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The Journal of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers C::Lte Strolling Astronomer

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The Journal Of The Association Of Lunar And Planetary Observers C::lte Strolling Astronomer 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Volume 29, Numbers 3-4 Published December, 1981 Another suggestive Earth-based, pre-Voyager view ofthe curious dusky bands in the rings of Saturn? Drawing by Toshihiko Osawa in Japan on December 26, 1972 at 13 hrs., 45 mins., Universal Time. 8-inch reflector, 286X. Seeing 4 to 7, rather poor to fairly good. Transparency 4.5 (clear). Simply inverted view with south at the top. B (tilt to Earth) = -26.4 degrees. B' (tilt to Sun) = -26.6 degrees. Opposition on December 9, 1972. See text on pages 87 and 88. !1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111=- THE STROLLING ASTRONOMER - Box 3AZ - University Park, New Mexico - 88003 - Res1dence telephone 522·4213 (Area Code 505) - in Las Cruces, New Mexico - Founded In 1947 INTIDSISSUE mE APPARITION OF COMET BRADFIELD 1979 X, by Stephen J. O'Meara and Daniel W. E. Green ......................... pg. 45 WHAT IS NEW ON MARS-MARTIAN 1979-1980 APPARITION REPORT ll (Concluded), by C. F. Capen and D. C. Parker ...................................... pg. 51 mE 1981 A.L.P.O. BUSINESS MEETING, by Phillip W. Budine and Julius L. Benton, Jr. ......................... pg. 60 AMATEURS AMONG THE ASTEROIDS, by J. U. Gunter ......................................•.............. pg. 61 mE MINOR PLANETS: AS INTERESTING AS EVER, by Alain Porter ..................................................... pg. 64 COMET WEST 1976 VI: OBSERVATIONS OF THE GREAT COMET OF 1976, by Derek W allentinsen .............................................. pg. 69 BOOK REVIEWS ........................•.......................... pg. 79 NEW BOOKS RECEIVED, by J. Russell Smith and Charles S. Morris .............................• pg. 83 THE A.L.P.O. AT ASTROCON '81, by Don Parker and Jeff Beish ......................................... pg. 83 ANNOUNCEMENTS ...............................•................ pg. 85 OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS ..............•................... pg. 87 THE APPARITION OF COMET BRADFIELD 1979 ! By: Stephen J. O'Meara and Daniel W. E. Green, A.L.P.O. Comets Section Abstract Visual photometric observations of Comet Bradfield 1979 X (= 1979~) are discussed. The brightness behavior of this comet is fairly well represented by the following magni­ tude formula, found through a least-squares regression analysis of 117 selected observa­ tions: m1 = 8.10 + 5 log 6 + 7.69 log r, where m1 is the aperture-corrected, total visual magnitude of the comet, and 6 and r are the comet's geocentric and heliocentric distances respectively. I. Introduction On 1979, December 24 veteran comet hunter William A. Bradfield of Dernancourt, South Australia, discovered his tenth comet while sweeping only 5 degrees south of Antares; the object was of magnitude 5 with a 1° tail. Comet Bradfield 1979 X (= 1979~) then was already 3 days past perihelion, being strictly a Southern-Hemisphere object until around 1980, January 27. On January 26 the comet passed within 0.2 A.U. of the Earth; and this extremely diffuse object was observed visually to be as much as 20'-25' in diameter during late January and early February, despite the occurrence of Full Moon on February 1. Full Moon also occurred on January 2 and March 1. Marsden (1980) has computed the following elements based on 17 observations from 1979, December 26 to 1980, January 17: T 1979 Dec. 21.609 E.T. 102~5081 q 0.54529 A.U. 257. 597 l- 1950.0 e 0.98801 148.604j Morris (1980a, b) has commented on the apparition of comet 1979 X and on the object's brightness behavior. II. Visual Appearance On January 29, the first author located Comet Bradfield 1979 X with the 23-cm (9-inch) Clark refractor at Harvard College Observatory, finding it difficult near the horizon, with competing moonlight. Sightings rapidly increased as the Moon rose later, and the comet gained altitude, with the passage of a few days. However, the object's rapid daily motion at this time confused some observers who tried to locate it at ephemeris positions (predicted) for oh E.T. on a given date. Table 1A lists the A.L.P.O. observers of Comet Bradfield 1979~, of whom Clyde and Fulle contributed the greatest number of observations. Most of the A.L.P.O. observa­ tions were published in detail in the International Comet Quarterly (ICQ , Vol. 3, No.2, April 1981). -- - Raisanen found the comet on February 1 as having a noticeable tail. Visual reports of this narrow gas tail continued throughout the apparition, while photographs naturally revealed much longer tail lengths. Visual tail length estimates up to 1 degree were reported during the first two weeks of February. Pedroncelli found the comet as a circular, diffuse object on February 2 and 3. Karl and Wanda Simmons found the coma diameter to be as much as 25' in 7x50 binoculars on January 30; and this value was consistent with early February observations, indicating a true diameter of about 275,000 kms. Kronk noted the difficulty in determining the diameter of Comet 1979 X visually during February because the coma boundaries were very ambiguous. Stegmann reported the comet's appearance on February 5 as a "diffuse, nebulous glow." III. Magnitude Analysis The comet's large size and diffuseness also caused magnitude estimates to vary tremendously on a given night. The Sidgwick (In-out) or Morris methods should have been used for this type of comet, and not the Bobrovnikoff method which is most often used (cf. Morris 1980c). In addition to magnitude estimates made by A.L.P.O. observers, brightness data were compiled from those published in 1980 in the ICQ for analysis. Those observers whose ICQ observations were used in this study are presented in Table IB. After approximate estimates were deleted, only one observation per observer per night was retained. Other 45 FULL 0 MOON ++ ::1' + 0 l + FULL MOO I! 0 (0 1 en. + + + + + + ++ 0 (0. (0 (.!)O a:o ::::Ecx:) :::c + + 0 C\1 FULL ...... MOON J, FIGURE 1. COMET 1979 X: + LOGARITHMIC PLOT OF HELIOCENTRIC 0::1' + DISTANCE (R) VERSUS HELIOCENTRIC (0 MAGNITUDE (H MAG), WITH THE LEAST SQUARES FIT: + H0 = 8.10 + 7.69 LOG R. 0 (0 117 OBSERVATIONS REPRESENTED. ++ 1/) + 0 (0 +------r-----,.-----.------.------.-----~~--~~ ::1'-0.32 -0.2Y -0. I6 -0.08 0.00 0.08 0.16 0.2Y LOG R observations had to be deleted because of uncertainty about which instruments were used for certain magnitude estimates. Also, those observations which did not list a source catalog for the comparison stars (needed for a good magnitude estimate) were usually deleted. The remaining 117 observations were used for a least squares regression analysis; and the magnitude estimates were reduced to a standard aperture of 6.78 em, after Morris (1973). The regression analysis used was that described by Green (1980a, b), and produced the following values for absolute magnitude, H0 , and the characteristic brightness para­ meter, n: n 3.08 + 0.13 (p.e.) H0 8.10 ~ 0.03 (p.e.). When these values are placed in the standard cometary magnitude formula, one obtains m1 = 8.10 + 5 log 6 + 7.69 log r, ( 1 ) where m1 is the observed total visual (aperture-corrected) magnitude, and 6·and rare the comet's geocentric and heliocentric distances respectively. Figure 1 graphically indicates the fitted line from the above parameters as drawn through the 117 magnitude data points. Fig. 1 shows well the scatter in magnitude estimates during February (center of graph) caused by the difficulty of making a reliable estimate. While this comet may have previously passed through the inner Solar System, its H0 - and n-parameter values are not unusual for either a "new" or an "old" comet. (Text continued below Table II on page 49) 46 TABLE IA. LIST OF A.L.P.O. OBSERVERS (Listed here are those observers who contributed observations directly to the A.L.P.O. Comets Section. A "10" after the column-1 name code indicates observers who made observations that were contributed by M. Grossmann of West Germany.) CAP CHARLES F. CAPEN, AZ, U.S.A. CLY ROBERT CLYDE, OH, U.S.A. FUL M. FULLE, ITALY JEN 10 GUENTER JENNER, AUSTRIA KR002 GARY W. KRONK, IL, U.S.A. MAT02 LEONARD MATUSZEWSKI, NJ, U.S.A. OME STEPHEN O'MEARA, MA, U.S.A. PED JOSEPH W. PEDRONCELLI, NM, U.S.A. RAI RODNEY J. RAISANEN, OH, U.S.A. REI 10 PETER REINHARD, AUSTRIA SCHOJ 10 MICHAEL SCHMID, AUSTRIA SIM KARL SIMMONS, FL, U.S.A. SIM01 WANDA SIMMONS, FL, U.S.A. STE01 CHRIS STEPHAN, OH, U.S.A. TABLE IB. LIST OF OTHER OBSERVERS (This table lists those observers whose observations have been published in the ICQ, but who did not contribute directly to the A.L.P.O.) BEN JACK C. BENNETT, SOUTH AFRICA BOE LEO BOETHIN, THE PHILIPPINES BOR JOHN E. BORTLE, NY, U.S.A. GLI GUNNAR GLITSCHER, WEST GERMANY GRE DANIEL W. E. GREEN, NC, U.S.A. HAR01 SYOJI HARADA, JAPAN HON KEN HONDA, JAPAN MAY MARVIN J. MAYO, CA, U.S.A. MIZ YOSHIKANE MIZUNO, JAPAN MOR CHARLES S. MORRIS, MA, U.S.A. MOR02 JAMES A. MORGAN, WI, U.S.A. NAKOJ MASATSUGU NAKAMURA, JAPAN SAT MASAAKI SATAKE, JAPAN SHE CLAY SHERROD, AR, U.S.A. suz KENZO SUZUKI, JAPAN TAN TETSUO TANAKA, JAPAN TRE T. B. TREGASKIS, AUSTRALIA TABLE II. MAGNITUDE OBSERVATIONAL ANALYSIS. No. Date (U. T.) Mag. Corr. In st. H-Mag. Delta r log r Obs. 1 1979 12 26.740 5.40 5.50 5.0B 5.15 1.174 0.555 -.2557 TRE 2 1979 12 29.080 5.60 5.78 3.5B 5.62 1.076 0.571 -.2434 BEN 3 1979 12 31.080 5.50 5.68 3.5B 5.66 1.008 0.586 -.2321 BEN 4 1980 1 1.
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  • The V-Band Photometry of Asteroids from ASAS-SN

    The V-Band Photometry of Asteroids from ASAS-SN

    Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. 40759˙ArXiV © ESO 2021 July 22, 2021 V-band photometry of asteroids from ASAS-SN Finding asteroids with slow spin ? J. Hanusˇ1, O. Pejcha2, B. J. Shappee3, C. S. Kochanek4;5, K. Z. Stanek4;5, and T. W.-S. Holoien6;?? 1 Institute of Astronomy, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, V Holesoviˇ ckˇ ach´ 2, 18000 Prague, Czech Republic 2 Institute of Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, V Holesoviˇ ckˇ ach´ 2, 18000 Prague, Czech Republic 3 Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai’i, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA 4 Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA 5 Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, The Ohio State University, 191 W. Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA 6 The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena, CA 91101, USA Received x-x-2021 / Accepted x-x-2021 ABSTRACT We present V-band photometry of the 20,000 brightest asteroids using data from the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) between 2012 and 2018. We were able to apply the convex inversion method to more than 5,000 asteroids with more than 60 good measurements in order to derive their sidereal rotation periods, spin axis orientations, and shape models. We derive unique spin state and shape solutions for 760 asteroids, including 163 new determinations. This corresponds to a success rate of about 15%, which is significantly higher than the success rate previously achieved using photometry from surveys.