Tracking asteroid through opposition

[chrisrnuttall]

if you track an asteroid through its opposition , and look every few days, you can plot it arc throught the sky as it changes from prograde to retrograde and back again.

Here one i did a while ago, the background sky is an image exported from starry night, and then i added the asteroids position in photoshop each time i saw it.

The first obs is the hardest to confirm, but once you know where to look and how bright your asteroid is, it's really easy to find it again next time, so you can do it in 10 minutes. I want to do another one day, and see if i can plot an S shape or a loop.

It's really enjoyable!

[stefski]

Wow:).....I really like this, Darkersky. I did something similar with Comet Holmes a couple of years ago. If you remember the we had a few consecutive clear nights () so I sketched it's movement through a star field. I want to give this a go though......There was a chap a few months ago that posted some timelapse films of minor planets moving....Now, what was his name:icon_scratch:.....

[ashenlight]

That is amazing chris! Great work!! I hope you don't mind, I am going to move your post, with your image of the comet, into a new thread of its own in the 'Unconventional' Imaging subforum. It really does deserve it's own thread!

The amount of dedication and patience really shines through. Excellent work.

[DarkerSky]

That is well cool Chris !! I never even thought of tracking an asteroid on a large scale like that. If I get enough looks at Vesta this opposition I'll try it out and see what happens. Superb work

[chrisrnuttall]

thanks guys!

I only did one other before this, is was just three obs of vesta a few weeks apart, and that gave me the idead for a bigger one.

I cant see eastwards from my garden at all, its only twenty foot long and the house is tall, but one day i want to do another one from a while before opposition, then i should see two changes of direction on the plot. I suppose i could stand in the front garden, but my neighbours might think i am up to no good peering around with a pair of bino's!