The first serious astronomical work we have engaged in at the Observatory is a program of asteroid astrometry and asteroid discovery. There are 700,000+ known asteroids. Over 300,000 have been given official number designations and the remainder have orbits that are not known well enough to be given an official number designation. Precise astrometry (position measurement) of the numbered and un-numbered asteroids is needed to improve the predicted orbits of these asteroids. Some of the benefits of improving the orbital predictions of asteroids include:
The 20" telescope and CCD camera are capable of reaching below 18th magnitude which puts a good portion of the 700,000+ known asteroids within its reach, including a very large number of those with uncertain orbits. This is a field where the Observatory can make a real contribution.
We have been using the Observatory since May of 1998 to image asteroids. The images are made over a period of an hour to several hours. Then the positions are measured to arc-second accuracy and sent to the International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at Harvard. After our first astrometry report was accepted and judged accurate by the Minor Planet Center, we were designated observatory #747.
The Observatory has also been used to discover fifty-five new asteroids! These are:
Designation | Constellation | Discoverer | Date of discovery |
---|---|---|---|
11739 Baton Rouge (1998 SG27) | Aquarius | Walt Cooney / Matt Collier | September 24th, 1998 |
44370 1998 SK35 | Aquarius | Walt Cooney / Katrina Wefel | September 26th, 1998 |
85708 1998 SL35 | Aquarius | Walt Cooney / Katrina Wefel | September 26th, 1998 |
20756 2000 BC19 (1998 UD15)* | Aquarius | Walt Cooney / Colleen Myers | October 23rd, 1998 |
85805 1998 WS6 | Taurus | Walt Cooney / Patrick Motl | November 23rd, 1998 |
306444 1998 WT6 | Taurus | Walt Cooney / Patrick Motl | November 23rd, 1998 |
164761 1998 WU6 | Taurus | Walt Cooney / Patrick Motl | November 23rd, 1998 |
97625 2000 EC121 (1998 WV6)* | Taurus | Walt Cooney / Patrick Motl | November 23rd, 1998 |
49349 1998 WW6 | Taurus | Walt Cooney / Patrick Motl | November 23rd, 1998 |
49350 Katheynix (1998 WQ8) | Taurus | Walt Cooney | November 26th, 1998 |
47045 Seandaniel (1998 WK9) | Taurus | Walt Cooney | November 28th, 1998 |
71586 2000 DV66 (1998 YJ)* | Taurus | Walt Cooney | December 15th, 1998 |
64023 2001 SO157 (1998 YK)* | Canis Minor | Walt Cooney | December 15th, 1998 |
17293 2743 P-L (1998 YL)* | Leo | Walt Cooney | December 15th, 1998 |
79867 1998 YO1 | Taurus | Matt Collier / Geoff Burks | December 16th, 1998 |
49454 1998 YH22 | Canis Minor | Walt Cooney / Terry Martin | December 29th, 1998 |
20430 Stout (1999 AC3) | Gemini | Walt Cooney / Susannah Lazar | January 9th, 1999 |
15343 1994 PB1 (1999 AD3)* | Gemini | Walt Cooney / Susannah Lazar | January 9th, 1999 |
59172 1999 AE3 | Cancer | Walt Cooney | January 9th, 1999 |
20140 Costitx (1996 QT1 [1999 BR12])* | Cancer | Walt Cooney / Katrina Wefel | January 18th, 1999 |
15072 Landolt (1999 BS12) | Cancer | Walt Cooney / Patrick Motl | January 24th, 1999 |
74439 Brenden (1999 CT2) | Cancer | Walt Cooney / Ethan Kandler | February 5th, 1999 |
79912 Terrell (1999 CC3) | Cancer | Walt Cooney / Ethan Kandler | February 9th, 1999 |
85878 Guzik (1999 CF8) | Cancer | Walt Cooney / Ethan Kandler | February 12th, 1999 |
162158 Merrillhess (1999 CZ9) | Gemini | Walt Cooney / Ethan Kandler | February 14th, 1999 |
91239 1999 CA10 | Virgo | Matt Collier | February 14th, 1999 |
101722 Pursell (1999 EX4) | Virgo | Walt Cooney | March 9th, 1999 |
166000 2002 AO47 (1999 FC)* | Virgo | Walt Cooney | March 15th, 1999 |
53256 Sinitiere (1999 FD) | Virgo | Walt Cooney | March 15th, 1999 |
52647 1997 YD4 (1999 FE)* | Virgo | Walt Cooney | March 15th, 1999 |
53257 1999 FF | Virgo | Walt Cooney | March 15th, 1999 |
101777 Robhoskins (1999 GF4) | Virgo | Walt Cooney / Meredith Howard | April 12th, 1999 |
66399 1999 LH | Ophiuchus | Walt Cooney / Merrill Hess | June 4th, 1999 |
64972 2002 AT9 (1999 OA1)* | Capricornus | Walt Cooney / Merrill Hess | July 16th, 1999 |
121206 1999 PO3 | Aquarius | Walt Cooney | August 12th, 1999 |
41838 2000 WK59 (1999 PG6)* | Aquarius | Walt Cooney / Merrill Hess | August 13th, 1999 |
121543 1999 VG1 | Aries | Walt Cooney / Patrick Motl | November 2nd, 1999 |
306501 1999 VH1 | Aries | Walt Cooney / Patrick Motl | November 2nd, 1999 |
121544 1999 VJ1 | Aries | Walt Cooney / Patrick Motl | November 2nd, 1999 |
70723 1999 VK1 | Aries | Walt Cooney / Patrick Motl | November 2nd, 1999 |
60177 1999 VU6 | Aries | Walt Cooney | November 7th, 1999 |
350491 1999 VW8 | Aries | Walt Cooney | November 8th, 1999 |
43083 Frankconrad (1999 WR) | Aries | Walt Cooney | November 18th, 1999 |
16107 Chanmugam (1999 WQ2) | Aries | Walt Cooney | November 26th, 1999 |
66946 1999 XT1 | Aries | Walt Cooney | December 2nd, 1999 |
75249 1999 XU1 | Aries | Walt Cooney | December 2nd, 1999 |
103221 1999 YC5 | Cancer | Walt Cooney | December 28th, 1999 |
103222 1999 YD5 | Cancer | Walt Cooney | December 28th, 1999 |
80698 2000 CH1 | Leo | Walt Cooney | February 3rd, 2000 |
69934 1998 US13 (2000 CG33)* | Leo | Walt Cooney / Dave Thomas | February 4th, 2000 |
213127 2000 DP3 | Cancer | Walt Cooney | February 27th, 2000 |
122067 2000 HJ5 | Libra | Walt Cooney | April 26th, 2000 |
81531 2000 HK14 | Libra | Walt Cooney / Merrill Hess | April 28th, 2000 |
155680 2000 JU10 | Libra | Walt Cooney | May 8th, 2000 |
55215 2001 RG54 (2000 KR5)* | Libra | Walt Cooney / Merrill Hess | May 26th, 2000 |
*These asteroids have been either considered “lost,” and then redesignated when rediscovered, or have been traced back to an earlier, more complete discovery. The designations in parenthesis or brackets are the ones originally given to the observatory.
You may get ephemerides for any or all of the asteroid discoveries from the MPC’s Minor Planet & Comet Ephemeris Service.
For a visual reference of the new asteroids locations, please visit this page.
Chart reprinted here courtesy of The Advocate.
To date we have submitted over 1700 astrometric measurements of 246 different asteroids including the 55 discoveries listed above. The other asteroids we have contributed astrometric measurements on are listed on this page.
Last updated by Frederick J. Barnett on Friday, November 2, 2018, 12:43 PM.