Measuring some asteroids

[lukebl]

I captured this nice trio of Asteroids last night, close together in Pisces.

Asteroids (493) Griseldis (mag. 14.2) and 2119 Schwall (mag. 16) were just 45" apart at 17:27. Here they are a couple of hours after their closest approach, along with another one (8178) 1992 DQ10 (mag 16.8).

Despite their visual proximity, Griseldis was 1.67 au distant, whilst Schwall was 1.21 and DQ10 was 1.09.

Here's an animation of all three over a period of about two hours. 2 minute exposures, Atix428ex, 250mm f/4.8 Newtonian.

I ran the images through an photometric program called Muniwin to see if they had a measurable magnitude range to indicate their rotation. Griseldis and DQ10 didn't show a significant range, but Schwall showed a distinct curve with a range of about 0.2 magnitudes over a period of 2 hours, suggesting a rotation period of about 4 hours.

Here's a different animation, this time centred on Griseldis, so that it appears stationary. It hurts my eyes a bit! But it nicely shows the relative dynamics of the three objects.

[Demonperformer]

Nicely captured, Luke.

I too prefer the first animation. The fact that everything (bar one object) is moving in the latter one makes it difficult (IMO) to make sense of what is actually going on. Great rotation data.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice captures!

[domstar]

That is just amazing.

[MarsG76]

This is soo awesome.. nicely done.

[michael8554]

Hi Luke

Please describe your method for locating these beasties.

Michael

[lukebl]

Thanks for the comments, all.

11 hours ago, michael8554 said:

Hi Luke

Please describe your method for locating these beasties.

Michael

The full database which you can download for use in planetarium apps (I use Carte du Ciel) has around 700,000 asteroids! 

To look out for interesting close approaches between asteroids and other asteroids or DSOs, I check this site which list upcoming events:

Minor Planet Info

 

 

[RichLD]

Brilliant!

[WaveSoarer]

That's excellent work.

[don4l]

Well done!

[Paul M]

Stunning result. I just keep watching it over and over! 

[davew]

Outstanding !

That is proper photography !

Dave.