Workers at Astrotech move the platform with the Dawn spacecraft in preparation for transport back to the launch pad. See news Saturday about restarting the launch campaign. Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann.
Contents on 10 September '07
- Minor-Object News -- two items
- Minor-Object Science -- three papers
- IAU Minor Planet Center
- NEOCP Activity -- 13 listings: 13 new
- New MPECs -- five MPECs
- Observers -- fourteen observing facilities
- Impact Risk Monitoring -- three objects reported
- Chronology
Resources:
- Consolidated Risk Tables - CRT page
- Ephemerides for risk-rated objects
- Ephemerides for small asteroids
The latest news: framed access (best), RSS news feed (flags updates), or redirection - Note: A/CC has a main Web site and a backup site.
Navigation tips: Use the << and >> arrows on the menus for each regular section (Observers, Risks, etc.) to move to the previous and next day's news for that section. Use the Index menu item to access specific days this year through a calendar interface. And use the all-up news archive to access news from any time since A/CC began in early 2002. To keep track of what's new each day, watch the Chronology section.
Minor-Object News on 10 September '07
- Bits & pieces: Don't miss the science paper posted today about 2002 NY40, including what is probably the best ground-based optical imagery ever published of an asteroid (see below). This work puts 2002 NY40's apparent diameter at a kilometer, more than double what has been reported in the literature from infrared and radar observation, but see the author's caveats about how the image processing was done, and they comment that "maybe that the different techniques measured the asteroid at different times and represent different projections of the asteroid." No matter how you look at it, that's a really big chondrite (indicated by its Q-type classification).
We would like to remind you that, if this Web site seems to be inactive without explanation, as it appeared to be for many on Saturday, please check our backup Web site. The linking files were uploaded correctly there, unlike the main site, which was left stuck on Friday except for those who use our RSS news feed and for readers who checked the index or tested the >> "go to tomorrow" menu selections. If you missed Saturday's news, then you missed Great Shefford's great story about vital intruder 2007 RS1 observations.
Sky & Telescope posted an appeal last week for a good cause, to ask people to join the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). {permalink} - "AGU journal highlights -- Sept. 6, 2007," EurekAlert 9 Sept. - Quote: "Antarctic ice cores record ancient meteoritic events: Antarctica represents the best site to collect small meteoritic particles... As part of a new micrometorite collection project launched at the permanent French-Italian station of Concordia, on the East Antarctic Plateau, Narcisi et al. study the Dome C ice core... They find two distinct dust layers which, through comparisons with extraterrestrial debris found in deep-sea sediments and polar caps, they determined to be of meteoritic origin. Closer inspection revealed that these layers represented individual meteoritic events, with the first occurring about 481,000 years ago and the second occurring 434,000 years ago, as indicated by layers in the ice core." {permalink}
Minor-Object Science on 10 September '07
- "Characterization of the near-Earth Asteroid 2002 NY40" by Roberts, Jr., Lewis C. with Doyle T. Hall, John V. Lambert & 7 others, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 10 Sept. - Quote: "In August 2002, the near-Earth asteroid 2002 NY40, made its closest approach to the Earth. This provided an opportunity to study a near-Earth asteroid with a variety of instruments. Several of the telescopes at the Maui Space Surveillance System were trained at the asteroid and collected adaptive optics images, photometry and spectroscopy. Analysis of the imagery reveals the asteroid is triangular shaped with significant self-shadowing. The photometry reveals a 20-hour period and the spectroscopy shows that the asteroid is a Q-type." {permalink}
- "Can giant planets form by gravitational fragmentation of discs?" by Stamatellos, Dimitris with Anthony P. Whitworth, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 10 Sept. - Quote: "Disc fragmentation has been proposed as a possible mechanism for the formation of giant planets at close distances to solar-type stars... We use a newly developed method to treat the energy equation and equation of state, which accounts for radiative transfer effects in SPH simulations of protostellar discs. The different chemical and internal states of hydrogen and the properties of dust at different densities and temperatures (ice coated dust grains at low temperatures, ice melting, dust sublimation) are all taken into account... Conclusions: Disc fragmentation is unlikely to be able to produce giant planets around solar-type stars at radii < 50 AU." {permalink}
- "Spitzer-MIPS survey of the young stellar content in the Vela Molecular Cloud-D" by Giannini, T. with D. Lorenzetti, M. De Luca & 8 others, abstract & PDF at arXiv.org 10 Sept. - Quote: "849 sources are detected at 24mu and 52 of them also have a 70mu counterpart... About 400 sources have a 2MASS counterpart... The MIPS images have identified embedded cool objects in most of the previously identified starless cores; in addition, there are 6 very young, possibly Class 0 objects identified." {permalink}
NEOCP Activity on 10 September '07
The MPC's NEO Confirmation Page has 13 listings: 13 new
When last checked at 2048 UTC today, the Minor Planet Center's NEO discovery Confirmation Page (NEOCP) had thirteen new listings. All of these were "one nighters." So far Major News has counted a total of 20 objects listed on the NEOCP at some point today.
To learn how observers use the NEOCP, see the Practical guide on how to observe NEOCP object by Birtwhistle et al. at Suno Observatory.
New MPECs on 10 September '07
Minor Planet Electronic Circulars
As of last check at 2048 UTC, there have been five MPECs issued today from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- MPEC 2007-R37 time-stamped "06:06 UT" - Daily Orbit Update - see below
- MPEC 2007-R38 time-stamped "16:14 UT" - 2007 RX8 - see below
- MPEC 2007-R39 time-stamped "16:18 UT" - 2007 RY8 - see below
- MPEC 2007-R40 time-stamped "16:21 UT" - 2007 RZ8 - see below
- MPEC 2007-R41 time-stamped "16:25 UT" - 2007 RA9
MPEC 2007-R41 - "16:25 UT" - 2007 RA9
- K07R09A 2007 RA9 (risk-listed, H=19.7 ~389m) was discovered at 1701 UT 09 Sept. by the Siding Spring Survey (SSS), which observed it at Sept. 9.71-79p19. The discovery was confirmed by CEAMIG-REA (Sept. 10.29-30p3).
MPEC 2007-R40 - "16:21 UT" - 2007 RZ8
- K07R08Z 2007 RZ8 (small asteroid, H=24.0 ~54m) was discovered at 0942 UT 09 Sept. by the Spacewatch 0.9m telescope, which observed it at Sept. 9.40-44p3. The discovery was confirmed by the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope (Sept. 9.50-51p3 & 10.23-24p3), Jim Young via Table Mtn. Obs. (Sept. 10.28-30p4), and Sabino Canyon Obs. (Sept. 10.43-44p3).
MPEC 2007-R39 - "16:18 UT" - 2007 RY8
- K07R08Y 2007 RY8 (small asteroid, Earth MOID=5.7 LD, H=25.2 ~31m) was discovered at 0657 UT 09 Sept. by the Mt. Lemmon Survey (MLS), which observed it at Sept. 9.29p3, 9.38p4, and 10.32p3.
MPEC 2007-R38 - "16:14 UT" - 2007 RX8
- K07R08X 2007 RX8 (small asteroid, Earth MOID=8.5 LD, H=24.5 ~43m) was discovered at 1102 UT 08 Sept. by MLS, which observed it at Sept. 8.46-49p8 and 9.32p4. The discovery was confirmed by Young/Table Mtn. (Sept. 10.42-43p4).
<< DOU on 10 Sept. '07 >> MPEC 2007-R37 - "06:06 UT" - Daily Orbit Update
- Observations of risk-listed objects
- K07R02F 2007 RF2 (arc=4 days, H=20.5 ~269m) from Frasso Sabino Obs. (Sept. 9.03p2)
- K07R01E 2007 RE1 (almost small, Q=4.286 AU, arc=8 days, H=22.0 ~135m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (Sept. 9.19-20p3 & 10.17-18p3)
- Observations of previously risk-listed objects
- K07R01J 2007 RJ1 (small asteroid, arc=6 days, H=25.1 ~32m) from Santa Mama Obs. (Sept. 8.95-97p7)
- K07P27V 2007 PV27 (arc=27 days, H=20.3 ~295m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (Sept. 10.11-12p3)
- K07P06F 2007 PF6 (arc=32 days, H=20.7 ~245m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (Sept. 9.14-15p3)
- Observations of small asteroids (H>22.0)
- K07R02G 2007 RG2 (arc=3 days, H=23.8 ~59m) from Schiaparelli Obs. (Sept. 8.16p2)
- K07R02E 2007 RE2 (arc=4 days, H=22.8 ~93m) from Schiaparelli Obs. (Sept. 8.08-09p3) and Shenton Park Obs. (Sept. 9.76p3)
- K07P09Q 2007 PQ9 (arc=29 days, H=22.1 ~129m) from SSS (Sept. 9.69-71p4)
- Observations of other objects
- K07R05F 2007 RF5 (arc=4 days, H=18.6 ~645m) from Shenton Park Obs. (Sept. 9.84-85p2)
- K07Q03E 2007 QE3 (Q=4.057 AU, arc=18 days, H=19.9 ~355m) from Lumezzane Obs. (Sept. 9.08-09p4)
- K07Q02K 2007 QK2 (arc=18 days, H=20.6 ~257m) from Frasso Sabino Obs. (Sept. 8.86p2) and Santa Mama Obs. (Sept. 8.91-93p6)
- K07Q02A 2007 QA2 (arc=23 days, H=20.7 ~245m) from Stia Obs. (Sept. 8.79-80p3)
- K07P11U 2007 PU11 (Q=4.384 AU, arc=3 opp, H=16.3 ~1.86 km) from Frasso Sabino Obs. (Sept. 9.02p6) and Lumezzane Obs. (Sept. 9.06p4)
- K07P09R 2007 PR9 (arc=29 days, H=20.6 ~257m) from SSS (Sept. 9.60-62p4)
- K07P09P 2007 PP9 (arc=29 days, H=21.3 ~186m) from Stia Obs. (Sept. 8.89-91p4)
- K07P08E 2007 PE8 (arc=117 days, H=19.4 ~446m) from New Millennium Obs. (Sept. 7.85p2), Stia Obs. (Sept. 8.77-78p3), and Lumezzane Obs. (Sept. 8.97p4)
- K07P08B 2007 PB8 (arc=2 opp, H=20.9 ~224m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (Sept. 10.12-13p2)
- K07O00V 2007 OV (arc=54 days, H=19.1 ~513m) from Stia Obs. (Sept. 8.91-92p5) and Lumezzane Obs. (Sept. 9.04p4)
- K07L32R 2007 LR32 (arc=107 days, H=17.2 ~1.23 km) from New Millennium Obs. (Sept. 7.87-93p6) and Frasso Sabino Obs. (Sept. 8.95p4)
- K06W01W 2006 WW1 (arc=3 opp, H=19.2 ~490m) from Schiaparelli Obs. (Sept. 8.96-97p2)
- K06F00X 2006 FX (arc=2 opp, H=20.0 ~339m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (Sept. 9.49p3)
- K04X35J 2004 XJ35 (arc=2 opp, H=20.3 ~295m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (Sept. 9.41-42p3)
- K04U00L 2004 UL (q=0.093 AU, arc=3 opp, H=18.8 ~589m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (Sept. 9.43-44p3)
- K03O14R 2003 OR14 (arc=4 opp, H=16.4 ~1.78 km) from Santa Mama Obs. (Sept. 8.88-91p9)
- K03A23E 2003 AE23 (arc=2 opp, H=18.2 ~776m) from Spacewatch 1.8m (Sept. 9.39-40p3)
- K02N04N 2002 NN4 (arc=4 opp, H=20.0 ~339m) from New Millennium Obs. (Sept. 7.89p2)
- K01Q34C 2001 QC34 (arc=2 opp, H=20.0 ~339m) from Lumezzane Obs. (Sept. 8.99-00p4)
- K00Q07T 2000 QT7 (arc=2 opp, H=20.0 ~339m) from Lumezzane Obs. (Sept. 9.07-08p4)
- J98S15D 1998 SD15 (arc=4 opp, H=18.9 ~562m) from Frasso Sabino Obs. (Sept. 8.83p2)
- A5140 105140 2000 NL10 from Santa Mama Obs. (Sept. 8.84-87p8)
- A0756 100756 1998 FM5 from Lumezzane Obs. (Sept. 9.02-03p2)
- 85275 85275 1994 LY from SSS (Sept. 9.43-45p4)
- 66959 66959 1999 XO35 from SSS (Sept. 9.43-45p3)
- 42286 42286 2001 TN41 from SSS (Sept. 9.43-45p3)
- 21277 21277 1996 TO5 from Lumezzane Obs. (Sept. 8.89-90p4)
- 16636 16636 1993 QP from New Millennium Obs. (Sept. 7.84-91p11) and Schiaparelli Obs. (Sept. 9.84-85p2)
- 05496 5496 1973 NA from SSS (Sept. 9.40-42p4)
- 04953 4953 1990 MU from SSS (Sept. 9.57-59p4)
Observers on 10 September '07
Fourteen observing facilities appear in today's MPECs.
| Code | Observer / observatory |
|---|---|
| I77 | CEAMIG-REA in Brazil, 1 in MPEC 2007-R41 -- 2007 RA9 |
| 157 | Frasso Sabino Obs. in Italy, 5 in MPEC 2007-R37 -- 2007 RF2, 2007 QK2, 2007 PU11, 2007 LR32, 1998 SD15 |
| 130 | Lumezzane Obs. in Italy, 8 in MPEC 2007-R37 -- 2007 QE3, 2007 PU11, 2007 PE8, 2007 OV, 2001 QC34, 2000 QT7, 21277, 100756 |
| G96 | Mt. Lemmon Survey in Arizona, 2 in MPECs 2007-R38 & 2007-R39 -- 2007 RY8, 2007 RX8 |
| A24 | New Millennium Obs. in Italy, 4 in MPEC 2007-R37 -- 2007 PE8, 2007 LR32, 2002 NN4, 16636 |
| 854 | Sabino Canyon Obs. in Arizona, 1 in MPEC 2007-R40 -- 2007 RZ8 |
| B38 | Santa Mama Obs. in Italy, 4 in MPEC 2007-R37 -- 2007 RJ1, 2007 QK2, 2003 OR14, 105140 |
| 204 | Schiaparelli Obs. in Italy, 4 in MPEC 2007-R37 -- 2007 RG2, 2007 RE2, 2006 WW1, 16636 |
| D21 | Shenton Park Obs. in Western Australia, 2 in MPEC 2007-R37 -- 2007 RF5, 2007 RE2 |
| E12 | Siding Spring Survey in New South Wales, 8 in MPECs 2007-R37 & 2007-R41 -- 2007 RA9, 2007 PR9, 2007 PQ9, 85275, 66959, 42286, 5496, 4953 |
| 691 | Spacewatch 0.9m telescope in Arizona, 1 in MPEC 2007-R40 -- 2007 RZ8 |
| 291 | Spacewatch 1.8m telescope in Arizona, 9 in MPECs 2007-R37 & 2007-R40 -- 2007 RZ8, 2007 RE1, 2007 PV27, 2007 PF6, 2007 PB8, 2006 FX, 2004 XJ35, 2004 UL, 2003 AE23 |
| A78 | Stia Obs. in Italy, 4 in MPEC 2007-R37 -- 2007 QA2, 2007 PP9, 2007 PE8, 2007 OV |
| 6735 | Jim Young via Table Mtn. Obs. in southern California, 2 in MPECs 2007-R38 & 2007-R40 -- 2007 RZ8, 2007 RX8 |
Impact Risk Monitoring on 10 September '07
| 0000NNN000 Object | Risk Monitor | When Noted UTC | 0000T0000 Year Range | VI # | 000NN00 Prob Cum | T0000 PS Cum | T0000 PS Max | T S | Notes for Today's Latest Risk Assessments |
| 2007 RF2 | JPL | 1410 | 2103-2107 | 4 | 2.3e-09 | -6.52 | -6.82 | 0 | JPL: "Analysis based on 29 observations spanning 3.6192 days (2007-Sep-05.41331 to 2007-Sep-09.03248)." Diameter approximately 0.273 km. from mean, weighted H=20.5. |
| 2007 RE1 | JPL | 1410 | R E M O V E D | JPL: Risk listing removed at 1000 UTC. | |||||
| NEODyS | 1409 | R E M O V E D | |||||||
| 2007 RA9 | JPL | 1905 | 2018-2096 | 3 | 7.4e-10 | -6.26 | -6.47 | 0 | JPL: "Analysis based on 22 observations spanning .59512 days (2007-Sep-09.70952 to 2007-Sep-10.30464)." Diameter approximately 0.443 km. from mean, weighted H=19.4. |
Legend: VI# = VI count, Prob Cum = cumulative probability, PS Cum/Max = cumulative/maximum Palermo Scale, TS = Torino Scale
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 this.
Chronology on 10 September '07
Times are UTC for when the items were noted or added by Major News.
| 2028 | Added A/CC news report, "Bits & pieces" |
| 1906 | Added link to news story, "AGU journal highlights -- Sept. 6, 2007" - see above |
| 1905 | Noted that JPL has posted 2007 RA9 as an impact risk - see above |
| 1650 | Grabbed MPEC 2007-R41 - 2007 RA9 - see above |
| 1622 | Grabbed MPEC 2007-R38 - 2007 RX8 - see above Grabbed MPEC 2007-R39 - 2007 RY8 - see above Grabbed MPEC 2007-R40 - 2007 RZ8 - see above |
| 1500 | Added MOS paper, "Can giant planets form by gravitational fragmentation of discs?" - see above Added MOS paper, "Characterization of the near-Earth Asteroid 2002 NY40" - see above Added MOS paper, "Spitzer-MIPS survey of the young stellar content in the Vela Molecular Cloud-D" - see above |
| 1456 | Grabbed MPEC 2007-R37 - Daily Orbit Update - see above |
| 1410 | Noted that JPL has removed 2007 RE1 as an impact risk - see above Noted that JPL has updated its 2007 RF2 risk assessment - see above |
| 1409 | Noted that NEODyS has removed 2007 RE1 as an impact risk - see above |
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