Asteroids that are only observed for a short time can have calculated orbits with large uncertainties and may be in danger of being lost. Therefore, it is important to recover and observe these asteroids in order to refine their orbital parameters. While some asteroids have not been seen for years, others, although measured (even many times by the surveys), were never identified. Adding these to the database of unidentified objects increases the amount of computer time needed for identification exponentially.
Securing the orbit of these objects allows the assignment of still unidentified measurements, and assures that the asteroid will never be lost, and it probably will be numbered at the next opposition.
We report here the results of targeted searches, by amateurs, of faint objects (magnitude between 19 and 20 and beyond) with large uncertainties and/or in danger of being lost, using a dedicated software by J.C. Pelle allowing a high confidence in the identification of the recovered object.
Beside the targeted objects, the hereafter tables contain some other objects, found by accident in the same field of view (FOV).
K. Levin, at Silver Spring Observatory, Maryland (USA), (IAU Code H85), started such a survey in September 2005, and has already realized some success, including the discovery of new objects, 2005 TT15 by N. Teamo, and 2005 VL2 by J. C. Pelle in the FOV of targets.
Following a trajectory correction maneuver (TCM), on 2005 Nov. 10, of the probe WMAP orbiting the Earth-Sun L2 point (Orbits at the L2 point aren't stable, then TCM are needed), K. Levin successfully observed the probe on the 2005 Nov. 12.
Fig. 1 - WMAP probe at 1.46 million km
Image K. Levin
Processing J. C. Pelle
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005:115 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 33 | 63 |
| 2006:200 | 6 | 46 | 83 | 47 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Progress.
Yellow = Total
X axis = Month, starting from year 2005 (16 is end of Apr. 2006)
| Object | Date | Obs | Observer | Measurer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2005 TT15 2005 VL2 2006 BN212 2006 FD |
2005/10/03 2005/11/06 2006/01/29 2006/03/20 |
H85 H85 H08 H85 |
K. Levin K. Levin J. R. Gabany K. Levin |
N. Teamo J. C. Pelle K. Levin J. C. Pelle |
Updated on 2006/06/02 23:58