Observations of NEOs 2011 BB45 & 2011 BA45

In the past few days a number of faint objects discovered by Pan-STARRS (PS1 System - Haleakala - mpc code F51) have been added to the Neo Confirmation Page on the MPC website.

PS1 is a 1.8-m Ritchey-Chretien + CCD that, according to PS1SC Blog, "comes equipped with the worlds largest digital camera which has 1.4 billion pixels (over 250 times the number of pixels in an iPhone’s camera). This along with the telescope’s design allows it to observe with a three degree field of view (six full moons across)".

We have been able to follow a couple of these very faint objects using the 2.0-m Faulkes Telescope North (Haleakala - mpc code F65).

Below you can see the animations of 2011 BA45 (~ magnitude 19.8) & 2011 BB45 (~ magnitude 20.5 ) obtained on February 02, 2011:

Discovery mpecs:

Asteroid Type MOID H
2011 BB45 Amor 0.08815 19.6
2011 BA45 Apollo 0.11601 21.5

http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/mpec/K11/K11C05.html

http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/mpec/K11/K11C06.html


By Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes & Giovanni Sostero