Asteroid Zoo Talk

New asteroid found ?

  • BartJSimpson by BartJSimpson

    Hi,
    I may have discovered an unkonwn asteroid. It's at 8 o' clock (near one of the black artefacts) and moving towardsthe center of the image. The trajectory of (398729) 2012 XL124 does not really fit.

    Regards,
    Dirk

    Posted

  • MvGulik by MvGulik

    Its definitely not asteroid (391325), as the trajectories don't match.
    (A currently known asteroid can have some uncertainty, which might put it in a other location than expected, but even than its trajectory is still virtually the same.)

    (I have to go, but will take a closer look later.)

    Correction: Seems I mistook your (398729) target for (391325)

    Posted

  • MvGulik by MvGulik

    After overlaying a astoplot view of the area with (398729) in it, it seems to me like its a potential candidate. Although its location is a bit off, its trajectory is pretty close. Its magnitude level of 20.3 seem (at first sight) not to wrong either.

    JPL Small-Body Database Browser gives (398729) a "condition code: 0 = good", which makes it less likely that the one you spotted is (398729).

    All in all, I think there is a very good change this is a new/unknown one. But I personally would not completely rule out (398729) yet.

    if (398729) can be spotted in a other AZ set from the same CSS master frame, that would definitely rule out (398729). (This is a bit tricky, as AZ set's are not strictly ordered in a useful way.)

    Posted

  • MvGulik by MvGulik

    Found the left-neighboring AZ-set to be AAZ00076x4
    I did not see any potential asteroid signs in that set. (Bummer, as that's not really helpful here.)

    • Azoo suggest there is a asteroid (229996) here at m19.9,
    • And astplot gives:
      (229996) 2000 CS17, m19.9
      (398729) 2012 XL124, m20.3

    Posted

  • BartJSimpson by BartJSimpson

    Thx for your helpful analysis.

    So, it's getting interesting. 😃 Maybe it's a new one, maybe not.

    How to proceed here?

    Posted

  • MvGulik by MvGulik in response to BartJSimpson's comment.

    How to proceed here?

    I'm not to sure about that at the moment, most paths probably involve searching for scraps of information to lower, or eliminate, potential uncertainties.
    Finding an accurate time on when the CSS master frame was taken, would be one I think.

    Mind you, if you found a new asteroid, no amount of certainty will change that. 😃
    (Although, the same is of course also true for the other case.)

    If, in my pursuit of learning for the joy of learning, I find something, I will post it here.
    (But other stuff is also starting to ask for some attention. So that might take some time.)

    Posted