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This 3.6-hour exposure of the Fomalhaut debris ring was made during May, August, and October of 2004 with the Hubble Space Telescope ACS camera. See news about this ring below. Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Kalas, J. Graham & M. Clampin.

Contents  on 16 June '07

• Minor-Object News -- nine items
• Minor-Object Science -- none today
• IAU Minor Planet Center
  • NEOCP Activity -- two listings: 2 updated
  • New MPECs -- six MPECs
  • Observers -- eleven observing facilities
• Impact Risk Monitoring -- four objects reported
• Chronology

WELCOME to A/CC's prototype daily news publication designed to be the viewing end of a planned autonomous 24-hour news service. The new tools and this publication format are working well enough now to share with readers. It is expected that this approach will require less time to maintain than our previous news and small asteroid pages, which were retired on May 14th. There's still more development ahead and there probably will be some glitches along the way, but this is what's needed to keep up with the increasing pace of minor-object news. The CRT page will be maintained separately for a little while longer, until all of this is working smoothly. And the CRT and small-asteroid ephemerides will be kept going.

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Minor-Object News  on 16 June '07

• "It's Official: Eris Outweighs Pluto," Sky & Telescope 14 June
  • "Pluto Smaller Than Dwarf Planet Neighbor Eris, Study Finds," National Geographic 14 June - Quote: "Poor Pluto just keeps getting downgraded. The beleaguered former planet has been dwarfed again by a new study that finds its neighbor Eris is significantly bigger."
  • "Dwarf Planet Outweighs Pluto," Space.com 14 June - Quote: "[If] you took all the asteroids in the asteroid belt [between Mars and Jupiter] and multiplied by four, they would easily all fit into Eris."
  • "Giant KBO Eris more Massive than Pluto," Planetary Soc. 15 June - Quote: "Eris, the giant Kuiper belt object (KBO) named for the Greek goddess of discord, is staying true to its name and once more stirring up the placid community of planetary scientists."
• "Hidden Planet Pushes Star's Ring a Billion Miles Off-Center," Univ. of Rochester 11 June - Quote: "Treating the ring like a hydrodynamic structure ... is necessary for younger stars whose dust is relatively fine and acts more like a fluid -- while the physics of dust collision become dominant in older ring systems where the dust has begun clumping into larger bodies." - Note: See a detailed image of Fomalhaut's debris ring above, and learn more about the ring at HubbleSite.
• "Voyage to the Giant Asteroids," Science@NASA 15 June - Quote: "After orbiting Vesta for 7 months, Dawn will undertake a maneuver never before attempted: leave the orbit of one distant body, and fly to and orbit another."
• "NASA manned NEO mission needs robot test," Flight International 15 June - Quote: "A human NEO mission would be the first beyond the orbit of the Moon and is expected to involve two or three astronauts on a 90 to 120-day flight that would involve two weeks of close-proximity operations at an asteroid."
• "A scientific breakthrough as a by-product," Univ. of Helsinki 15 June - Quote: "Space research is a field rife with unanswered questions. Mikko Kaasalainen and his research team have managed to answer one of them."
• "Fifth Passive Payload Checkout," ESA Rosetta mission status report 15 June - Quote: "The Near Sun Hibernation Phase will last until the beginning of September [when] the spacecraft will be reconfigured back to Active Cruise Mode in order to later execute the active payload checkout 6 ... in preparation of the second Earth swing-by which takes place on 13 November 2007."

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Minor-Object Science  on 16 June '07

No science papers were available or prepared today.

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NEOCP Activity  on 16 June '07

The MPC's NEO Confirmation Page has 2 listings: 2 updated

When last checked at 2358 UTC today, the Minor Planet Center's NEO discovery Confirmation Page (NEOCP) had two updated listings. Of these, one was a "one nighter." Major News counted a total of eight objects listed on the NEOCP at some point on this day.

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New MPECs  on 16 June '07

Minor Planet Electronic Circulars

There were six MPECs issued this day from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• MPEC 2007-M01 time-stamped "02:10 UT" - 2007 LQ19 - see below
• MPEC 2007-M02 time-stamped "06:07 UT" - Daily Orbit Update - see below
• MPEC 2007-M03 time-stamped "18:22 UT" - 2007 LT19 - see below
• MPEC 2007-M04 time-stamped "18:28 UT" - 2007 LU19 - see below
• MPEC 2007-M05 time-stamped "18:31 UT" - 2007 LV19 - see below
• MPEC 2007-M06 time-stamped "18:34 UT" - 2007 LW19

MPEC 2007-M06 - "18:34 UT" - 2007 LW19

• K07L19W   2007 LW19 (small asteroid, Earth MOID=7.0 LD, H=23.5 ~68m) was discovered at 1151 UT 15 June by the Siding Spring Survey (SSS), which observed it at June 15.49-52p4, 15.60p2, 16.38-39p2, and 16.60p2. The discovery was confirmed by the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) (June 16.16p3) and Jim Young via Table Mtn. Obs. (June 16.22-23p4).

MPEC 2007-M05 - "18:31 UT" - 2007 LV19

• K07L19V   2007 LV19 (H=20.0 ~339m) was discovered at 0957 UT 15 June by SSS, which observed it at June 15.42-44p6, 15.48-49p2, 16.36p2, and 16.55p2. The discovery was confirmed by Sandlot Obs. (June 16.14-15p3), CSS (June 16.16p4), and Young/Table Mtn. (June 16.17-18p4).

MPEC 2007-M04 - "18:28 UT" - 2007 LU19

• K07L19U   2007 LU19 (Earth MOID=3.1 LD, H=21.5 ~170m) was discovered at 0951 UT 15 June by SSS, which observed it at June 15.41-44p6, 15.48p2, 16.37p2, and 16.54-55p2. The discovery was confirmed by Sandlot Obs. (June 16.15-17p3), CSS (June 16.16-17p4), and Young/Table Mtn. (June 16.19-21p4).

MPEC 2007-M03 - "18:22 UT" - 2007 LT19

• K07L19T   2007 LT19 (small asteroid, Earth MOID=8.4 LD, H=25.5 ~27m) was discovered at 0642 UT 15 June by LINEAR, which observed it at June 15.28-31p4. The discovery was confirmed by CSS (June 16.27p4).

<< DOU on 16 June '07 >>  MPEC 2007-M02 - "06:07 UT" - Daily Orbit Update

• Observations of risk-listed objects
• K07L15B   2007 LB15 (arc=2 days, H=19.0 ~537m) from the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope (June 15.38-39p3)
• K07L15A   2007 LA15 (arc=2 days, H=19.4 ~446m) from Powell Obs. (June 15.33-34p5)
• K07L00S   2007 LS (Q=4.494 AU, arc=7 days, H=17.8 ~933m) from Astronomical Research Obs. (ARO) (June 15.16-18p3)
• Observations of other objects
• K07L08V   2007 LV8 (arc=3 days, H=19.9 ~355m) from Powell Obs. (June 15.24p3)
• K07L00V   2007 LV (arc=6 days, H=18.2 ~776m) from SSS (June 15.70p2)
• K07L00E   2007 LE (arc=8 days, H=19.3 ~467m) from Powell Obs. (June 15.18p3) and SSS (June 15.50-52p3)
• K07L00A   2007 LA (arc=9 days, H=21.3 ~186m) from Powell Obs. (June 15.22-23p4)
• K07J20Z   2007 JZ20 (i=40.5°, arc=35 days, H=18.4 ~708m) from Powell Obs. (June 15.20-21p4)
• K07H03W   2007 HW3 (Q=4.273 AU, arc=58 days, H=20.5 ~269m) from ARO (June 15.13-14p3)
• K07F42V   2007 FV42 (arc=87 days, H=17.8 ~933m) from Greiner Research Obs. (June 15.24-27p13)
• K07D08F   2007 DF8 (arc=114 days, H=20.4 ~282m) from Greiner Research Obs. (June 15.23-24p7)
• K06Y02Y   2006 YY2 (arc=175 days, H=17.9 ~891m) from ARO (June 15.15-16p3)
• K06X00B   2006 XB (arc=2 opp, H=20.7 ~245m) from ARO (June 15.26-28p3)
• K06W03N   2006 WN3 (arc=207 days, H=19.8 ~371m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (June 15.16-17p3)
• K06A00Q   2006 AQ (arc=4 opp, H=18.0 ~851m) from David Tholen's team on Mauna Kea (June 15.30p2 at R=22.1-2)
• K05B14G   2005 BG14 (arc=2 opp, H=18.6 ~645m) from the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope (June 15.18-22p3)
• K03SH0J   2003 SJ170 (Q=4.022 AU, arc=2 opp, H=19.6 ~407m) from ARO (June 15.11-14p3 at V=22.1-2)
• K03R10L   2003 RL10 (arc=2 opp, H=19.5 ~426m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (June 15.44-45p3)
• J99J06R   1999 JR6 (arc=2 opp, H=18.1 ~812m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (June 15.25-26p3)
• F4007   154007 2002 BY from LINEAR (June 15.17-21p5)
• F2895   152895 2000 CQ101 from SSS (June 15.55-56p2)
• 89355   89355 2001 VS78 from SSS (June 14.63-70p7)
• 42286   42286 2001 TN41 from SSS (June 15.39-40p4)
• 22771   22771 1999 CU3 from SSS (June 15.38-39p4)
• 06050   6050 Miwablock (1992 AE) from LINEAR (June 15.25-27p3)
• 05011   5011 Ptah (6743 P-L) from SSS (June 15.57p1)
• 03753   3753 Cruithne (1986 TO) from SSS (June 15.80-83p4)
• 01980   1980 Tezcatlipoca (1950 LA) from SSS (June 15.36-37p4)

MPEC 2007-M01 - "02:10 UT" - 2007 LQ19

• K07L19Q   2007 LQ19 (risk-listed, Earth MOID=2.1 LD, H=17.8 ~933m) was discovered at 1853 UT 13 June by SSS, which observed it at June 13.79-82p4, 14.82-83p2, and 15.79p1.

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Observers  on 16 June '07

Eleven observing facilities appeared in this day's MPECs.

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Impact Risk Monitoring  on 16 June '07

Legend: VI# = VI count, Prob Cum = cumulative probability, PS Cum/Max = cumulative/maximum Palermo Scale, TS = Torino Scale

For a list of all risk-rated objects recently in view, see our ephemerides page.

An impact solution, also known as a "virtual impactor" (VI), is not a prediction but rather a possibility derived from an orbit calculation that cannot be eliminated yet based on the existing data. Elimination can come quickly with just a little further observation or may take weeks or months, sometimes years. Once superceded or eliminated, a former impact solution has zero relevance to an object's risk. See Jon Giorgini's "Understanding Risk Pages" for more about all this.

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Chronology  on 16 June '07

Times are UTC for when the items were noted by Major News.