(317) Roxane satellite named Olympia

The first numbered satellite of asteroid (317) Roxane was recently named Olympias by the Working Group on Small Body Nomenclature (WGSBN). This satellite was discovered in 2009 by team members: W. J. Merline, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI); P. M. Tamblyn, Binary Astronomy, Dillon, CO, U.S.A., and SwRI; J. D. Drummond, Starfire Optical Range, Air Force Research Laboratory; J. C. Christou, Gemini Observatory; A. R. Conrad, W. M. Keck Observatory; B. Carry, Observatoire de Paris; C. R. Chapman, SwRI; C. Dumas, European Southern Observatory (Chile); D. D. Durda, SwRI; W. M. Owen, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and B. L. Enke, SwRI. 

This image shows how asteroid (317) Roxane may look under sunlight on November 17, 2020, with the exception of its new satellite Olympia.  Model 1049  is one of two models of (317) Roxane in the Database of Asteroid Models from Inversion Techniques (DAMIT). 

The Database of Asteroid Models from Inversion Techniques (DAMIT) is a database of three-dimensional asteroid models that were derived using inversion techniques. The database and its web interface are operated by The Astronomical Institute of the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. 

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

https://astro.troja.mff.cuni.cz/projects/damit/asteroid_models/view/1049

Link

(317) Roxane is a Main-belt Asteroid observable near 14th magnitude in the morning sky. Asteroid Roxane was discovered by A. Charlois, on September 11, 1891, at Nice, France.

References:
Circular 9099, (317) Roxane (December 2020)
MPEC 2020-V139: (317) Roxane I = Olympias  (2020 November 14)
MPEC 2020-Q225: DAILY ORBIT UPDATE (2020 August 29)
Database of Asteroid Models from Inversion Techniques (DAMIT)
JPL Small Body Database browser
Minor Planet Center orbit and observation database

Comet 133P/Elst-Pizzaro

Comet 133P/Elst-Pizzaro photographed in a 10-minute R-filter exposure obtained on August 23, 1996 with the 1.5-m Danish telescope at La Silla and the DFOSC multi-mode instrument. The observers were visiting astronomers Heike Rauer (Paris Observatory, Meudon France) and Hermann Boehnhardt (Munich Observatory, Germany). The field of view is 8.1 x 6.6 arc minutes with North up and East to the left. At the time of the observation, the comet was 1.68 AU from Earth and 2.68 AU from the Sun.

Cometary activity was initially found in photographs by Guido Pizarro and Eric W. Elst with the ESO 1-metre Schmidt telescope at the La Silla Observatory on July 14, 1996. Eric W. Elst reported the discovery of comet activity on August 7, 1997.

Elst-Pizarro is a transition object with dual status as both comet and asteroid. As an asteroid it is designated as (7968) Elst-Pizarro. The object was reported in 1979 as minor planet 1979 OW7 with its image on a photographic plate being completely stellar in appearance. it has the orbit of a Main-belt Asteroid with semi major axis of 3.160 AU and period of 5.62 years, low inclination of 1.4 degrees and very low eccentricity of 0.1606156. The object has an asteroidal Jupiter Tisserand parameter of 3.185

Credit: ESO La Silla Observatory

Comet 27P/Crommelin

Comet 27P/Crommelin photographed by Michael J.S. Belton on March 28, 1984 at 03:19 UT at Kitt Peak National Observatory with a 0.9 meter reflector telescope and RCA CCD and R band filter. The comet was 8 days past perihelion, 1.006 AU from the sun, 0.792 AU from earth, with a sun-comet-earth phase angle of 66.2 degrees. The comet shows a dust fan. This is one of the images that resulted from the comet Crommelin trial run for future observations of comets Halley and Giacobini-Zinner under the International Halley watch (IHW).

Comet 27P/Crommelin is named for Andrew C. D. Crommelin who used earlier observations and calculated its orbit in 1930. It had other names after earlier observers and discoveries and subsequent losses:
Comet Pons after Jean-Louis Pons found it on February 23, 1818 observing from Marseilles.
Comet Pons-Coggia-Winnecke after Jérôme E. Coggia found it on November 10, 1873 at Marseille, and independently by Friedrich A. T. Winnecke on November 11, 1873 at Strasbourg.
Comet Pons-Coggia-Winnecke-Forbes after Alexander F. I. Forbes found it on November 19, 1928 from Cape Town, South Africa.

Comet 27P/Crommelin is a Halley type comet with a period of 28.1 years. It last passed perihelion on August 4, 2011 with perihelion distance of 0.746971 AU.

Larson, S.M., IHW COMET NNSN CALIB EXPERIMENT DATA RECORD CROMMELIN V1.0, IHW-C-NNSN-3-EDR-CROMMELIN-V1.0, NASA Planetary Data System, 1991.

Comet 22P/Kopff

Comet 22P/Kopff imaged in the infrared at 8.28 micron wavelength with the Spirit III instrument on the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) spacecraft on September 11, 1996 at 15:11:56 UT The comet was 71 days past perihelion and 1.732 AU from the sun. The infrared image shows a dust coma and trail. Image from NASA Planetary Data System MSX Small Bodies Images node.

Kraemer, K., Lisse, C.M., Price, S., Mizuno, D., Walker, R.G., Farnham,T.L., and Makinen, T., AKOPFF. MSX-C-SPIRIT3-3-MSXSB-V1.0:KOPFF_AKOPFF_FIT. NASA Planetary Data System, 2005.

Comet 22P/Kopff was discovered August 22, 1906 by August Kopff at Königstuhl Observatory, Heidelberg, Germany at magnitude 11 on plate/photo taken on the discovery date. Comet 22P/Kopff has been observed on all perihelion returns except the perihelion passage of Nov 25, 1912. Comet 22P/Kopff passes perihelion on October 25, 2015 with perihelion distance 1.558814 AU.

Free online observing session Virtual Telescope project January 25

Free online observing session Virtual Telescope project January 25

Tuesday, January 25 - Gianluca Masi introduces a new PlaneWave 17", corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope at the Virtual Telescope project with this free online observing session. He will demonstrate the advanced capabilities of the telescope integrated with its Paramount ME robotic mount and SBIG STL-6303E, large format CCD camera.

All you need is to click the link to watch the event live over the internet on January 25 at 20:00 UT and watch and listen or join in the chat with others around the world.

Details are posted at the Facebook event page:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144667385588086

or Virtual Telescope Project:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=35753846929

The online, free event will be broadcasted live on our web TV here:
http://www.astrowebtv.org/

240P/NEAT

240P/NEAT
Originally uploaded by cbellh47

Comet 240P/NEAT on morning of November 8, 2010 with long curved dust tail.

Discovery of Comet Hartley 2 - 1986 Apparition

Comet Hartley 2 was discovered on March 15, 1986 by Malcolm Hartley at the U. K. Schmidt Telescope Unit, Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales. The comet was initially designated as 1986c in IAUC 4197.

Discovery image of comet 103P?Hartley
at 1986 03 15.59361
Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) with the UK Schmidt Telescope

The comet showed up as a diffuse streak on a photographic plate taken on March 15, 1986. M. Hartley made additional observations were made on March 17, and March 20, 1986. These three observations are given in IAUC 4197 and a preliminary parabolic orbit computed (e =1 assumed) . The initial calculated perihelion date of T = 1985 June 20.07 ET, showed that the comet was seven months post-perihelion and outbound from earth and sun. Earth distance = 3.476 AU. Solar Distance r = 4.452 AU putting the comet between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter. The initial magnitude was 17.5 T or "Total comet magnitude".

Subsequent observations in April 1986 by Oak Ridge Observatory and Palomar Observatory were submitted and the orbit refined confirming that the comet was had an elliptical orbit, e < 1, and was periodic with a short period (P < 200 years). 

Perihelion Date T = 1985 June 5.053 ET

Perihelion distance q = 0.96099 AU

eccentricty e =  0.71563

inclination i =  9.181 degrees

Period 6.21 years

Peri. = 174.670 

Node = 226.609 

semi-major axis a = 3.37933 AU 

Daily orbital motion n = 0.158657 degrees/day

The 1986 computed orbit shows that comet 103P/Hartley passed close to Jupiter on November 1982 and again in December 1993

Kazuo Kinoshita Comet Orbit Page for 103P shows close approach to Jupiter:

Jupiter  0.3255 AU on 19821102.5

Jupiter  0.3743 AU on 19931219.3

----------------------

MPC observatory code 413
Code Long.        cos          sin               Name
413 149.06608 0.855595 -0.516262  Siding Spring Observatory

The UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST) has an aperture of 1.2 metres and a very wide-angle field of view. The telescope was commissioned in 1973. The telescope was designed to photograph 6.6 x 6.6 degree areas of the night sky on plates 356 x 356 mm (14 x 14 inches) square.






------------------
Using MPCOBS on the Minor Planet Center web site
1986 observations of comet 103P:

0103PJ86E020  A1986 03 15.59361 11 25 25.15 -07 44 15.6          17.5 T 10592413
0103PJ86E020  A1986 03 17.67951 11 23 26.88 -07 27 42.7                 10592413
0103PJ86E020  A1986 03 20.60691 11 20 45.41 -07 04 21.9                 10592413
0103PJ86E020  A1986 04 04.12772 11 09 13.39 -05 11 29.2                 10592801
0103PJ86E020  A1986 04 05.16007 11 08 32.84 -05 03 52.1                 10592801
0103PJ86E020  A1986 04 05.20583 11 08 30.96 -05 03 31.3          18   T 10592675
0103PJ86E020  A1986 04 05.21069 11 08 30.75 -05 03 28.7                 10592675
0103PJ86E020  A1986 04 05.21750 11 08 30.50 -05 03 26.0                 10592675
0103PJ86E020  A1986 04 08.15569 11 06 41.19 -04 42 22.9                 10592675
0103PJ86E020  A1986 04 08.16097 11 06 40.99 -04 42 20.5                 10592675
0103PJ86E020  A1986 04 08.17083 11 06 40.64 -04 42 16.4                 10592675
0103PJ86E020  A1986 05 10.15791 10 58 11.07 -01 59 12.5                 10794691
0103PJ86E020  A1986 05 10.17935 10 58 11.11 -01 59 08.3                 10794691
0103PJ86E020  A1986 05 10.19726 10 58 11.16 -01 59 04.9                 10794691
0103PJ86E020  A1986 05 12.08925 10 58 17.95 -01 53 34.6                 10794801
0103PJ86E020  A1986 06 07.15793 11 05 31.14 -01 23 08.0                 10892691
0103PJ86E020  A1986 06 07.16865 11 05 31.41 -01 23 08.9                 10892691
0103PJ86E020  A1986 06 07.22340 11 05 32.86 -01 23 09.9                 10892691

------------------------------------------
IAUC 4197 1986 March 24

COMET HARTLEY (1986c)

     Malcolm Hartley, U.K. Schmidt Telescope Unit, Siding Spring,
reports his discovery of a comet of magnitude ~ 17-18 with a faint
tail evident:

           1986 UT             R.A.   (1950.0)   Decl.

           Mar. 15.59361     11 22 52.78     - 7 27 45.7
                17.67951     11 20 54.53     - 7 11 14.2
                20.60691     11 18 13.08     - 6 47 55.4

     The following parabolic orbital elements are very uncertain.
A low-inclination, short-period orbit gives similar residuals.

         T = 1985 June 20.07 ET  Peri. = 185.39
                                 Node  = 179.23   1950.0
         q =   0.0759 AU         Incl. =  59.76

     1986 ET     R.A. (1950.0) Decl.      p        r       m1

     Mar. 11    11 27.33    - 8 04.2    3.476    4.452    17.2
          21    11 17.86    - 6 44.8
          31    11 09.42    - 5 27.2    3.733    4.678    17.6
     Apr. 10    11 02.34    - 4 15.0
          20    10 56.79    - 3 11.1    4.118    4.898    18.0
          30    10 52.84    - 2 17.0
     May  10    10 50.41    - 1 33.4    4.594    5.114    18.4
          20    10 49.40    - 1 00.2
          30    10 49.65    - 0 36.8    5.120    5.325    18.8

1986 March 24                  (4197)            Daniel W. E. Green

-------------------------

IAUC 4200: 1986c;

PERIODIC COMET HARTLEY 2 (1986c)
     The following precise positions have been reported:

    1986 UT           R.A.   (1950.0)  Decl.    m1   Observer

    Apr.  5.16007   11 06 00.40   - 4 47 36.4        Schwartz
          5.20583   11 05 58.52   - 4 47 15.6   18   Gibson
          5.21069   11 05 58.31   - 4 47 13.0          "
          5.21750   11 05 58.06   - 4 47 10.3          "

G. Schwartz (Oak Ridge Observatory).  1.5-m reflector.  Weak image.
   Measurer: C.-Y. Shao.
J. Gibson (Palomar Observatory).  1.5-m reflector + CCD.

     A computation from the observations Mar. 15-Apr. 5 confirms
this to be a short-period comet (cf. IAUC 4197).  The solar elongation
would have been too small to permit observations near perihelion.
The revolution period is somewhat uncertain, but the
comet evidently made a rather close approach to Jupiter in 1982.

          T = 1985 June 5.053 ET
      Peri. = 174.670                    e =   0.71563
      Node  = 226.609   1950.0           a =   3.37933 AU
      Incl. =   9.181                    n =   0.158657
          q =   0.96099 AU               P =   6.21 years

     1986 ET     R.A. (1950.0) Decl.      p        r       m1

     Mar. 31    11 09.61    - 5 26.2    2.362    3.312    17.6
     Apr. 10    11 03.09    - 4 13.4
          20    10 58.59    - 3 10.7    2.641    3.446    18.0
          30    10 56.16    - 2 20.6
     May  10    10 55.68    - 1 43.8    3.001    3.575    18.4
          20    10 56.98    - 1 20.1
          30    10 59.81    - 1 08.7    3.407    3.699    18.8
     June  9    11 03.96    - 1 08.3
          19    11 09.21    - 1 17.7    3.825    3.818    19.2
          29    11 15.36    - 1 35.7
     July  9    11 22.25    - 2 01.1    4.230    3.932    19.6

1986 April 8                   (4200)              Brian G. Marsden

-------------------------

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 (1986c) on November 2, 1982 near Jupiter

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 (1986c) on June 5, 1985 at perihelion.
Comet elongation low 

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 (1986c) on March 15, 1986 at discovery.
Comet near earth opposition. 

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 (1986c) on December 19, 1993 near Jupiter

References:

UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST): http://www.aao.gov.au/ukst/
IAUC 4197: http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iauc/04100/04197.html
IAUC 4200: http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iauc/04200/04200.html
Seiichi Yoshida Comet Page: http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0103P/index.html

Kazuo Kinoshita Comet Orbit Home Page: http://jcometobs.web.fc2.com/pcmtn/0103p.htm

Cometary Orbit Viewer: http://www.astroarts.com/simulation/cometary-orbit.php
CDS Image Server discovery image of comet 103P from the "Second Epoch Survey" of the southern sky was made by the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) with the UK Schmidt Telescope digitized and compressed by the SScI: http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/java/alapre-ok.pl?-c=11+25+25.15+-07+44+15.6&out=image&fmt=FITS&resolution=FULL&qual=SERC+ER+DSS2