An exciting new Asteroid Campaign is about to begin:
OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Targets!
The campaign is a study of Astrometry and Photometry on 70 Carbonaceous Asteroids similar in type to the target of the OSIRIS-REx Mission. This
is an opportunity for amateur astronomers to participate in a long-term citizen science project that will contribute to basic scientific understanding of near-Earth objects (NEOs). To participate, fill out the registration form here. You can also find all the requirements here. There is also a really fantastic FAQ going over any questions you may have about this.
There are currently 6 of the 70 Targets visible: The headline act, Asteroid (101955) 1999 RQ36, only sneaks above the horizion at our New Mexico Skies Site for about one hour a night, but will be a good target for our southern Scopes, at Sidiing Spring Observatory, when they come online in the coming weeks. Almost all of the 70 targets are numbered objects (which means they have good multi-opposition orbits) and many are PHAs (Potentially Hazardous Asteroids).
Currently at our New Mexico Skies Site, the following objects are visable for a good part of the night: 10302, 138911, 162173, 163000 & last but not least 141018 is a bright Mag 15 so a good target for beginners. You can find a list of all of the Targets
here.
Get their ephemeris and co-ords
here by entering the numbered objects above, one per line, and don't forget your observatory code or Lat/Long, which can be found
here.
You can watch a quick video tutorial about filling out the registration form for each telescope and gathing and entering the ephemeris information
here.
Gaspra - Galileo Courtesy Nasa
Please join us at
iTelescope.Net to take part in this event! This is your chance to be part of the history of this 13 year $1B NASA Goddard Space Center - New Frontiers Mission, and work with the University of Arizona. It is also very important, as
(101955) 1999 RQ36 has a mean diameter of 560m, is the most dangerous PHA, a virtual impactor, and has a 1:1800 chance of hitting the earth in 2182.
