A couple of Kuiper belt objects!

[lukebl]

Hi all.

I've got a thing about interesting asteroids. Here's a couple of images from this evening which don't look much, but it's what they show which gets me. I last captured these babies a couple of years ago. They show two trans-Neptunian asteroids, the Kuiper-belt objects Makemake and Haumea, which helped nail the coffin on Pluto's status as a planet, and the discovery of which was announced in 2005. They're the 3rd and 4th largest Kuiper-belt objects, after Pluto and Eris. Still only around 17th magnitude, though. The ludicrously overexposed star on the Haumea image is 2.7 magnitude Eta Bootes.

Not much, but I love them!

[foundaplanet]

Grand stuff. I always enjoy your solar system posts..

[Astrokev]

Great captures.

[astroeddie]

Nuf said ....

[WaveSoarer]

That's superb.

[Crimson Sunset]

Amazing

[Sp@ce_d]

Nice one.. There's something about capturing the really feint stuff.. and knowing their place in history must have given you quite a buzz.

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

Although they're just dots among other dots, these pictures give a strange presence to these objects. Its almost like the sort of thing you see in a horror movie - a normal family photo with everyone smiling, but then you spot the ghostly figure in the background.

Stars are out there doing their thing, raging away spreading light etc, whilst these things coast around serenely, all lonely in the dark...

[Stargazer Jack]

Like you said, it might not look like much but if you know what it is then it is amazing. Great capture

[Dave]

Great stuff.

[Bukko]

Impressive, Luke,

I thought I might stand a chance to pick up Pluto, if it was well placed, but none of the other Kuiper Belt objects..

I have such mixed feelings about them - impressed they are accessible to us amateurs, but torn because of their part in demoting Pluto..

If we get another clear night, I shall have to have a look...

Now getting worried chasing bolders might cost me a small fortune...

Gordon.

[lukebl]

Cheers, guys. Chasing boulders is fun. Pluto's seriously tricky visually, being in a very rich star field for at least the next few decades amongst a whole mass of stars of similar magnitude, and at a low altitude in the UK. I've attempted it a few times without success with my 10" (unsurprisingly), but here's a capture from July last year.

[Ibbo!]

very unusual captures

well done

Steve