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News from the observatory of the January 30th 2008: |
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This is the principal observational activity of the observatory. In Switzerland there are less than ten amateurs devoted to the astrometry of minor planets. In the 60’s there was the astronomer Paul Wild. In Zimmerwald, during his photographic search of supernovae, he discovered 97 minor planets and 7 comets. STATITICS You can find here some statistics of the position measurements taken in Gnosca. The total number of measurements is no less than 11’000 (at the end of 2005). A list of the measures taken on Near Earth Objects is here. The list counts 818 positions (end 2005). 143-Gnosca try to confirm new discoveries submitted in the Confirmation Page of the Minor Planet Center. DISCOVERIES The first minor planet discovered at Gnosca was in 1998 with the Celestron 8-inch telescope. It received from the MPC the provisional designation 1998VT5. The image of the discovery is here. This minor planet is now numbered 26321 (a nice prime number). Other discoveries followed. At the beginning of 2008 the total number of discovered minor planets was 109 (69th rank worldwide). All these bodies are situated in the asteroidal main belt. The MPC gives this official list. 33 objects were already named. They are: 12931 Mario; 12932 Conedera; 15077 EdyAlge; 16110 Paganetti; 17190 RetoPezzoli; 18872 Tammann; 18874 RaoulBehrend; 20624 DarioZanetti; 21650 Tilgner; 22769 AureliaNora; 22898 Falce; 29753 Silvo; 31555 Wheeler; 33433 Maurilia; 45261 DeCoen; 45305 PaulScherrer; 47164 Ticino; 50033 Perelman; 56100 LuisaPolli; 59239 AlHazen; 61195 Martinoli; 61384 ArturoRomer; 61386 Namikoshi; 61401 Schiff; 61402 FrancisEveritt; 62071 Voegtli; 63129 Courtemanche; 66939 Franscini; 67085 Oppenheimer; 67235 Fairbank; 70179 BeppeChiara; 91428 Cortesi; 91429 MicheleBianda. The citations are here. In may 2001 Freimut Börngen , a german professional astronomer of the Observatory of Tautenburg in Jena assigned the name Sposetti to the minor planet number 22354, discovered by himself. LIGHTCURVES All lightcurve measurements are sent to the site CdR&CdL managed by Dr. Raoul Behrend, an astronomer of the Geneva University. ASTEROIDAL OCCULTATIONS The first observed positive occultation was in january 7th 2000. The star GSC 2470 00150 was occulted by (423) Diotima. In this animation one can see Diotima 30 minutes before e 50 minutes after the occultation. The picture of the occultation is here. In december 12th 2004 was observed the second occultation. The star TYC 0144-01868-1 was occulted by (85)Io. I prepared an animation of the pre- and post-event. Here you can see the driftscan image. The third positive occultation was observed the march 11th 2005. The minor planet (1315) Bronislawa occulted the star TYC 0799-01487-1. The duration was 9,1s and the brightness drop about 5mag. The driftscan picture shows this event. In the night of september 19th 2006 was observed the fourth positive event. TYC 1879-02151-1 was occulted by the minor planet (144) Vibilia. This driftscan shows the occultation. Some statistics: Year 2000: (432)Diotima; (516)Amherstia Year 2001: (654)Zelinda; (569)Misa: Year 2002_1; 2002_3: (2868) Upupa; (1051) Merope; (1113) Katja; (8433) Brachyrhynchus; (1112) Polonia Year 2003_1; (275) Sapientia; (258) Tyche Year 2004_1; 2004_3: (308) Polyxo; (91322) 2001XR254; (121) Hermione; 2003AZ84; (85) Io; (3955) Bruckner Year 2005_1; 2005_2; 2005_3; (6341) 1993 UN3; (157) Dejanira; (1317) Silvretta; (1315) Bronislawa; (169) Zelia; (8359) 1989 WD; (798) Ruth; (1994) Shane; (2222) Lermontov; (397) Vienna Year 2006_1; 2006_2; 2006_3: (1238) Predappia; (3939) Huruhata; (2222) Lermontov; ( 979 ) Ilsewa; ( 144 ) Vibilia; ( 519 ) Sylvania; ( 1358 ) Gaika; ( 409 ) Aspasia; ( 1996 ) Adams; ( 1094 ) Siberia; ( 881 ) Athene; ( 1804 ) Chebotarev; ( 2934 ) Aristophanes; ( 1545 ) Thernoe NEO CP Objects MEASUREMENTS published in MPEC’s. YEAR 2003 2003 YM137 (PHA) YEAR 2004 2004 BG11 YEAR 2005 2005 AK3 YEAR 2006 2006AR2 YEAR 2007 C/2006XA1 (LINEAR) (comet) YEAR 2008 2008AX1 (PHA) |
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