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The NASA Dawn mission is on its way to the Main Belt, successfully launched this morning at 7:34am EDT (1134 UTC) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Spaceflight Now reports that the last stage separation occurred at 1235 UTC, completing the launch sequence. Credit: NASA/George Shelton.

Contents  on 27 September '07

• IAU Minor Planet Center
  • NEOCP Activity -- seven listings: 1 new, 6 updated
  • New MPECs -- two MPECs
  • Observers -- eight observing facilities
• Impact Risk Monitoring -- one object reported
• Chronology

Resources:

• Consolidated Risk Tables - CRT page
• Ephemerides for risk-rated objects

Notes: Due to travel, these pages will update irregularly for the rest of the month.
Until September 16th this daily news page, which had included links to news and science papers as well as some occasional original reporting, was called Major News About Minor Objects. Without the news-link and science-link sections, this page was renamed as The Tracking News to more accurately reflect its continuing purpose.

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.

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NEOCP Activity  on 27 September '07

The MPC's NEO Confirmation Page has 7 listings: 1 new, 6 updated

When last checked at 2358 UTC today, the Minor Planet Center's NEO discovery Confirmation Page (NEOCP) had one new and six updated listings. Of these, three were "one nighters." So far Tracking News has counted a total of ten 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.

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New MPECs  on 27 September '07

Minor Planet Electronic Circulars

As of last check at 2358 UTC, there have been two MPECs issued today from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• MPEC 2007-S59 time-stamped "06:10 UT" - Daily Orbit Update - see below
• MPEC 2007-S60 time-stamped "19:20 UT" - 2007 SP11

MPEC 2007-S60 - "19:20 UT" - 2007 SP11

• K07S11P   2007 SP11 (risk-listed, H=18.8 ~589m) was discovered at 1108 UT 25 Sept. by the Mt. Lemmon Survey (MLS), which observed it at Sept. 25.46-48p4, 26.47-48p4, and 27.48-49p4.

<< DOU on 27 Sept. '07 >>  MPEC 2007-S59 - "06:10 UT" - Daily Orbit Update

• Observations of recently (no longer) risk-listed objects
• K07RE6T   2007 RT146 (arc=9 days, H=18.3 ~741m) from Astronomical Research Obs. (ARO) (Sept. 24.34p2)
• K07RD3Q   2007 RQ133 (Q=4.606 AU, arc=9 days, H=18.4 ~708m) from ARO (Sept. 24.30-31p3)
• Observations of small asteroids (H>22.0)
• K07S11G   2007 SG11 (arc=2 days, H=22.8 ~93m) from Jim Young via Table Mtn. Obs. (Sept. 26.26-28p4)
• K07S01V   2007 SV1 (arc=7 days, H=24.7 ~39m) from Great Shefford Obs. (Sept. 26.95-96p3)
• K07S01U   2007 SU1 (arc=8 days, H=25.5 ~27m) from Young/Table Mtn. (Sept. 26.38-39p4) and Great Shefford Obs. (Sept. 26.97-98p3)
• K07R17R   2007 RR17 (arc=13 days, H=23.6 ~65m) from ARO (Sept. 24.32-33p3) and Young/Table Mtn. (Sept. 26.40-41p4)
• K07R08Z   2007 RZ8 (arc=15 days, H=23.8 ~59m) from ARO (Sept. 24.23-24p2)
• K07R02G   2007 RG2 (arc=19 days, H=23.8 ~59m) from ARO (Sept. 24.40-41p3)
• Observations of other objects
• K07S02W   2007 SW2 (arc=6 days, H=21.3 ~186m) from ARO (Sept. 24.25p1) and Young/Table Mtn. (Sept. 26.35-37p4)
• K07S01R   2007 SR1 (arc=6 days, H=19.3 ~467m) from ARO (Sept. 24.28-29p3)
• K07R12R   2007 RR12 (arc=15 days, H=19.8 ~371m) from University Hills Obs. (Sept. 26.39-40p6) and Greiner Research Obs. (Sept. 27.15-16p4)
• K07P11U   2007 PU11 (Q=4.384 AU, arc=3 opp, H=16.3 ~1.86 km) from Camarillo Obs. (Sept. 15.28-29p2) and Greiner Research Obs. (Sept. 27.16-17p10)
• K07P08E   2007 PE8 (arc=129 days, H=19.4 ~446m) from Camarillo Obs. (Sept. 15.19-25p3)
• K07L32R   2007 LR32 (arc=124 days, H=17.2 ~1.23 km) from University Hills Obs. (Sept. 26.17-19p6)
• K05Y36Y   2005 YY36 (arc=2 opp, H=19.5 ~426m) from ARO (Sept. 3.12-17p3 at V=22.9-23.0)
• K04X35K   2004 XK35 (arc=2 opp, H=18.1 ~812m) from the Spacewatch 1.8m telescope (Sept. 24.48p3)
• 89830   89830 2002 CE from MLS (Sept. 26.44-46p4)
• 21277   21277 1996 TO5 from Camarillo Obs. (Sept. 15.18-24p3)

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Observers  on 27 September '07

Eight observing facilities appear in today's MPECs.

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Impact Risk Monitoring  on 27 September '07

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.

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Chronology  on 27 September '07

Times are UTC for when the items were noted or added by Tracking News.