Sky tonight for this month

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

SPACE gets Amateur Astronomy Picture of the Day listing

SPACE team's image of the 31 jan, 2009, lunar eclipse gets "Amateur Astronomy Picture of the Day" award for 30th August !!!








Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Main Belt Asteroid Discoveries!!

Main Belt Asteroid Discoveries!!

There are Main Belt asteroid discoveries to report:  The first has already been reported but there are an additional three:

2010 PO24
Discovered August 6th
A.Singh & S. Wadhwa
Ryan International School, Rohini

2010 PL26
Discovered August 6th
A.Singh & S. Wadhwa
Ryan International School, Rohini

2010 PU57
Discovered August 8th
V. Narang, T. Paranjape, & P. Srivastava
SPACE 2, Delhi

2010 PV57
Discovered August 8th
V. Narang, T. Paranjape, & P. Srivastava
SPACE 2, Delhi

A fifth asteroid was discovered on August 6th by IASC Astronomer Tomas Vorobjov (England).  This was 2010 PY56.  Unfortunately the school that was assigned this image set to analyze did not download and look at the set using Astrometrica.

Congratulations to A. Singh & S. Wadhwa for their two discoveries, and to V. Narang, T. Paranjape, & P. Srivastava for their two!!

Possible Additional Discoveries

It is still possible that some of the MPC reports from the schools that were submitted in the past week contain new Main Belt asteroid discoveries.  IASC is looking at a number of them, and will report back immediately when the Minor Planet Center finalizes its reports.

Happy Hunting!!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Another Asteroid discovered by SPACE!!!!

VTP0002 observed by V. Narang, T. Paranjape, & P. Srivastava on August 8th in image set 2010 PP2 has been designated as a newly-discovered asteroid 2010 PV57.

A second asteroid discovery in that same image set is 2010 PU57, as observed by IASC astronomer Tom Vorobjov.  Credit for this discovery is also shared with V. Narang, T. Paranjape, & P. Srivastava.
Congrats to all !!!!!!!!!!!!!

AIASC Concludes with a Bang!

AIASC Phase II has concluded with a bang!

New Discovery:
VTP0002 observed by V. Narang, T. Paranjape, & P. Srivastava (all SPACE Educators) on August 8th in image set 2010 PP2 has been designated as a newly-discovered asteroid 2010 PV57.

A second asteroid discovery in that same image set is 2010 PU57, as observed by IASC astronomer Tom Vorobjov.  Credit for this discovery is also shared with V. Narang, T. Paranjape, & P. Srivastava.

Main Belt Asteroid Discovery
Main Belt Asteroid was discovered by students A. Singh and S. Wadhwa from Ryan International School last week.

Virtual Impactor Observation
Students Pallav Jhaveri, Aadesh Shah, & Manank Shastri from SPACE Nodal Center - Navrachana School, Vadodara have made a Virtual Impactor Observation (VIO) of 2010 NB2 on July 19th.

Congratulations to all of you!

Thanks to all of you for participating and putting your best effort into it! All observations and confirmations will be updated on this website soon -
http://iasc.hsutx.edu/index_files/Page786.htm

Regards,
Mila Mitra

Friday, August 13, 2010

Final Image Sets Available

Final Image Sets Available

The final image sets for the All-India Asteroid Search Campaign are available in school folders.  These are dated August 8 - 12.  Check your folder!!

The All-India Campaign comes to a conlcusion tomorrow August 13th.

However, be sure to continue sending in your students' MPC reports.  Any observations, confirmations, and discoveries will be tracked.  Should your students make an NEO confirmation or MBA discovery, you will be notified immediately.

The All-India Asteroid Search Campaign has been very, very successful.  All of the schools have done a superlative job.  Congratulations to all of you :o)

Happy Hunting!!
Dr. Patrick Miller

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Update - Main Belt Asteroid Discovered by SPACE club students

Main Belt Asteroid Discovery 

A.Singh & S.Wadhwa from SPACE club, Ryan International School, Rohini discovered the Main Belt asteroid 2010 PO24  The discovery was made on August 6th.  This is the first asteroid discovery by any school participating in the All-India Asteroid Search Campaign.  Congratulations.

2010 PO24 is a rare Mars-crossing asteroid.  Its average distance from the Sun is 2.34 AU but it gets as close as 1.66 AU.  Mars its at an average distance of 1.52 AU but varies between 1.38 AU to 1.67 AU from the Sun.

P. Jhaveri, A. Shah, & M. Shastri from Navrachana School,Vadodara (India) SPACE nodal centre, also made a virtual impactor observation (VIO) of 2010 NB2 on July 19th.  A VIO is more important than even a Main Belt asteroid discovery.

More on this at this link:
Virtual Impactor Observation

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Update - VIO (Virtual Impactor Observation) made by Navrachna School

Greetings from the Astronomical Search Collaboration

Congratulations!!  Congratulations!!

P. Jhaveri, A. Shah, & M. Shastri from Navrachana School,Vadodara (India) made a virtual impactor observation (VIO) of 2010 NB2 on July 19th.  A VIO is more important than even a Main Belt asteroid discovery.

When NEOs are first discovered, the impact risk with Earth is evaluated.  If that risk is high enough, the NEO is placed onto the potentially hazardous asteroid list maintained by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA).  They stay on that list until the orbit has been further refined and the impact risk is reassessed.  So far all reassessments have lead to the NEOs from being removed from the list...thank goodness!!

The observation made by P. Jhaveri, A. Shah, & M. Shastri lead to 2010 NB2 being officially removed from the list.  This is a very rare and important observation.  Good Job!!

Information on 2010 NB2

The orbit of 2010 NB2 varies between 0.5 AU and 3.7 AU from the Sun.  It comes within 0.1 AU of Earth (15 million km).  It orbits around the Sun every 3.0 years.  Its orbit is highly inclined to the ecliptic at 28.7 degrees, meaning that its orbit was disturbed by a collision with another asteroid or the massive planet Jupiter.

Jupiter is the likely culprit.  It frequently dislodges asteroids from the Main Belt and sends them on a collision path with Earth.

No Image Sets from August 11th

The skies are currently overcast at the ARI Observatory so there will be no new image sets from August 11th.  However, sets remain available to be analyzed by your students.  These sets are dated August 7-10.

Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller

virtual impactor observation (VIO) of 2010 NB2 - CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Greetings from the Astronomical Search Collaboration

Congratulations!!  Congratulations!!

P. Jhaveri, A. Shah, & M. Shastri from Navrachana School,Vadodara (India), Space Nodal Centre made a virtual impactor observation (VIO) of 2010 NB2 on July 19th.  A VIO is more important than even a Main Belt asteroid discovery.

When NEOs are first discovered, the impact risk with Earth is evaluated.  If that risk is high enough, the NEO is placed onto the potentially hazardous asteroid list maintained by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA).  They stay on that list until the orbit has been further refined and the impact risk is reassessed.  So far all reassessments have lead to the NEOs from being removed from the list...thank goodness!!

The observation made by P. Jhaveri, A. Shah, & M. Shastri lead to 2010 NB2 being officially removed from the list.  This is a very rare and important observation.  Good Job!!

Information on 2010 NB2

The orbit of 2010 NB2 varies between 0.5 AU and 3.7 AU from the Sun.  It comes within 0.1 AU of Earth (15 million km).  It orbits around the Sun every 3.0 years.  Its orbit is highly inclined to the ecliptic at 28.7 degrees, meaning that its orbit was disturbed by a collision with another asteroid or the massive planet Jupiter.

Jupiter is the likely culprit.  It frequently dislodges asteroids from the Main Belt and sends them on a collision path with Earth.

No Image Sets from August 11th

The skies are currently overcast at the ARI Observatory so there will be no new image sets from August 11th.  However, sets remain available to be analyzed by your students.  These sets are dated August 7-10.

Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller


Department of Mathematics & Astronomy
Holland School of Science & Mathematics
Hardin-Simmons University
Abilene, TX   79698

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

4th NEO confirmation from Aman

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration

Congratulations!!
A. Singh from Ryan International School (Rohini) made his fourth NEO confirmation on August 4th.  He measured the near-Earth object 2010 PP2.  The NEO is a rare Mars-crossing asteroid, which gets as close as 1.24 AU and far away as 3.43 AU from the Sun.  It passes within 0.23 AU of Earth and takes 3.56 years to orbit the Sun.

1 AU = 150 million km (average distance between Earth and the Sun)

Congratulations to A. Singh.  Four NEO confirmations is a very impressive accomplishment!!

Object  Students        School  Location        Date
2010 NB A. Singh        Ryan International School, Rohini       India   07/02/10
2010 NM Singh & Wadhwa  Ryan International School, Rohini       India   07/06/10
2010 NB2        A. Singh        Ryan International School, Rohini       India   07/15/10
2010 PP2        A. Singh        Ryan International School, Rohini       India   08/04/10

With some perserverance and practice, your students can also make important observations such as an NEO confirmation.  They might even discover a Main Belt asteroid.

Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller

Department of Mathematics & Astronomy
Holland School of Science & Mathematics
Hardin-Simmons University
Abilene, TX   79698

Update - New image sets available from Aug 6,7, 8, 9

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration

Image Sets Available

Image sets are available in the school folders.  These are dated August 6, 7, 8, and 9.  Check your folders!!

During the All-India Asteroid Search Campaign your students have gotten very good at analyzing the image sets and preparing the Minor Planet Center (MPC) reports.  Great job!!

There is still time between now and the end of the campaign on August 13th for your students to make important NEO observations and MBA discoveries.

Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Updates - Many new confirmations (Aug 5th)

Greetings from the International Astronomical Collaboration

Discoveries & Observations

The following 16 schools have made NEO confirmations during the current All-India Asteroid Search Campaign.  This is excellent work.  Congratulations!!

Object     Students            School  Location                                  Date
2010 NB         A. Singh        Ryan International School, Rohini       India   07/02/10
2010 NG        Sharma, Devgun, & Dhawan        Astronomica, Delhi      India   07/05/10
2010 NM       Singh & Wadhwa  Ryan International School, Rohini       India   07/06/10
2010 NN       Adey, Fletcher, McNeely, & Sobecki      IASC QuarkNet   United States   07/07/10
2010 NG1      Shah, Shastri, & Jhaveri        Navrachana School,Vadodara      India   07/07/10
2010 NV1      Anandhi, Shivmahadev, Pragadesh, Praveni, & Aditya      Shri Natesan Vidyasala  School  India   07/10/10
2004 RR109    Sharma, Dhawan, Devgun, & Arora Astronomica, Delhi      India   07/14/10
2010 NB2       A. Singh        Ryan International School, Rohini       India   07/15/10
2010 OA    Anand, Vaishnavi, Raja, & Prerna        St. Joseph Public School, Hyderabad     India   07/18/10
2010 OB  Vasistha, Aggrawal, Gupta, & Nishita    The Jain International School, Hyderabad        India   07/19/10
2010 OE22       Datanwala & Mitra       SPACE Club Beta, Delhi  India   07/23/10
2010 OR1        A. Raina        SPACE Club Gamma, Delhi India   07/23/10
2010 OE22       Nisang, Jawale, & Kulkarni      Bhaskaracharya Astro Research Centre, Ahmednagar        India   07/24/10
2010 OL100      Narang, Paranjape, & Srivastava SPACE 2, Delhi  India   08/01/10
2010 OF101      Anandhi, Sundari, Sridevi, Subramanian, Amrutha, & Varshini     Shri Natesan Vidyasala Secondary School India   08/02/10
2010 PJ  Shah, Shastri, Jhaveri, Patel, & Zaveri Navrachana School,Vadodara      India   08/03/10

NEO confirmations are important.  They are the second, confirming observations of near-Earth objects discovered only hours before on the previous night.  These confirmations allow the Minor Planet Center to better calcluate the orbits and re-assess the impact hazards with Earth.

Stack & Track

The Narang, Paranjape, & Srviastava team from SPACE 2, Delhi have learned how to stack and track their own image sets.  This process allows them to pick up fainter objects lurking in the background.    They made their first NEO confirmation using this technique with 2010 OL100 on August 1st.  Good work!!

They will participate in the NEO+ Confirmation Campaign to be run October 18 - December 3, 2010, in which they will stack & track plus direct the follow-up images of any Main Belt asteroid discoveries with the Sierra Stars Observatory Network (Markleeville, CA).

In Germany

At the moment I am in Germany attending the annual meeting of the Global Hands-On Universe Association.  When I return to Texas in the next week, the Discoveries & Observations page found at the IASC home site will be updated.

In the meanwhile, check your school folders for new image sets and...

Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Image sets from July 30th and August 1-3 available

Greetings from the International Astronomical Research Collaboration
Update on Aug 4th

Image Sets Are Available

Image sets from July 30 and August 1-3 are available in the school folders.  All schools have images, and in some cases there are two sets for your students to analyze.  Check your folder!!

The current All-India Asteroid Search Campaign continues until August 13th.  There is plenty of time for your students to make important NEO observations and possibly a Main Belt asteroid discovery.

Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller

Monday, August 2, 2010

Update - New Image sets available in some folders - Please look soon

Greetings from the International Astronomical Search Collaboration
Update on Aug 2nd, 2010

Image Sets Available

Some schools have image sets from July 30th and August 1st in their folders.  These need to be downloaded and analyzed using Astrometrica.  There are possible Main Belt asteroid discoveries and important near-Earth object measurements to be made!!

It is critical that your students look at the image sets in their school folders as soon as possible.  Asteroid discoveries need to be made  within just one or two days of when the sets are placed into the folders.

There are 10 or so other sky surveys looking along the ecliptic for asteroid discoveries.  If your students wait more than a couple of days, one of these other surveys will make the discovery instead.

Happy Hunting!!

Dr. Patrick Miller