Follow-up of recent NEOCP from OASDG L07 - Part II

Below you can find a new selection (part I available here) of some objects for which we recently made follow-up observations at the "Osservatorio Salvatore di Giacomo, Agerola, ITALY" (MPC code L07; Observers E. Guido, A. Catapano, F. Coccia) while they still were on the NEOCP list. More details about the telescope, the  magnitude, number of images & exposition, asteroid speed & PA etc. are on the images. Click on each image for a bigger version. All the processing has been made with TYCHO software by D. Parrott.

COMET C/2020 V2 (ZTF), (neocp designation ZTF0G6I). Stacking of 25 unfiltered exposures, 120 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2020, Nov. 19.1 from L07 (Osservatorio Salvatore di Giacomo, Agerola) through a 0.5 m f/8 Ritchey Chretien + CCD, showed that this object is a comet with a diffuse coma about 7" in diameter and FWHM 3.3" compared to the average value of 2.1" for the stars of same magnitude.

 

2020 WH1 (neocp designation SaSza42) is an Apollo-type asteroid discovered by K88 GINOP-KHK, Piszkesteto, observer R. Szakats on November 17, 2020. This asteroid has an estimated size of 33 m - 73 m (H=24.6) and it had a close approach with Earth at about 11.5 LD (Lunar Distances = ~384,000 kilometers) or 0.029 AU (1 AU = ~150 million kilometers) at 0824 UT on 09 Nov. 2020.

 

2009 WY7 (neocp designation Sar2518) is an Aten-type asteroid (First observed at Lincoln Laboratory ETS, New Mexico on 2009-11-19) recovered by K88 GINOP-KHK, Piszkesteto, observer K. Sarneczky on November 22, 2020. This asteroid has an estimated size of 40 m - 90 m (H=24.1) and it had a close approach with Earth at about 20.17 LD (Lunar Distances = ~384,000 kilometers) or 0.05184 AU (1 AU = ~150 million kilometers) at 1104 UT on 24 Nov. 2020.

 

2020 WO3 (neocp designation C3ZZY12) is an Aten-type asteroid discovered by G96 Mt. Lemmon Survey on November 22, 2020. This asteroid has an estimated size of 67 m - 150 m (H=23.0) and it had a close approach with Earth at about 40.26 LD (Lunar Distances = ~384,000 kilometers) or 0.10345 AU (1 AU = ~150 million kilometers) at 1911 UT on 28 Nov. 2020.

 

 

COMET P/2005 CR16 = P/2003 WR168 = P/2020 W2 (NEAT-LINEAR) - (neocp designation C3XUF62). It is a comet discovered in survey images taken by Mount Lemmon Survey (G96) obtained on Nov. 16 UT. Subsequent follow-up astrometry and improved orbits allowed the MPC to find prediscovery positions and link the object to multi-opposition minor planet 2005 CR16 = 2003 WR168.

 

2020 WW3 (neocp designation C417PE2) is an Aten-type asteroid discovered by G96 Mt. Lemmon Survey on November 24, 2020. This asteroid has an estimated size of 20 m - 45 m (H=25.6) and it had a close approach with Earth at about 9.12 LD (Lunar Distances = ~384,000 kilometers) or 0.02344 AU (1 AU = ~150 million kilometers) at 0243 UT on 23 Nov. 2020.

 

 by Ernesto Guido

Follow-up of recent NEOCP objects from OASDG L07

Below you can find a selection of some objects for which we recently made follow-up observations at the "Osservatorio Salvatore di Giacomo, Agerola, ITALY" (MPC code L07; Observers E. Guido, A. Catapano, F. Coccia) while they still were on the NEOCP list. More details about the telescope, the  magnitude, number of images & exposition, asteroid speed & PA etc. are on the images. Click on each image for a bigger version. All the processing has been made with TYCHO software by D. Parrott.

2020 VX5 (neocp designation C3WZUQ2) is an Apollo-type asteroid discovered by G96 Mt. Lemmon Survey on November 15, 2020. This asteroid has an estimated size of 55 m - 120 m (H=23.4) and it had a close approach with Earth at about 29 LD (Lunar Distances = ~384,000 kilometers) or 0.074 AU (1 AU = ~150 million kilometers) at 1950 UT on 11 Nov. 2020.

2020 VN1 (neocp designation A10sCsG) is an Aten-type asteroid discovered by T05 ATLAS-HKO, Haleakala on November 10, 2020. This asteroid has an estimated size of 7.3 m - 16 m (H=27.8) and it had a close approach with Earth at about 1.19 LD (Lunar Distances = ~384,000 kilometers) or 0.00306 AU (1 AU = ~150 million kilometers) at 0757 UT on 07 Nov. 2020.

2020 VF1 (neocp designation X71128) is a Centaur-type object discovered by D29 Purple Mountain Observatory, XuYi Station on November 08, 2020. At the discovery time it was at about 9.7 AU from the Sun.

2020 VM1 (neocp designation P219ias) is an Apollo-type asteroid discovered by F52 Pan-STARRS 2, Haleakala November 08, 2020. This asteroid has an estimated size of 190 m - 420 m (H=20.8) and it had a close approach with Earth at about 73 LD (Lunar Distances = ~384,000 kilometers) or 0.18 AU (1 AU = ~150 million kilometers) at 2033 UT on 01 Nov. 2020.

by Ernesto Guido

2009 AU1

This interesting object has been discovered on 2009 Jan 03 by the Italian amateur Fabrizio Tozzi, remotely through the Sierra Stars 0.60-m reflector, and confirmed at first by himself, using other remotely controlled scopes of the "Skylive" network, located in Sicily and Australia.

The preliminary orbital elements available published on MPEC 2009-A48 report e~0.5, a~4.6 and Incl.~ 26 deg; this is a very comet-like orbit! The object passed perihelion on July-August 2008, and at the moment of discovery it was located in Orion, at about magnitude 18.

We performed some follow-up of it while it was posted in the NEO-CP webpage; in our stacking (20 x 120 sec unfiltered exposures) we cannot distinguish any coma and/or tail, the FWHM of 2009 AU1 being very similar to that of the nearby field stars.

Our image is available here:

http://tinyurl.com/77hwuj

Anyway congratulations to Fabrizio for his interesting find.

by Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero and Paul Camilleri

Asteroid 2008 GS3

2008 GS3 is Aten-type Near Earth Asteroid that has been discovered by the Lincoln Laboratory ETS Sky Survey (MPC #704) on 2008, April 7.30; we performed its follow-up from the Remanzacco Observatory on 2008, April 7.9, while it was labeled as "BJ81650" in the NEO-CP webpage. At the beginning, it didn't show up in stackings, very likely because of the uncertainty of its ephemerids (the stacking we did was performed according the "best guess" preliminary speed and PA available at the moment).

On 2008 April 9.5, the object was still listed in the NEO-CP, but its ephemerids were considerably improved due to the follow-up astrometry produced by several observers. Then we re-stacked our original frames of the 7-8 April night with the new speed and PA, and we find it!

According to the preliminary orbital elements available at Minor Planet Center database, 2008 GS3 is a rock with an estimated diameter of nearly 100 meters, orbiting the Sun every 9.5 months. At perihelion it reaches at almost 80 Million Km from our star, between the orbits of Mercury and Venus, while at aphelion it approaches the Earth's orbit. When we imaged it, the asteroid was at 25 Million Km from our planet, moving at nearly 7.3 arcsec/min in Virgo, with a magnitude of nearly R~19.

Giovanni Sostero & Ernesto Guido