Photometric observations of the main-belt asteroid 665 Sabine and Minor Planet Bulletin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Sioulas

<p><strong>Photometric observations of the main-belt asteroid 665 Sabine and Minor Planet Bulletin</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Nick Sioulas</p> <p>NOAK Observatory, Stavraki (IAU code L02) Ioannina, Greece ([email protected])</p> <p><strong>Introduction</strong></p> <p>In this work, the photometric observations of the main-belt asteroid 665 Sabine were conducted from the NOAK Observatory, in Greece in order to determine its synodic rotation period. The results were submitted to Asteroid Lightcurve Photometry Database (ALCDEF) and Minor Planet Bulletin.</p> <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p> <p>The Minor Planet Bulletin is the official publication of the Minor Planets Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO). All amateurs and professionals can publish their asteroid photometry results, including lightcurves, H-G parameters, color indexes, and shape/spin axis models. It is also the refereed journal by the SAO/NASA ADS. All MPB papers are indexed in the ADS.</p> <p> </p> <p>The lightcurve of an asteroid can be used to determine the period, the shape and its size. We can also understand its composition (if it is a solid body or something else) and the orientation of the spin axes. Due to the high number of the asteroids the need of measuring them is important and all available telescopes are necessary to track them.</p> <p> </p> <p>My amateur observatory participates in the effort to record all these objects in the Solar System. It also conducts observations of various objects and other phenomena such as exoplanet transits, contributing to the Ariel Space Mission with the Exoclock Project, asteroid occultations and comet photometry.</p> <p>The observatory is registered in IAU as L02, «NOAK Observatory, Stavraki», in the town of Ioannina, Greece.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p>[1] Roger Dymock: Asteroids and Dwarf Planets</p> <p>[2] Brian D. Warner: A Practical Guide to Lightcurve Photometry and Analysis</p> <p>[3] http://alcdef.org/index.php</p> <p>[4] http://www.minorplanet.info/MPB/</p>

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Sioulas

<p>NOAK Observatory, Stavraki (IAU code L02) Ioannina, Greece ([email protected])</p> <p><strong>Introduction</strong></p> <p>In this work, the astrometric observations of four asteroids will be presented which took place on 2019 from NOAK observatory located at Stavraki in Greece. The results and the procedure of submitting the measurements to MinorPlanetCenter will be discussed.</p> <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p> <p>Astrometry is the measurement of positions, parallaxes and proper motion of an astronomical body. Especially the astrometry of Near Earth Objects (NEO) demands great accuracy and the cooperation between the professional and amateur astronomers for better results. All these objects that need confirmation are listed in the Near Earth Object Confirmation Page (NEOCP) and in the Possible Comet Confirmation Page (PCCP) at the site of the Minor Planet Center (MPC). When an object is confirmed, then a Minor Planet Electronic Circular (MPES) is published, including observations, the observers details and the orbital elements of the object. Due to the high number of the objects that need confirmation is important to use all available telescopes to track them.</p> <p>My amateur observatory participates in the effort to record all these objects in the Solar System. The Observatory also conducts observations of various objects and other phenomena such as exoplanet transits contributing to the Ariel Space Mission with the Exoclock Project. However, the main goal of the observatory is to conduct asteroid and comet photometry and the methods, observations and results will be discussed in this presentation.</p> <p>The observatory is registered in IAU as L02, «NOAK Observatory, Stavraki», in the town of Ioannina, Greece.</p> <p><strong>Acknowledgements</strong></p> <p>I would like to thank Anastasia Kokori and Angelos Tsiaras for encouraging me to publish my work and for their advice. </p> <p><strong>References </strong></p> <p>[1] Minor Planet Center: https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/</p> <p>[2] Astrometrica: http://www.astrometrica.at/</p> <p>[3] Roger Dymock: Asteroids and Dwarf Planets</p> <p>[4] Brian D. Warner: A Practical Guide to Lightcurve Photometry and Analysis</p> <p>[5] Project Pluto: https://www.projectpluto.com/</p> <p>[6] NEODyS-2: https://newton.spacedys.com/</p> <p>[7] Center for Near Earth Objects Studies: https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/</p>


1999 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 189-192
Author(s):  
J. Tichá ◽  
M. Tichý ◽  
Z. Moravec

AbstractA long-term photographic search programme for minor planets was begun at the Kleť Observatory at the end of seventies using a 0.63-m Maksutov telescope, but with insufficient respect for long-arc follow-up astrometry. More than two thousand provisional designations were given to new Kleť discoveries. Since 1993 targeted follow-up astrometry of Kleť candidates has been performed with a 0.57-m reflector equipped with a CCD camera, and reliable orbits for many previous Kleť discoveries have been determined. The photographic programme results in more than 350 numbered minor planets credited to Kleť, one of the world's most prolific discovery sites. Nearly 50 per cent of them were numbered as a consequence of CCD follow-up observations since 1994.This brief summary describes the results of this Kleť photographic minor planet survey between 1977 and 1996. The majority of the Kleť photographic discoveries are main belt asteroids, but two Amor type asteroids and one Trojan have been found.


2019 ◽  
Vol 630 ◽  
pp. A68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Li ◽  
Zhihong Jeff Xia ◽  
Liyong Zhou

Aims. We aim to determine the relative angle between the total angular momentum of the minor planets and that of the Sun-planets system, and to improve the orientation of the invariable plane of the solar system. Methods. By utilizing physical parameters available in public domain archives, we assigned reasonable masses to 718 041 minor planets throughout the solar system, including near-Earth objects, main belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans, trans-Neptunian objects, scattered-disk objects, and centaurs. Then we combined the orbital data to calibrate the angular momenta of these small bodies, and evaluated the specific contribution of the massive dwarf planets. The effects of uncertainties on the mass determination and the observational incompleteness were also estimated. Results. We determine the total angular momentum of the known minor planets to be 1.7817 × 1046 g cm2 s−1. The relative angle α between this vector and the total angular momentum of the Sun-planets system is calculated to be about 14.74°. By excluding the dwarf planets Eris, Pluto, and Haumea, which have peculiar angular momentum directions, the angle α drops sharply to 1.76°; a similar result applies to each individual minor planet group (e.g., trans-Neptunian objects). This suggests that, without these three most massive bodies, the plane perpendicular to the total angular momentum of the minor planets would be close to the invariable plane of the solar system. On the other hand, the inclusion of Eris, Haumea, and Makemake can produce a difference of 1254 mas in the inclination of the invariable plane, which is much larger than the difference of 9 mas induced by Ceres, Vesta, and Pallas as found previously. By taking into account the angular momentum contributions from all minor planets, including the unseen ones, the orientation improvement of the invariable plane is larger than 1000 mas in inclination with a 1σ error of ∼50−140 mas.


1979 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-144
Author(s):  
B. G. Marsden

The past triennium has been noteworthy for several significant discoveries in the outer part of the solar system. The discovery of the rings of Uranus was inspired by the activities of Commission 20’s new Working Group on Occultations. Although the discovery of a probable Plutonian satellite has not yet been completely confirmed, the implication that Pluto’s mass is only 0.002 earth masses may make it desirable to consider whether Pluto should be relegated to minor-planet status. The orbit of Pluto is in fact not greatly dissimilar to that of the object classified as the new minor planet (2060) Chiron, which was found to have its aphelion near the orbit of Uranus and its perihelion just inside the orbit of Saturn.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordana Apostolovska ◽  
Elena Vchkova Bebekovska ◽  
Galin Borisov ◽  
Andon Kostov ◽  
Zahary Donchev

<p>Our work aims to demonstrate how the use of our dense lightcurves in combination with sparse data from diverse sources will affect the results for obtaining the sidereal period, shape models, and ecliptic pole solution for a chosen asteroid.</p> <p>Photometric observations of minor planets are traditional at the Bulgarian National Astronomical observatory (BNAO) Rozhen. They started with photoelectric observations in 1991, and later have been continued as CCD photometric observations on all three telescopes: 2m Ritchey-Chretién-Coudé, 50cm/70cm, and 60cm Cassegrain. We hope that the new 1.5 m robotic telescope planned to be operational next year will be also partly devoted to the study of minor planets.</p> <p>Our target, 339 Dorothea, is a main-belt asteroid, a large member of the Eos dynamical family. For the last 8 years, between 2013 and 2021, the asteroid 339 Dorothea was observed at BNAO Rozhen during six apparitions and several dense lightcurve were obtained. We used these dense photometric data in lightcurve inversion method and reconstruct the model of the asteroid, determining its sidereal period, shape, and pole orientation. Afterward, using sparse data from the AstDys database with an accuracy of 0.01 mag in combination with the obtained dense data, new trials for calculating and improving the physical characteristics of the asteroid 339 Dorothea were made.</p> <p>Unlike very low photometric accuracy in ground-based sparse photometry, space missions have provided astronomers with sparse photometry with extremely high accuracy, for example, the ESA GAIA mission. The NEOWISE mission has observations only for a limited number of asteroids. Fortunately, we were able to find some sparse data for our target and use this accurate photometry in combination with our dense lightcurves for the reconstruction of the asteroid spin state and shape model.</p> <p>Due to bad weather conditions and limited allocation of observing time at the BNAO Rozhen dedicated to our project, we have at our disposal full and partial dense lightcurves obtained for several more asteroids in few different apparitions. Combining these dense data with ground-based or space mission sparse data will contribute to enlarging the database of asteroids with known physical characteristics. Enriching the number of asteroids with known physical parameters would provide more data for future statistical analysis and could help in answering the questions for the evolution of our Solar System. </p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyula Szabo ◽  
Csaba Kiss ◽  
Róbert Szakáts ◽  
András Pál ◽  
László Molnár ◽  
...  

<p>We identified 125 individual light curves of Hilda asteroids observed by the K2 mission. We found that despite of the mixed taxonomies, the Hilda group highly resembles the Trojans in the distribution of rotation periods and amplitudes, and even the LR group (mostly C- and X-type) Hildas follow this rule. Contrary to the Main Belt, the Hilda group lacks the very fast rotators. The ratio of extremely slow rotators (P > 100 hr) is a surprising 18%, which is unique in the solar system. The occurrence rate of asteroids with multiple periods (4%) and asteroids with three maxima in the light curves (5%) can be signs of a high rate of binarity, which we can estimate as 25% within the Hilda group. </p> <p>Based on our extraction of 10 thousand full asteroid light curves from the first year observations by TESS (P\'al et al. 2020) we can compare the distribution of rotation period and shape asphericity in the most populated asteroid families overall in the Main Belt. We reveal internal structure of some asteroid families in respect to rotation statistics and signs of rotation properties evolving with age.</p>


2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (S236) ◽  
pp. 377-380
Author(s):  
K. Černis ◽  
J. Zdanavičius ◽  
K. Zdanavičius ◽  
G. Tautvaišienė

AbstractWe describe an observational project devoted to astrometric observations of Near-Earth Objects (NEO), main belt asteroids and comets at the Molėtai Observatory, Lithuania. Exposures are obtained with the two telescopes of the observatory: 0.35/0.50 m f/3.5 Maksutov telescope and the 1.65 m reflector with focal reductor f/3.1 and CCD camera. The results of more than 10,000 positions of asteroids and comets have been published in the Minor Planet Circulars and Minor Planet Electronic Circulars. During the 2001–2006 period 130 new asteroids were discovered. The latest discovery is the high-inclination asteroid 2006 SF77 belonging to the NEO Aten group.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (T29A) ◽  
pp. 316-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique Bockelée-Morvan ◽  
Ricardo Gil-Hutton ◽  
Daniel Hestroffer ◽  
Irina N. Belskaya ◽  
Björn J. R. Davidsson ◽  
...  

AbstractCommission 15 of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), entitled Physical Study of Comets and Minor Planets, was founded in 1935 and dissolved in 2015, following the reorganization of IAU. In 80 years of Commission 15, tremendous progress has been made on the knowledge of these objets, thanks to the combined efforts of ground- and space-based observations, space mission rendezvous and flybys, laboratory simulation and analyses of returned samples, and theoretical and numerical modeling. Together with dynamical studies of the Solar System, this discipline has provided a much deeper understanding of how the Solar System formed and evolved. We present a legacy report of Commission 15, which highlights key milestones in the exploration and knowledge of the small bodies of the Solar System.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (T29A) ◽  
pp. 340-364
Author(s):  
Steve Chesley ◽  
Daniela Lazzaro ◽  
Andrea Milani ◽  
Yoshikawa Makoto ◽  
Shinsuke Abe ◽  
...  

This triennium has seen progress in a number of directions related to Commission 20 objectives. Foremost, the growth in the number of astrometric observations of small solar system bodies continues to accelerate and the total number of measurements recorded by the Minor Planet Center now exceeds 135 million. Currently the Pan-STARRS project and the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) dominate detection and discovery efforts, while the NEO-WISE space mission contributes infrared detections valuable for understanding the size distribution of populations. Looking forward, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is now funded and in construction on Cerro Pachon in Chile. LSST has the potential to revolutionize the field by conducting a multi-color, ten-year, all-sky survey with a limiting magnitude ~24.5 in the r-band. Survey operations are set to begin in 2022.


1999 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 185-188
Author(s):  
Gy. Szabó ◽  
K. Sárneczky ◽  
L.L. Kiss

AbstractA widely used tool in studying quasi-monoperiodic processes is the O–C diagram. This paper deals with the application of this diagram in minor planet studies. The main difference between our approach and the classical O–C diagram is that we transform the epoch (=time) dependence into the geocentric longitude domain. We outline a rotation modelling using this modified O–C and illustrate the abilities with detailed error analysis. The primary assumption, that the monotonity and the shape of this diagram is (almost) independent of the geometry of the asteroids is discussed and tested. The monotonity enables an unambiguous distinction between the prograde and retrograde rotation, thus the four-fold (or in some cases the two-fold) ambiguities can be avoided. This turned out to be the main advantage of the O–C examination. As an extension to the theoretical work, we present some preliminary results on 1727 Mette based on new CCD observations.


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