E Apollo | 52 m/yd | 24.06 | 24.2 | 24.3 2004-T31 | 0.004385 AU | |
| 2004 TE10 was observed on 10 Oct. by Table Mountain Obs., Grasslands Obs., McDonald Obs., and by Jeffrey Sue in Hawaii operating a Rent-A-Scope telescope at New Mexico Skies, and on 12 Oct. by KLENOT. Until it was removed from the SCN Priority List after 14 Oct., this object was noted as being in view until 5 Nov. It has an MOID of 0.003 AU with Mars. | ||||||
| 2004 TT12 K04T12T Amor | 55 m/yd | 23.95 | 23.9 | 24.0 2004-T54 | 0.128665 AU | Necessary, visibility ends 28 Nov. |
| NEW: 2004 TT12 was discovered on 10 Oct. by Robert McMillan with the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope, and was confirmed on 10 and 11 Oct. with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope, and was announced in MPEC 2004-T54 of 11 Oct. It was also observed on 15 Oct. with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope. | ||||||
| 2004 TW11 K04T11W Apollo | 58 m/yd | 23.85 | 24.0 | 23.9 2004-T42 | 0.052908 AU | Necessary, visibility ends 17 Nov. |
| 2004 TW11 was observed on 10 Oct. by LINEAR, on 11 Oct. by Francisquito Obs. and Consell Obs., on 12 Oct. by KLENOT, on 14 Oct. by Pla D'Arguines Obs., and on 15 Oct. by Hunters Hill Obs. and Consell Obs. It has an MOID of 0.035 AU with Mars, and will pass Earth at 21.6 LD on 21 Oct. | ||||||
| 2004 TC18 K04T18C Apollo | 60 m/yd | 23.77 | 24.0 | 24.1 2004-T73 | 0.028629 AU | Necessary, visibility ends 12 Nov. |
| NEW: 2004 TC18 passed Earth at 11.5 LD on 9 Oct. and was discovered by LINEAR on 12 Oct. It was confirmed on 14 Oct. by LINEAR, and on 15 Oct. by CEAMIG-REA Obs., Sabino Canyon Obs., and by Robert Hutsebaut via NM Skies (see cover image 15 Oct.), and was announced in MPEC 2004-T73 of 15 Oct. This object was also observed on 15 Oct. by LINEAR and on 16 Oct. by Great Shefford Obs. | ||||||
| 2004 RB11 K04R11B Amor | 74 m/yd | 23.30 | 23.7 | 24.0 2004-R45 | 0.036564 AU | Necessary, visibility ends 21 Nov. |
| 2004 RB11 was reported this past week as observed on 8 Oct. by Smalley with the Whipple 1.2m telescope, adding 23.326 days to what had been a 6.819-day observing arc. | ||||||
| 2004 TO20 K04T20O Apollo | 80 m/yd | 23.14 | 23.6 | 23.6 2004-U05 | 0.083589 AU | Necessary, visibility ends 18 Nov. |
| NEW: 2004 TO20 passed Earth at 32.8 LD on 29 Sept. and was discovered by LINEAR on 15 Oct. It was confirmed on 16 Oct. by Great Shefford Obs. and LINEAR, and on 17 Oct. by Farpoint Obs., and was announced in MPEC 2004-U05 of 17 Oct. | ||||||
| 2004 TA1 K04T01A Aten | 83 m/yd | 23.06 | 23.1 | 23.5 2004-T16 | 0.090212 AU | Necessary, visibility ends 30 Oct. |
| 2004 TA1 was observed on 9 Oct. by Smalley via Whipple Obs., on 11 Oct. by Begues Obs., and on 14 Oct. by Pla D'Arguines Obs. It has an MOID of 0.011 AU with Venus. | ||||||
| 2004 TP13 K04T13P Aten | 87 m/yd | 22.94 | 23.1 | 22.9 2004-T57 | 0.081054 AU | Necessary, visibility ends 23 Oct. |
| NEW: 2004 TP13 passed Earth at 35.7 LD on 6 Oct. and was discovered by LINEAR on 8 Oct. It was confirmed on 10 Oct. by LINEAR and on 11 Oct. by Table Mountain Obs., and was announced in MPEC 2004-T57 of 11 Oct. This object was also observed on 15 Oct. by Jornada Obs. | ||||||
| 2004 SC56 K04S56C Aten | 92 m/yd | 22.84 | 22.9 | 22.9 2004-S65 | 0.01157 AU | |
| 2004 SC56 was reported this past week as observed on 8 Oct. by Smalley with the Whipple 1.2m telescope, adding 1.237 days to what had been a 11.620-day observing arc. Before being removed from the SCN Priority List after 13 Oct., SC56 was noted as going out of view on 16 Oct. It has an MOID of 0.019 AU with Venus. | ||||||
| 2004 RL251 K04RP1L Amor | 102 m/yd | 22.60 | 22.7 | 22.5 2004-R87 | 0.03552 AU | Useful, visibility ends 15 Nov. |
| LINEAR caught 2004 RL251 on 10 Oct., adding 6.190 days to what had been a 19.910-day observing arc. This object has an MOID of 0.009 AU with Mars. | ||||||
| 2004 TD18 K04T18D Apollo has VIs | 108 m/yd | 22.49 | 22.5 | 22.3 2004-T74 | 0.005085 AU | Necessary, vis. ends 26 Nov. campaign |
| NEW: 2004 TD18 was discovered on 13 Oct. by Robert McMillan with the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope. It was confirmed on 13 and 14 Oct. with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope and on 15 Oct. by Sabino Canyon Obs., and was announced in MPEC 2004-T74 of 15 Oct. This object was also observed on 15 and 16 Oct. with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope. It has an MOID of 0.015 AU with Mars and was posted by JPL with Earth impact solutions on 15 Oct. | ||||||
| 2003 UO25 K03U25O Apollo | 111 m/yd | 22.42 | 22.7 | 22.7 2003-U68 | 0.164268 AU | |
| 2003 UO25 was recovered on 12 and 13 Oct. with the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope. This was the first time this object had been reported since 22.943 days of observation ended last Nov. 16th. | ||||||
| 2004 RQ252 K04RP2Q Apollo has VIs | 115 m/yd | 22.35 | 22.5 | 22.3 2004-S05 | 0.00008.7 AU | |
| 2004 RQ252 was reported this past week as observed on 7 and 8 Oct. by the Southern Sky Survey (SSS), and was predicted to go out of view on the 12th, and an SCN observing campaign was withdrawn after the 17th. This object has an MOID of 0.045 AU with Venus. | ||||||
| 2004 QA2 K04Q02A Amor | 117 m/yd | 22.31 | 22.3 | 22.1 2004-Q21 | 0.030072 AU | |
| 2004 QA2 was reported this past week as observed on 19 Sept. by SSS, helping to anchor a 31.075-day observation arc that ended the next day, although this object had been predicted to be in view until Oct. 6th | ||||||
| 2004 TD10 K04T10D Aten | 133 m/yd | 22.03 | 22.2 | 22.2 2004-T30 | 0.012384 AU | Necessary, visibility ends 7 Nov. |
| 2004 TD10 was observed on 10 Oct. by Table Mountain Obs., Grasslands Obs., and McDonald Obs., on 11 Oct. by Reedy Creek Obs., on 12 Oct. by Linhaceira Obs., and via NM Skies by Sue on 13 and 15 Oct. and Hutsebaut on 15 Oct. It has MOIDs of 0.003 AU with Mercury and 0.003 AU with Venus. It will pass Earth at 18.8 LD on 20 Oct. | ||||||
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| News briefs – panel 1/1 | Major News for 18 Oct. 2004 |
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News briefs
Berthoud fall: The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports today that a search by about 50 volunteers on Saturday did not find additional pieces of the meteor that landed in Berthoud, Colorado two weeks ago tomorrow (see news thread). Deep Impact news: NASA/KSC has a news release today telling that the Deep Space spacecraft has arrived at Kennedy Space Center (photos) to begin preparations for launch on the afternoon of December 30th. After removal from its packaging, the spacecraft will be tested “to verify its state of health after the over-the-road journey from Colorado. This will be followed by loading updated flight software and beginning a series of Mission Readiness Tests.” |
Extrasolar news: The Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) has a news release today, “Astronomers Discover Planet Building Is Big Mess” (visuals). “ New observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal surprisingly large dust clouds around several stars. These clouds most likely flared up when rocky, embryonic planets smashed together. The Earth's own Moon may have formed from such a catastrophe. Prior to these new results, astronomers thought planets were formed under less chaotic circumstances. ” Space.com has a report today, and, update: New Scientist has a report October 19th. |
| Risk monitoring - panel 1/1 | Major News for 18 Oct. 2004 |
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Risk monitoring
 18 Oct.  JPL has posted 2004 UE, the discovery of which was announced today in MPEC 2004-U09. It was found early Saturday by LINEAR in New Mexico and confirmed yesterday morning by Prairie Grass Observatory in Indiana, LINEAR, and Farpoint Observatory in Kansas, last night by Sormano Observatory in Italy (see cover image above), and this morning by Modra Observatory in Slovakia and Sabino Canyon Observatory in Arizona. JPL puts this object's diameter on the order of 200 meters/yards, and predicts it will come to about 9.4 lunar distances of Earth on November 9th. The Monday Daily Orbit Update (DOU) MPEC has observations of 2004 TN1 and 2004 TD18 from Farpoint yesterday morning. Today JPL joined NEODyS in removing the last impact solution for 2004 TN1, and raised its low risk assessment for 2004 TD18. All of JPL's TD18 impact solutions since yesterday are now beyond the NEODyS 2080 time horizon. Today the European Spaceguard Central Node stood down its observing campaign for 2004 RQ252, which is now out of view, and posted campaigns for 2004 TN1 and 2004 TD18. |
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