Asteroid 2006 BA!!!

Check this out. I was really impressed by this NEO discovery on the MPML just announced by the discoverer himself. Check out the objects rate of motion and size!

Thought I'd give a heads up on an object I discovered two nights ago,
2006 BA.
When I first picked it up, the magnitudes were between 18.3 & 19.8
instrumental over a few hours. (Amplitude probably not all due to
rotation.)

It will brighten to about 17.2 magnitude in about 18 hours from the
timestamp on this post and will have an apparent motion of about 65
degrees per day approximately 24 hours after that.

This 8-meter rock will be about 0.0034 AU at closest approach. I'd be
interested in any images or photometry of BA that might be obtained.
Tonight is my last night at 703 or I'd get some additional images
myself.

Thanks

Richard

Martin,

Its an amazing velocity for an asteroid BA in our skies. The challenge for any of us members on the board is tracking with telescopes and CCD cameras at that magnitude.

Exposures need to be short so that images are as near round as possible.

The total exposure needs to be as as long as possible to give a good S/N ratio.

Keeping exposures short enough to stop the object trailing more than about the size of 1 pixel (or 3 arcsec if using using 2x2 binning) during the exposure. Asteroid BA is travelling at 2.7 arcsec per second then that requires an exposer of 3 seconds, to keep the trailing to 3 arcsec. The magnitude at 17.3 will dictate how many exposures need to be taken, so that the total integration when stacked is enough to record the object well.

You would need to use 2x2 binning to speed up image download. Exposures of BA could even be shorter at 1-2 seconds, so getting as many images as possible as the object crosses the frame and shorter download speeds would provide easier tracking and good round images

An interesting challenge.

Your 16inch Dob should pick it up visually at that magnitude. You'll probably need good astrometric coordinates from MPC NEO.

All we need now is figure how to do cloud busting. May be the singer Kate Bush had the answer.

Eamonn A

Hi Eamonn

Thanks very much for your insightful and detailed reply! You certainly know what you are talking about! I dont think i will be trying for this asteroid visually with the 16" as i have been having enough bother trying to track down Comet Mc Naught due to the curse of clouds or when it is clear that region of sky has been coverd in murk etc. So far today it is sunny and clear and if it stays that way i wll be continuing with my own comet search programme this evening and maybe even try for E2 Mc Naught again if i get time.

Eamonn maybe you could try for this fast moving asteroid? do you have the set up required for such a task? It would be nice to hear about any astrometric/photometric data on the object comming from Ireland!

All best and clear skies to you!

Eamon/Martin - has this gone yet?

If not, perhaps I could track it (if clear).

By the way Eamonn, what has Wuthering Heights got to do with this?

Cheers

Dave

Dave that would be great if you could. You will need very accurate positions from the minor planet centre..im not even sure were in the sky it is located yet :oops:

Martin,

I've just come in from a night's imaging using a survey telescope and only just saw the postings now.

Unfortunately, one of my key telescopes that is well capable of tracking BA 2006, it's observatory shutter windlass bust on me the other day. It means that the telescope is downtime for this period until I fix it.

Dave Mc,

Kate Bush has an old album called 'Cloudbusting'. The music and lyrics are based on a book by Wilhelm Reich's son. Wilhelm Reich claimed to have developed a cloud buster back in the 1950s. The book is about the life and times of Wilhelm Reich. He was a student of Freud in the 1930s. A controversial figure, who was too ahead of his times in alternative medicine. The FDA shut his establishment down in Maine, USA , put Reich in prison, it was there he died. All his papers were destroyed.

Eamonn A