Asteroid finder chart

[Phil Fargaze]

I have been wondering how to produce accurate finder charts for asteroids for a given time and date. My redshift seems to not be all that accurate, I tried Cartes which seemed to be more accurate. The star charts on Calsky seem a little bit hard to read but it is good for RA and Dec coordinates. Anyone got any better solutions?

[Telrad]

Hi Phil, you could try this link? Minor Planet & Comet Ephemeris Service

[lukebl]

I find Carte du Ciel by far the best resource. If you select the database in the 'Internet>Orbital elements' you can get the latest and biggest catalogs, with asteroids boyond the reach even of my CCD. Alternatively, I get co-ordinates from here: HORIZONS Web-Interface

[Phil Fargaze]

Thanks for the links guys, they should keep me updated just fine. I do have the orbital elements in Carte. I am still getting used to using it. I noticed that I didn`t have many stars showing in the close up field of view so I think I might need to enable a star catalogue or something like that.

[Phil Fargaze]

I really can`t get on with Cartes at the moment. It doesn`t appear to have updated the asteroid orbits and I need more stars!

The trouble is I am used to using Redshift.

However, I cannot activate my latest installation of Redshift 6 probably because of installing it earlier on other computers (which means I can`t update orbits).

I took a look at Redshift 5 and I managed to update the orbits of a couple of asteroids I was interested in.

NOW, all of a sudden, the Redshift web site is not working.

Maybe they are updating the web site.

I will have another try at getting used to Cartes.

Once I get over this little problem I can get stuck into some decent asteroid chasing.

[Phil Fargaze]

Things are half better at least. The Redshift web site is back online.

[Grunthos]

I really can`t get on with Cartes at the moment.

One can also access asteroid (and comet) ephemeris on Stellarium.

- Configuration window [F2]

- Plug In tab

- select solar system editor

- press configure button

- select solar system tab

- press "import orbital elements..."

- choose asteroids or comets

- choose a source from dropdown list

- press "Get orbital elements" button

[Phil Fargaze]

Thanks Grunthos, I might give Stellarium a go as well.

[Mr Q]

Phil go to this site for the charts you need, click on the asteroid you wanthttp://www.heavens-above.com/

Phil - Go to this link for a sample finder chart: Minor Planet 4 Vesta

[Dave]

Try this free planetarium program C2A.

C2A - Planetarium Software

You can update all the comets and asteroids and show their path across a star map with the field of your choosing.

Dave

[Phil Fargaze]

Hi MrQ, thanks yes I do use Heavens Above which is great for the asteroids that they list but sometimes there might be an asteroid that is not available on there.

Yes thanks Eagleseye I must get round to trying out C2A as well.

[Mr Q]

Phil - There are many more asteroids available to observe than those listed on Heavens Above but they are fainter than 10th mag. and from what I have seen in UK posts, the skies in most areas are not dark enough to allow observation with even very large scopes (12"+) for such faint objects.

If you are in a dark sky location, I'm sure there are some web sites with listings of these fainter asteroids.

[Phil Fargaze]

Phil - There are many more asteroids available to observe than those listed on Heavens Above but they are fainter than 10th mag. and from what I have seen in UK posts, the skies in most areas are not dark enough to allow observation with even very large scopes (12"+) for such faint objects.

If you are in a dark sky location, I'm sure there are some web sites with listings of these fainter asteroids.

Yes, something very much to keep in mind, now you mention it.

My skies are not very dark because of me being located in a London suburb.