2005 July 5 - Spacewatch images of 9P/Tempel 1
This image was obtained on July 4, 2005 by James V. Scotti using the Spacewatch 1.8-m telescope in drift scan mode in the hours before the impact of the Deep Impact Spacecraft. Five images were coadded giving an effective exposure time of about 694 seconds. The comet has not changed significantly since the previous night. North is to the right and west at the bottom and the field of view is about 12.6 arcminutes N-S and 11.2 arcminutes E-W.
Copyright 2005 by the Arizona Board of Regents.
This image was obtained on July 5, 2005 by Miwa Block using the Spacewatch 1.8-m telescope in drift scan mode. Three images were coaded by James V. Scotti, giving an effective exposure time of about 416 seconds. Superimposed on the fan shaped coma and towards the west is an arc or shell of material that exploded from the Deep Impact spacecraft impact crater. North is to the right and west at the bottom and the field of view is about 12.6 arcminutes N-S and 11.2 arcminutes E-W. Here is a median combined version of the same three images.
Copyright 2005 by the Arizona Board of Regents. 2004 Dec 27 - Possibility of an Earth Impact in 2029 Ruled Out for Asteroid 2004 MN4:
URL: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news148.html
Copyright 2004 by the Arizona Board of Regents.
Copyright 2004 by the Arizona Board of Regents.
Three prediscovery images of the Potentially Hazardous Aten Asteroid 2004 MN4 made by the Spacewatch Project on 2004 March 15. The observer was Arianna E. Gleason; the images were found and measured by Anne S. Descour and Jeffrey A. Larsen. At the time of observation, the object's rate of motion produced trailing of 5 arcseconds during the 2 minute exposure times that were spaced approximately 40 minutes apart in time. This trailing, combined with variations in seeing and background noise, make these faint images less uniform and distinct than those of brighter stars in the same image. Field shown is 128x128 arcseconds with north at the top and east on the left.
2004 March 1 - FMO Project: First Recovery of a PHA by a volunteer
Three positions within frame (short timeline)
Peter Lake of Melbourne, Australia submitted the above FMO candidate which is 2000 EV70, a PHA last seen 2000 April 23. The Spacewatch mosaic system, with its large field of view, was used for this deliberate recovery as 2000 EV70's position was highly uncertain. 2000 EV70 received an orbital adjustment in MPEC 2004-E11 based on our initial recovery measurements and followup measurements by another telescope.
2004 January 20 - FMO Project Milestone: First Designation of a FMO discovered by a volunteer
Only 1 position within frame (regular timeline)
For more details, please see the press release.
2003 October 25 - FMO Project Milestone: First Recoverable FMO.
Vishu Reddy, a FMO Project Reviewer, submitted the following 12 deg/day FMO on 2003 Oct 25. The three passes with the FMO in the center of each are below:
Mr. Reddy is a graduate student in the University of Dakota's Space Studies program. He has been averaging 40 image reviews per night. Unfortunately, this fmo was discovered over 8 hours after the original images were acquired, so same night followup was not possible. An object moving at these rates needs to be recovered within 4-6 hours or it becomes lost. Spacewatch appreciates the efforts of Mr. Reddy and the many other FMO Project reviewers - we wish you all many future successes!2003 September 30 - Unveiling of the FMO Project volunteer website.
Through a generous contribution from the Paul G. Allen Charitable Foundation, Spacewatch has introduced a volunteer program for finding fast moving objects in our mosaic imagery taken with the Kitt Peak 0.9m telescope. While the website has been available on a limited experimental basis for some time, we just opened the volunteer program to the public after the 2003 autumn equinox, the start of high season for asteroid detection. Please see Spacewatch FMO Project page for more details.
2003 September 20- 2003 SW130 smallest Spacewatch asteroid designated by MPC.
On Sept 22, Spacewatch object ts272 was given the official designation of 2003 SW130. A preliminary orbit calculated by the Minor Planet Center [MPC] suggested this Spacewatch object was only 0.005 astronomical units [AU] (750,000km) from the Earth at the time of discovery, or about twice the distance from the Earth to the Moon. 2003 SW130's closest approach actually occurred the night before, Sept. 19 when it flew by at a distance of only 162,000 km, or less than half the distance to the Moon!
As the smallest asteroid detected by Spacewatch and designated by the MPC, its estimated size is between 5 - 9 meters in diameter, calculated as a function its absolute magnitude (H = 29.2). An object of this size poses no threat to the Earth, despite its close proximity on Sept 19. If the orbit were ever perturbed, predicting an impact with the Earth, it would probably disintegrate in the Earth's upper-atmosphere appearing as 'shooting-stars'. Small pieces of the asteroid might also fall to the ground as meteorites. It has been roughly calculated that objects of this size (about 5 meters) impact somewhere on the Earth's surface once each month! These are the largest objects a person could expect to see as a brilliant shooting-star in a lifetime. Although the smaller objects such as 2003 SW130 are not hazardous, the statistics of their population provide information about the processes of fragmentation and cohesion of asteroids due to their mutual collisions and gravitation, respectively.
2003 June 7- Comet C/2003 L1 (SCOTTI) discovered by J. V. Scotti.
2003 March 10 - Amor Asteroid 2003 EN16 becomes the first NEO discovered with the Spacewatch Mosaic of CCDs.
2003 January 10 - Comet C/2003 A2 discovered by A. E. Gleason.
2002 - Photo Gallery of the 0.9-meter telescope conversion.
2002 October 23 - First Observation of an NEO with the Mosaic.
On the second night of testing the CCD mosaic in bright moonlight, the focus and collimation were already so good that we decided to try some real observations. We detected the Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) 2002 TD66. Software and engineering refinements continue.
2002 October 22 - First Light on the Mosaic of CCDs!
On Oct. 10 we had First Light on the optical system, and now we have achieved First Light on our new science detector, the Mosaic of CCDs. Focus, tip, and tilt look good.
2002 October 10 - First Light on the Mosaic optical system.
Installation of the new optical system for the mosaic of CCDs was completed, and images of star trails on a small engineering CCD showed good collimation and focus. Tracked "stare" images will be next, after the telescope is balanced with the science detector and the drive system set up again.
2002 September 24 - Spacewatch accepts delivery of the Mosaic mirror and conversion of the telescope speeds ahead.
2002 August 16 - Spacewatch detection of "lost" CONTOUR Spacecraft. [More]
Last update: 2005 July 5
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All Spacewatch material, unless otherwise credited, is copyrighted by the Arizona Board of Regents, with which all rights are reserved.
