DOCSLIB.ORG

08 August 2013C.Indd

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
08 August 2013C.Indd Published monthly since 1985 by The Binocular and Telescope Shop 84 Wentworth Park Road, Glebe NSW 2037 and 519 Burke Road, Camberwell Vic 3124 available at the shop and at all good Astronomy clubs, centres and free by email or by post for $20 per year. www.bintel.com.au August 2013 * Volume 338 MOON HIT BY SMALL ROCK NARRABRI BRIGHT FLASH SEEN HERE Since 2005 NASA astronomers have The impact crater in Mare UImbri- been monitoring the Moon for signs um could be twenty metres wide. of explosions caused by meteoroids The Lunar Reconissance Orbiter hitting the lunar surface. Lunar will probably be tasked with pho- REVEALED meteor showers have turned out to tographing the area when an op- be more common than anyone ex- portunity presents itself. pected, with hundreds of detectable impacts occurring every year. Since the monitoring program On March 17 the biggest explosion began in 2005, NASA’s lunar im- in the eight years of the program. pact team has detected more than was recorded. An object about the three hundred strikes, mostly much A few people got very excited size of a small boulder hit the lunar fainter than the March 17th event. recently when they saw some surface in Mare Imbrium, exploded More than half of all lunar mete- telescope equipment being ad- in a flash nearly ten times as bright ors come from known meteoroid vertised at very low prices on as anything seen before. streams such as the Perseids and a website (http://www.sale-tel- Anyone looking at the Moon at the Leonids. The rest are sporadic escopes.com.) Wise heads, and moment of impact could have seen meteors that have no known flight those who could smell a rat in a the explosion--no telescope re- path in the Solar System. sealed jar, quickly figured that quired. For about one second, the The American will be heading the website was one of those impact site was glowing as bright as back to the Moon in a few years. that pop up regularly with unbe- a 4th magnitude star. It’s known that the Chinese have lievably low prices. If the prices An analyst at the Marshall Space the Moon as a future target. Al- are unbelievably low... they’re Flight Center was the first to no- though none of the astronauts who unbelievable. Don’t touch! tice the impact in a digital video landed on the Moon in the Apollo CSIRO COMES CLEAN... AFTER 25 YEARS recorded by one of the monitoring days was struck by a meteroid- * * * COMPACT ARRAY SECRETS OPEN TO PUBLIC program’s 14-inch telescopes. The even a dust-grain sized one, the po- To all those who get the NIGHT The CSIRO is going to invite the public to an Open Day at the Paul Wild meteoroid, estimated to weigh forty tential is still there. Identifying the SKY by post.... sorry! It was Observatory, near Narrabri NSW. kilograms hit the Moon traveling sources of lunar meteors and mea- very late in July. A mis-com- To help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Australia Telescope Compact at about twenty-five thousand kilo- suring their impact rates should munication within our stores Array, CSIRO’s division of Astronomy and Space Science will invite the metres per hour. 56,000 mph. The give future lunar explorers an idea (and a lost envelope by Austral- public to attend an open day at the Paul Wild Observatory, twenty kilo- resulting explosion was about the of what they might expect. When is ia Post) meant that there was a metres west of Narrabri, on Sunday the 1st September. The open day will same as a good B-52-load of con- it safe to go on a moonwalk? Dur- needless delay before readers offer a rare opportunity for members of the public to go behind the scenes ventional bombs. ing known meteor showers may got their monthly issue of read- of one of the most powerful radio telescopes on Earth. More than forty of University and NASA all-sky cam- probably not a good time to ven- ing goodness. our expert staff will be on hand to guide people around the observatory, eras recorded a steady stream of ture outside. answer questions and bring people up-to-date with the latest research in bright meteors entering the Earth’s * * * radio astronomy. atmosphere on the same night. The We mentioned, a couple of issues The Australia Telescope Compact Array comprises six twenty-two meter Earth’s atmosphere soaks up most ago that Meade Instruments had dishes, spread along a three kilometre track. The six dishes work together, meteoroids that are caught by the been bought by a Chinese com- as one instrument, to study the structure and evolution of the Universe. Dur- Earth. They burn up before reaching pany. We jumped the gun a lit- ing the public open day, three of the six dishes will be open to the public, as the surface. The Moon has no atmo- tle. Two further companies put well as the control building and computing room. Astronomy and space sci- sphere, so meteoroids can fly right in marriage bids- one American ence talks by leading experts in radio astronomy and radio engineering will into the lunar surface and explode and one Chinese. It looks as if showcase the achievements of the telescope as a world leading radio astron- on the surface. University of West- the Chinese company, a highly omy instrument. For more information on the 25th Anniversary Open Day ern Ontario scientists calculated experienced manufacturer of visit the website - http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/public/open_day/2013/ that the lunar meteor was probably microscopes may have won This is a rare chance to watch real radio astronomers at their mysterious from the same stream of debris that Meade’s hand. A new Agree- craft as they listen to the universe hissing and whistling at them. collided with Earth’s atmosphere. ment and Plan of Merger has been made with subsidiaries of Ningbo Sunny Electronic Co., WEIRD BLUE PLANET IS HOT, INCREDIBLY FAST Ltd., based near Shanghai. * * * AND BLASTED BY HOWLING GALES, SAYS NASA. We received a huge number of THEY HAVE NO PLANS TO SEND entries in the ‘coke-bottle tel- escope’ competition. Winner ASTRONAUTS ANY TIME SOON. will receive a display card with A strange, blue planet was discovered orbiting the star HD 189733 A in small amounts of genuine dust Vulpecula in 2005, by astronomers who detected it transiting in front of its from a Mars and a Moon mete- star. It’s sixty three light years from us. Constant observation has revealed orite. Due to the very late dis- some amazing facts about this strange object. patch of the printed edition of Recently scientists have managed to deduce that it is a deep blue in colour, NIGHT SKY (see above) we’ve that it has carbon dioxide in its atmosphere and that it is somewhat larger held off announcing a winner than Jupiter. Observation showed that it orbits its parent star in an astonish- for a couple more weeks. Hope ing 2.2 days at a speed of 150 kilometres per second! you don’t mind. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists from NASA and ESA have described a planet that won’t be high on anybody’d bucket list of ‘must visit’ * * * places. One described the most likely scenario as a place being blasted by In the good ‘ole days women glass pushed by “howling 7,000 kilometre-per-hour winds,” . Apparently were supposed to retire from the planet’s atmosphere is laced with silicates, from which we make glass. the workplace, stay at home and The surface would be well and truly sandblasted. and is not on NASA’s list make babies once they were of places to visit in the near future. married. Then there was a lady The enormous speed of the winds also effects the temperature of the plan- called Ruby who worked at the et. It is remarkable even, probably due to the redistribution of heat by the CSIRO. winds. There is evidence that the atmosphere also contains water vapour, Somebody wrote a book about neutral oxygen, methane and some carbon monoxide on the day side of the her. An amazing planet, which is tidally locked to the star. lady! See more about the book Slithy Toves ............................2 subscribe to NIGHT SKY on Page 2 Milancovic ..............................2 Receive your copy every month free by email. August night sky .....................3 ask [email protected] for your copy! OR Mick ‘n Don ............................4 send $20 for a year’s subscription and have it posted. Mike The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 84 Wentworth Park Road, Glebe NSW 2037. Tel: 02 9518 7255 The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 519 Burke Road, Camberwell Vic 3124. Tel: 03 9822 0033 August 2013 * Volume 338 * Page 2 The sky is full of slithy toves tonight! A BOOK ABOUT A SHOULD-BE-FAMOUS WOMAN ASTRONOMER Mel charms the snake handler. In Making Waves, Miller Goss provides insight into the pioneering contributions of a female scientist at Beta (β) Oph or Cebalrai ‘the shepherd’s dog’ is an orange giant star of the beginning of radio astronomy, magnitude 2.8, lying about 82 light years away. Ruby Payne-Scott (1912 – 1981). Rho (ρ) Oph is a wonderful multiple star system for small telescopes. The As one of the first radio astrono- brightest component consists of magnitude 5.0 and 5.7 stars which can be mers in the world, Payne-Scott separated using high magnification in a small aperture telescope.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Minor Planet Bulletin
    THE MINOR PLANET BULLETIN OF THE MINOR PLANETS SECTION OF THE BULLETIN ASSOCIATION OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY OBSERVERS VOLUME 36, NUMBER 3, A.D. 2009 JULY-SEPTEMBER 77. PHOTOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS OF 343 OSTARA Our data can be obtained from http://www.uwec.edu/physics/ AND OTHER ASTEROIDS AT HOBBS OBSERVATORY asteroid/. Lyle Ford, George Stecher, Kayla Lorenzen, and Cole Cook Acknowledgements Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire We thank the Theodore Dunham Fund for Astrophysics, the Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004 National Science Foundation (award number 0519006), the [email protected] University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (Received: 2009 Feb 11) Blugold Fellow and McNair programs for financial support. References We observed 343 Ostara on 2008 October 4 and obtained R and V standard magnitudes. The period was Binzel, R.P. (1987). “A Photoelectric Survey of 130 Asteroids”, found to be significantly greater than the previously Icarus 72, 135-208. reported value of 6.42 hours. Measurements of 2660 Wasserman and (17010) 1999 CQ72 made on 2008 Stecher, G.J., Ford, L.A., and Elbert, J.D. (1999). “Equipping a March 25 are also reported. 0.6 Meter Alt-Azimuth Telescope for Photometry”, IAPPP Comm, 76, 68-74. We made R band and V band photometric measurements of 343 Warner, B.D. (2006). A Practical Guide to Lightcurve Photometry Ostara on 2008 October 4 using the 0.6 m “Air Force” Telescope and Analysis. Springer, New York, NY. located at Hobbs Observatory (MPC code 750) near Fall Creek, Wisconsin.
    [Show full text]
  • The Minor Planet Bulletin Is Open to Papers on All Aspects of 6500 Kodaira (F) 9 25.5 14.8 + 5 0 Minor Planet Study
    THE MINOR PLANET BULLETIN OF THE MINOR PLANETS SECTION OF THE BULLETIN ASSOCIATION OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY OBSERVERS VOLUME 32, NUMBER 3, A.D. 2005 JULY-SEPTEMBER 45. 120 LACHESIS – A VERY SLOW ROTATOR were light-time corrected. Aspect data are listed in Table I, which also shows the (small) percentage of the lightcurve observed each Colin Bembrick night, due to the long period. Period analysis was carried out Mt Tarana Observatory using the “AVE” software (Barbera, 2004). Initial results indicated PO Box 1537, Bathurst, NSW, Australia a period close to 1.95 days and many trial phase stacks further [email protected] refined this to 1.910 days. The composite light curve is shown in Figure 1, where the assumption has been made that the two Bill Allen maxima are of approximately equal brightness. The arbitrary zero Vintage Lane Observatory phase maximum is at JD 2453077.240. 83 Vintage Lane, RD3, Blenheim, New Zealand Due to the long period, even nine nights of observations over two (Received: 17 January Revised: 12 May) weeks (less than 8 rotations) have not enabled us to cover the full phase curve. The period of 45.84 hours is the best fit to the current Minor planet 120 Lachesis appears to belong to the data. Further refinement of the period will require (probably) a group of slow rotators, with a synodic period of 45.84 ± combined effort by multiple observers – preferably at several 0.07 hours. The amplitude of the lightcurve at this longitudes. Asteroids of this size commonly have rotation rates of opposition was just over 0.2 magnitudes.
    [Show full text]
  • Asteroids DOI: 10.17794/Rgn.2016.1.5
    The Mining-Geology-Petroleum Engineering Bulletin UDC: 523.6 Asteroids DOI: 10.17794/rgn.2016.1.5 Review scientific paper Željko Andreić1; 1University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering, Pierottijeva 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia, full professor Abstract Asteroids are the largest minor bodies in the Solar System. Nowadays they are in the research focus due to several facts about them: first, a subclass of asteroids can collide with Earth, and consequences of such a collision are dramatic. Second, they are now seen as source of materials that are becoming scarce on Earth, and they will be needed in future space constructions anyway. Third, they are holding clues about the origin and evolution of the Solar System. In this article, a short overview of current knowledge about asteroids is presented. Last, but not least, as several Croatian scientists were recently honored by naming an asteroid after them, a short overview of the naming process is given. Keywords Solar System, asteroids, mining the asteroids 1. Introduction Even today, some textbooks describe the Solar System as a quiet, highly ordered structure. The Sun is in the center and planets revolve around it on neat elliptical orbits that are assumed to be the same since the time of creation of the Solar System. The space in between (the interplanetary space) is mostly empty, permeated by a very rarefied gas called solar wind that is peppered with a few grains of dust. Asteroids may be revealed as smaller bodies contained in the so-called asteroidal belt between Mars and Jupiter. And, beyond the last planet, Pluto, there is just cold, empty, interstellar space.
    [Show full text]
  • The Minor Planet Bulletin Lost a Friend on Agreement with That Reported by Ivanova Et Al
    THE MINOR PLANET BULLETIN OF THE MINOR PLANETS SECTION OF THE BULLETIN ASSOCIATION OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY OBSERVERS VOLUME 33, NUMBER 3, A.D. 2006 JULY-SEPTEMBER 49. LIGHTCURVE ANALYSIS FOR 19848 YEUNGCHUCHIU Kwong W. Yeung Desert Eagle Observatory P.O. Box 105 Benson, AZ 85602 [email protected] (Received: 19 Feb) The lightcurve for asteroid 19848 Yeungchuchiu was measured using images taken in November 2005. The lightcurve was found to have a synodic period of 3.450±0.002h and amplitude of 0.70±0.03m. Asteroid 19848 Yeungchuchiu was discovered in 2000 Oct. by the author at Desert Beaver Observatory, AZ, while it was about one degree away from Jupiter. It is named in honor of my father, The amplitude of 0.7 magnitude indicates that the long axis is Yeung Chu Chiu, who is a businessman in Hong Kong. I hoped to about 2 times that of the shorter axis, as seen from the line of sight learn the art of photometry by studying the lightcurve of 19848 as at that particular moment. Since both the maxima and minima my first solo project. have similar “height”, it’s likely that the rotational axis was almost perpendicular to the line of sight. Using a remote 0.46m f/2.8 reflector and Apogee AP9E CCD camera located in New Mexico Skies (MPC code H07), images of Many amateurs may have the misconception that photometry is a the asteroid were obtained on the nights of 2005 Nov. 20 and 21. very difficult science. After this learning exercise I found that, at Exposures were 240 seconds.
    [Show full text]
  • Cumulative Index to Volumes 1-45
    The Minor Planet Bulletin Cumulative Index 1 Table of Contents Tedesco, E. F. “Determination of the Index to Volume 1 (1974) Absolute Magnitude and Phase Index to Volume 1 (1974) ..................... 1 Coefficient of Minor Planet 887 Alinda” Index to Volume 2 (1975) ..................... 1 Chapman, C. R. “The Impossibility of 25-27. Index to Volume 3 (1976) ..................... 1 Observing Asteroid Surfaces” 17. Index to Volume 4 (1977) ..................... 2 Tedesco, E. F. “On the Brightnesses of Index to Volume 5 (1978) ..................... 2 Dunham, D. W. (Letter regarding 1 Ceres Asteroids” 3-9. Index to Volume 6 (1979) ..................... 3 occultation) 35. Index to Volume 7 (1980) ..................... 3 Wallentine, D. and Porter, A. Index to Volume 8 (1981) ..................... 3 Hodgson, R. G. “Useful Work on Minor “Opportunities for Visual Photometry of Index to Volume 9 (1982) ..................... 4 Planets” 1-4. Selected Minor Planets, April - June Index to Volume 10 (1983) ................... 4 1975” 31-33. Index to Volume 11 (1984) ................... 4 Hodgson, R. G. “Implications of Recent Index to Volume 12 (1985) ................... 4 Diameter and Mass Determinations of Welch, D., Binzel, R., and Patterson, J. Comprehensive Index to Volumes 1-12 5 Ceres” 24-28. “The Rotation Period of 18 Melpomene” Index to Volume 13 (1986) ................... 5 20-21. Hodgson, R. G. “Minor Planet Work for Index to Volume 14 (1987) ................... 5 Smaller Observatories” 30-35. Index to Volume 15 (1988) ................... 6 Index to Volume 3 (1976) Index to Volume 16 (1989) ................... 6 Hodgson, R. G. “Observations of 887 Index to Volume 17 (1990) ................... 6 Alinda” 36-37. Chapman, C. R. “Close Approach Index to Volume 18 (1991) ..................
    [Show full text]
  • Download Full Issue
    THE MINOR PLANET BULLETIN OF THE MINOR PLANETS SECTION OF THE BULLETIN ASSOCIATION OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY OBSERVERS VOLUME 47, NUMBER 1, A.D. 2020 JANUARY-MARCH 1. SECTION NEWS: COLLABORATIVE ASTEROID PHOTOMETRY FOR STAFFING CHANGES FOR ASTEROID 2051 CHANG THE MINOR PLANET BULLETIN Alessandro Marchini Frederick Pilcher Astronomical Observatory, DSFTA - University of Siena (K54) Minor Planets Section Recorder Via Roma 56, 53100 - Siena, ITALY [email protected] [email protected] One staffing change and one staffing addition for The Minor Planet Bulletin are announced effective with this issue. Riccardo Papini, Massimo Banfi, Fabio Salvaggio Wild Boar Remote Observatory (K49) MPB Distributor Derald Nye is now retired from his 37 years of San Casciano in Val di Pesa (FI), ITALY service to the Minor Planets Bulletin. Derald stepped in to service at the time the MPB made its transition from the original Editor Melissa N. Hayes-Gehrke, Eric Yates and Section founder, Richard G. Hodgson. As Derald reflected in Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland a short essay written in MPB 40, page 53 (2013), the Distributor College Park, MD, USA 20740 position was the longest job he ever held, having retired from being a programmer for 30 years with IBM. (Work for IBM (Received: 2019 October 15) included programming for the space program.) At its peak, Derald was managing nearly 200 subscriptions. That number dropped to Photometric observations of this main-belt asteroid were the dozen or so libraries maintaining a permanent collection conducted in order to determine its rotation period. The following the MPB transitioning to becoming an on-line electronic authors found a synodic rotation period of 12.013 ± journal with limited printing.
    [Show full text]
  • Prediction of Transits of Solar System Objects In
    Prediction of transits of solar system objects in Kepler /K2 images: An extension of the Virtual Observatory service SkyBoT Jérôme Berthier, B Carry, F Vachier, S Eggl, A Santerne To cite this version: Jérôme Berthier, B Carry, F Vachier, S Eggl, A Santerne. Prediction of transits of solar system objects in Kepler /K2 images: An extension of the Virtual Observatory service SkyBoT. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Oxford University Press (OUP): Policy P - Oxford Open Option A, 2016, 457 (3), 10.1093/mnras/stw492. hal-01278026 HAL Id: hal-01278026 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01278026 Submitted on 23 Feb 2016 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Copyright MNRAS 000,1{4 (2016) Preprint 23 February 2016 Compiled using MNRAS LATEX style file v3.0 Prediction of transits of solar system objects in Kepler/K2 images: An extension of the Virtual Observatory service SkyBoT J. Berthier,1? B. Carry,1;2 F. Vachier,1 S. Eggl,1 and A. Santerne,3 1IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universit´es, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Univ Lille, France 2Laboratoire Lagrange, Universit´ede Nice-Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la C^ote d'Azur, France 3Instituto de Astrof´ısica e Ci^encias do Espa¸co, Universidade do Porto, CAUP, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal Accepted XXX.
    [Show full text]
  • JRASC August 2006, High Resolution (PDF)
    Publications and Products of August / août 2006 Volume/volume 100 Number/numéro 4 [719] The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Observer’s Calendar — 2007 The award-winning RASC Observer's Calendar is your annual guide Created by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and richly illustrated by photographs from leading amateur astronomers, the calendar pages are packed with detailed information including major lunar and planetary conjunctions, The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Le Journal de la Société royale d’astronomie du Canada meteor showers, eclipses, lunar phases, and daily Moonrise and Moonset times. Canadian and U.S. holidays are highlighted. Perfect for home, office, or observatory. Individual Order Prices: $16.95 Cdn/ $13.95 US RASC members receive a $3.00 discount Shipping and handling not included. The Beginner’s Observing Guide Extensively revised and now in its fifth edition, The Beginner’s Observing Guide is for a variety of observers, from the beginner with no experience to the intermediate who would appreciate the clear, helpful guidance here available on an expanded variety of topics: constellations, bright stars, the motions of the heavens, lunar features, the aurora, and the zodiacal light. New sections include: lunar and planetary data through 2010, variable-star observing, telescope information, beginning astrophotography, a non-technical glossary of astronomical terms, and directions for building a properly scaled model of the solar system. Written by astronomy author and educator, Leo Enright; 200 pages, 6 colour star maps, 16 photographs, otabinding. Price: $19.95 plus shipping & handling. Skyways: Astronomy Handbook for Teachers Teaching Astronomy? Skyways Makes it Easy! Written by a Canadian for Canadian teachers and astronomy educators, Skyways is Canadian curriculum-specific; pre-tested by Canadian teachers; hands-on; interactive; geared for upper INSIDE THIS ISSUE elementary, middle school, and junior-high grades; fun and easy to use; cost-effective.
    [Show full text]
  • LIGHTCURVE of 755 QUINTILLA the Nightly Zero-Point Was Determined by Imaging a Landolt Standard Field That Was Fortuitously Only a Few Degrees Away from Robert K
    THE MINOR PLANET BULLETIN OF THE MINOR PLANETS SECTION OF THE BULLETIN ASSOCIATION OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY OBSERVERS VOLUME 32, NUMBER 1, A.D. 2005 JANUARY-MARCH 1. LIGHTCURVE OF 755 QUINTILLA The nightly zero-point was determined by imaging a Landolt standard field that was fortuitously only a few degrees away from Robert K. Buchheim the asteroid, thereby avoiding the need to account for air mass Altimira Observatory (G76) difference. The standard field was measured in B, V, and R filters 18 Altimira, Coto de Caza, CA 92679 immediately before and after imaging of the asteroid. [email protected] The asteroid imaging sequence was V-R-B-B-R-V. During this Donald Pray 25-minute imaging sequence, the asteroid’s rotational phase Carbuncle Hill Observatory (I00) orientation (referring to Figure) ranged from 0.63 to 0.73, so the Greene, Rhode Island measured absolute magnitude during this sequence is quite close [email protected] to the mean brightness (averaged over the lightcurve). (Received: 27 June Revised: 3 September) The measured color indices were: (B-V) = 0.67 ± 0.03 (which is in good agreement with the Small Bodies Node), and (V-R) = 0.41 ± The lightcurve period of 755 Quintilla is 4.552 ± 0.001 0.03. The observed V = 14.61, when adjusted for distance from hours, with an amplitude of 0.38 mag. We also report the Earth and Sun gives a reduced magnitude of VR = 10.88 at color indices of B-V=0.67±0.03 and V-R=0.41±0.03. solar phase angle = 19.1 degrees.
    [Show full text]
  • Prediction of Transits of Solar System Objects in Kepler/K2 Images: an Extension of the Virtual Observatory Service Skybot
    MNRAS 458, 3394–3398 (2016) doi:10.1093/mnras/stw492 Advance Access publication 2016 March 2 Prediction of transits of Solar system objects in Kepler/K2 images: an extension of the Virtual Observatory service SkyBoT J. Berthier,1‹ B. Carry,1,2‹ F. Vachier,1 S. Eggl1 and A. Santerne3‹ 1IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universites,´ UPMC Univ Paris 06, Univ Lille, France 2Laboratoire Lagrange, Universite´ de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Coteˆ d’Azur, France 3Instituto de Astrof´ısica e Cienciasˆ do Espac¸o, Universidade do Porto, CAUP, Rua das Estrelas, P-4150-762 Porto, Portugal Accepted 2016 February 26. Received 2016 February 23; in original form 2016 February 4 ABSTRACT All the fields of the extended space mission Kepler/K2 are located within the ecliptic. Many Solar system objects thus cross the K2 stellar masks on a regular basis. We aim at providing to Downloaded from the entire community a simple tool to search and identify Solar system objects serendipitously observed by Kepler. The sky body tracker (SkyBoT) service hosted at Institut de mecanique´ celeste´ et de calcul des eph´ em´ erides´ provides a Virtual Observatory compliant cone search that lists all Solar system objects present within a field of view at a given epoch. To generate http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/ such a list in a timely manner, ephemerides are pre-computed, updated weekly, and stored in a relational data base to ensure a fast access. The SkyBoT web service can now be used with Kepler. Solar system objects within a small (few arcminutes) field of view are identified and listed in less than 10 s.
    [Show full text]
  • Prediction of Transits of Solar System Objects in Kepler/K2 Images: an Extension of the Virtual Observatory Service Skybot
    MNRAS 000,1{6 (2016) Preprint 8 October 2018 Compiled using MNRAS LATEX style file v3.0 Prediction of transits of solar system objects in Kepler/K2 images: An extension of the Virtual Observatory service SkyBoT J. Berthier,1? B. Carry,1;2 F. Vachier,1 S. Eggl,1 and A. Santerne,3 1IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universit´es, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Univ Lille, France 2Laboratoire Lagrange, Universit´ede Nice-Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la C^ote d'Azur, France 3Instituto de Astrof´ısica e Ci^encias do Espa¸co, Universidade do Porto, CAUP, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal Accepted XXX. Received YYY; in original form ZZZ ABSTRACT All the fields of the extended space mission Kepler/K2 are located within the ecliptic. Many solar system objects thus cross the K2 stellar masks on a regular basis. We aim at providing to the entire community a simple tool to search and identify solar system objects serendipitously observed by Kepler. The SkyBoT service hosted at IMCCE provides a Virtual Observatory (VO) compliant cone-search that lists all solar system objects present within a field of view at a given epoch. To generate such a list in a timely manner, ephemerides are pre-computed, updated weekly, and stored in a relational database to ensure a fast access. The SkyBoT Web service can now be used with Kepler. Solar system objects within a small (few arcminutes) field of view are identified and listed in less than 10 s. Generating object data for the entire K2 field of view (14◦) takes about a minute.
    [Show full text]