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Artist's concept of the Gaia spacecraft (front and back views), with its Sun shield, solar panel, and the central structure with payload and service modules. See news below. Credit: Medialab. Copyright ESA.

Contents  on 21 June '07

• Minor-Object News -- three items
• Minor-Object Science -- none yet today
• IAU Minor Planet Center
  • NEOCP Activity -- 14 listings: 8 new, 6 updated
  • New MPECs -- seven MPECs
  • Observers -- 25 observing facilities
• Impact Risk Monitoring -- one object 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 21 June '07

• "Contract signed for production of Gaia primary mirror," ESA Gaia mission 21 June - Quote: "On Monday 18 June, during the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget, Sagem Defense Securite signed a contract with EADS Astrium (the prime contractor for Gaia) to produce the primary mirror for Gaia. The 1.5m by 0.5m mirror, made from a Silicon Carbide material produced by BOOSTEC, must be manufactured and polished to a precision better than 10 nm. Delivery of the mirrors to EADS Astrium is scheduled for 2008." - Note: Gaia is to launch in 2011 for a five- to six-year mission to "conduct its full-sky astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic survey" that will include Solar System small bodies interior and exterior to Earth's orbit, with many discoveries anticipated. Gaia will orbit the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point outside Earth's shadow. See an artist's concept of the spacecraft above.
• "Hubble Photographs Two Huge Asteroids," Space.com 20 June - Quote: "Ceres is round, like a planet ... about the size of Texas [and] contains some 30 to 40 percent of all the mass in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter... Vesta ... is irregularly shaped and ... about the size of Arizona."
  • "Hubble Images of Asteroids Help Astronomers Prepare for Spacecraft Visit," HubbleSite 20 June - Quote: "These Hubble Space Telescope images of Vesta and Ceres show two of the most massive asteroids in the asteroid belt, a region between Mars and Jupiter [with at] least 100,000 asteroids... On July 7, NASA is scheduled to launch the [Dawn] spacecraft on a four-year journey to the asteroid belt [which is] a reservoir of leftover material from the formation of our solar-system planets 4.6 billion years ago."

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Minor-Object Science  on 21 June '07

No science papers are known or prepared yet today.

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NEOCP Activity  on 21 June '07

The MPC's NEO Confirmation Page has 14 listings: 8 new, 6 updated

When last checked at 2303 UTC today, the Minor Planet Center's NEO discovery Confirmation Page (NEOCP) had eight new and six updated listings. Of these, nine were "one nighters." So far Major News has counted a total of eighteen objects listed on the NEOCP at some point today.

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New MPECs  on 21 June '07

Minor Planet Electronic Circulars

As of last check at 2303 UTC, there have been seven MPECs issued today from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• MPEC 2007-M17 time-stamped "06:07 UT" - Daily Orbit Update - see below
• MPEC 2007-M18 time-stamped "15:47 UT" - 2004 MO7 - see below
• MPEC 2007-M19 time-stamped "15:49 UT" - 2007 MB4 - see below
• MPEC 2007-M20 time-stamped "15:52 UT" - 2007 MC4 - see below
• MPEC 2007-M21 time-stamped "16:27 UT" - 2007 LR32 - see below
• MPEC 2007-M22 time-stamped "20:02 UT" - Comet C/2007 K6 (McNaught) - see below
• MPEC 2007-M23 time-stamped "20:12 UT" - Comet C/2007 M1 (McNaught)

MPEC 2007-M23 - "20:12 UT" - Comet C/2007 M1 (McNaught)

• CK07M010   C/2007 M1 (McNaught) (i=139.6°, q=7.642 AU, TP=2008 June 7.321 TT) from Astronomical Research Obs. (ARO) (June 18.28-30p5), Chante-Perdrix Obs. (June 19.00-03p3), Cordell-Lorenz Obs. (June 21.22-24p2), and Kambah Obs. (June 21.64-66p2)

MPEC 2007-M22 - "20:02 UT" - Comet C/2007 K6 (McNaught)

• CK07K060   C/2007 K6 (McNaught) (i=105.2°, q=3.437 AU, TP=2007 July 4.757 TT) from Kambah Obs. (June 12.78p2 & 21.73-74p2)

MPEC 2007-M21 - "16:27 UT" - 2007 LR32

• K07L32R   2007 LR32 (H=17.2 ~1.23 km) was discovered at 0848 UT 15 June by LINEAR, which observed it at June 15.37-41p5, 19.32-36p5, and 20.36-40p8. The discovery was confirmed by the Mt. Lemmon Survey (MLS) (May 25.44-46p4), the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) (June 9.36-38p4), the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope (June 20.40-43p3), Great Shefford Obs. (June 21.03-06p4), Vallemare di Borbona Obs. (June 21.04-05p4), Sandlot Obs. (June 21.27-28p4), Jim Young via Table Mtn. Obs. (June 21.29-31p4), Powell Obs. (June 21.29-30p4), Sabino Canyon Obs. (June 21.31-32p3), E. Guido via RAS Obs. Mayhill (June 21.40p2), and the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope (June 21.45-46p3).

MPEC 2007-M20 - "15:52 UT" - 2007 MC4

• K07M04C   2007 MC4 (H=21.3 ~186m) was discovered at 0838 UT 19 June by CSS, which observed it at June 19.36-43p6. The discovery was confirmed by Farra d'Isonzo Obs. (June 19.90-93p3), Alter Satzberg Obs. (June 19.94-96p6), Young/Table Mtn. (June 20.19-20p2 & 21.24-25p4), ARO (June 20.21-22p3), Great Shefford Obs. (June 20.99-00p3), Powell Obs. (June 21.23-24p4), and Sabino Canyon Obs. (June 21.29-31p3).

MPEC 2007-M19 - "15:49 UT" - 2007 MB4

• K07M04B   2007 MB4 (small asteroid, Earth MOID=6.1 LD, H=22.8 ~93m) was discovered at 0617 UT 19 June by LINEAR, which observed it at June 15.27-29p3, 19.26-28p3, and 20.21-25p3. The discovery was confirmed by Alter Satzberg Obs. (June 19.90-91p3), Farra d'Isonzo Obs. (June 19.95-97p3), ARO (June 20.19-20p3), Sabino Canyon Obs. (June 20.24-26p3), Dave Balam via 1.8m Plaskett Telescope (1.8m Plaskett) (June 20.30p3), Great Shefford Obs. (June 21.01-02p3), Young/Table Mtn. (June 21.26-28p4), and Powell Obs. (June 21.28p4).

MPEC 2007-M18 - "15:47 UT" - 2004 MO7

• K04M07O   2004 MO7 (H=18.8 ~589m) from David Tholen's team on Mauna Kea (June 14.61p3 & 15.60-61p6)

<< DOU on 21 June '07 >>  MPEC 2007-M17 - "06:07 UT" - Daily Orbit Update

• Observations of risk-listed objects
• K07L15B   2007 LB15 (arc=7 days, H=19.0 ~537m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (June 20.30p3)
• Observations of small asteroids (H>22.0)
• K07M00Q   2007 MQ (Q=4.293 AU, arc=3 days, H=23.6 ~65m) from Great Shefford Obs. (June 20.92-93p3)
• K07K02W   2007 KW2 (arc=30 days, H=22.3 ~117m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (June 20.24-25p2)
• K07K02D   2007 KD2 (Q=4.431 AU, arc=31 days, H=23.3 ~74m) from Spacewatch 0.9m (June 15.19p1 & 18.36-40p3)
• K07K00E   2007 KE (arc=29 days, H=22.5 ~107m) from Spacewatch 0.9m (June 14.28-30p2)
• Observations of almost-small asteroids (21.7<H<=22.0)
• K07M00R   2007 MR (arc=2 days, H=21.9 ~141m) from ARO (June 20.15-16p3)
• Observations of other objects
• K07M00G   2007 MG (arc=3 days, H=21.0 ~214m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (June 20.28-29p3)
• K07L08V   2007 LV8 (arc=8 days, H=20.0 ~339m) from Santa Mama Obs. (June 19.84-85p2 & 19.89-90p2) and CSS (June 20.31-33p3)
• K07L00S   2007 LS (Q=4.536 AU, arc=12 days, H=17.8 ~933m) from Spacewatch 0.9m (June 16.24-28p3) and Spacewatch 1.8m (June 20.27p3)
• K07L00F   2007 LF (arc=13 days, H=20.5 ~269m) from Santa Mama Obs. (June 18.85-88p4 & 19.86-88p4)
• K07F42V   2007 FV42 (arc=92 days, H=17.8 ~933m) from Hamamatsu-Yuto Obs. (June 20.61-62p9)
• K07E88K   2007 EK88 (arc=98 days, H=21.5 ~170m) from ARO (June 20.22-24p3)
• K06K89E   2006 KE89 (i=45.1°, q=0.211 AU, arc=3 opp, H=16.5 ~1.70 km) from San Benedetto Po Obs. (June 15.90p4)
• K05W55S   2005 WS55 (arc=3 opp, H=16.1 ~2.04 km, q=1.110 AU) from Spacewatch 0.9m (June 16.42-45p3 & 20.35-39p3)
• K04R00K   2004 RK (arc=3 opp, H=19.4 ~446m) from ARO (June 20.25-26p3)
• K02K04F   2002 KF4 (i=37.2°, Q=4.571 AU, arc=3 opp, H=17.2 ~1.23 km) from San Benedetto Po Obs. (June 15.86-87p4), LINEAR (June 20.17-21p5), and Hamamatsu-Yuto Obs. (June 20.49-51p8)
• K00Q25K   2000 QK25 (arc=4 opp, H=18.2 ~776m) from Spacewatch 0.9m (June 16.20-22p2 & 20.18-22p2)
• K00D08J   2000 DJ8 (i=37.7°, arc=4 opp, H=17.9 ~891m) from ARO (June 20.29-30p3)
• J99J06R   1999 JR6 (arc=2 opp, H=18.1 ~812m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (June 20.18-19p3)
• F2558   152558 1990 SA from CSS (June 20.19-21p4)
• E5656   145656 4788 P-L from San Benedetto Po Obs. (June 15.89p4)
• D6874   136874 1998 FH74 from Hamamatsu-Yuto Obs. (June 20.54-56p8)
• 86829   86829 2000 GR146 from San Benedetto Po Obs. (June 15.87-88p4) and LINEAR (June 20.17-21p4)
• 85275   85275 1994 LY from Skylive Obs. (June 20.93-94p3)
• 52750   52750 1998 KK17 from Spacewatch 0.9m (June 14.42-46p3 & 18.42-46p3)
• 39796   39796 1997 TD from CSS (June 20.23-26p4)
• 05646   5646 1990 TR from New Millennium Obs. (Feb. 20.90p1)
• 04179   4179 Toutatis (1989 AC) from Spacewatch 0.9m (June 14.22-26p3)
• 01866   1866 Sisyphus (1972 XA) from New Millennium Obs. (Feb. 20.90-91p2 & 22.83-93p8)

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Observers  on 21 June '07

A total of 25 observing facilities appear in today's MPECs.

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Impact Risk Monitoring  on 21 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 21 June '07

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