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Observations of object "Asteroid":

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 7.8, est. to be in Bootes)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Apr 7 03:40:00 2019 UT   Obs. no.: 2100

This evening, I was able to spot Asteroid Pallas which was four degrees below & left of the bright star Arcturus with my 10X50 Binoculars. This was the first time I have ever seen this asteroid. That made me happy.

Asteroid (Asteroid)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Oct 12 00:15:00 2017 UT   Obs. no.: 2032

This evening I am watching the close flyby of asteroid NEA 2012 TC4 online using the Slooh wide field & half a meter telescopes. This asteroid will come within 26,000 miles of Earth in a few hours but I 'm able to watch it now on the Slooh telescopes. The asteroid looks like a streak in the sky so far.

Asteroid (Asteroid)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Oct 12 00:00:00 2017 UT   Obs. no.: 2032

This evening, I am currently watching the close flyby of Asteroid NEA 2012 TC4 on the online Slooh wide field & half a meter telescopes. In about 3 hours or so this asteroid will come within 26,000 of Earth but the Slooh telescopes are seeing them now which is allowing myself to see them now. Now I will go back to watching the asteroid.

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 6.3, est. to be in Capricornus, Est. RaDec 20h.44m.6; -25.34)
Observer: Alex Mataringa (e-mail: melhonar@gmail.com)
Instrument: 102-mm refractor   Location: Prilipeti, Banat, Romania
Light pollution: none   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Wed Aug 24 19:00:00 2011 UT   Obs. no.: 1876

Minor planet 4 Vesta, in Capricornus, mag.6.3.Spacecraft Dawn in orbit of the asteroid.

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 5.5, est. to be in Ophiuchus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Jun 6 03:15:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1665

This evening I observed the asteroid Vesta with my 127mm MAK. In my scope Vesta showed a small disk that was yellow. That surprised me because in my 10X50 binoculars Vesta seemed to have an orange tint to it. Even though I couldn't see any surface detail, I still enjoyed the telescopic view of Vesta.

Asteroid (Asteroid)
Observer: Christina & Ryan (e-mail: wildcardssuck@yahoo.com)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: Traverse City, Michigan, USA
Light pollution: none   
Time: Sun Jul 31 04:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1273

Wow! We have just seen somthing amazing! What we thought was just a shooting star, it turned into a bright green/blue explosion in our eastern sky. Just wondering what it could have been. We saw this Saturday, July 31, 2005 at around 11:30 PM

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 7.5, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Dec 16 03:00:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 922

Tonight, I observered Asteroid Ceres at 200X. Ceres' disk was rather small. The disk color seemed to be either a very light tan or a very light orange. The disks of Jupiter's moons are much brighter looking. In fact, nearby Saturn's moon Titan's disk, while being much smaller than Ceres' disk, still looked brighter in the telescope.

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 7, est. to be in Virgo)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Tue May 20 02:00:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 813

Tonight, my friend, Joe Cseh and I did some binocular astronomy at his house. We observed Asteroid Vesta in 10X50 binoculars. Vesta has an orange tint to it. We also shocked ourselves by being able to view M104, the Sombrero Galaxy from his light polluted front yard in binoculars. We also observed a number of binocular double stars.

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 5.9, est. to be in Virgo, Est. RaDec 12h41m, +9d12')
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Lewisberry, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: poor
Time: Thu Mar 27 03:00:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 794

I revisited asteroid 4 Vesta on Thursday morning after the skies cleared. The brightest minor planet was located west of a line between Epsilon and Delta Virginis, just south of Rho Virginis (see http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Bright/2003/00004.html for an emphemeris). Before the fog rolled in I did a bit of Messier galaxy hopping (M49, M58, M59, M60, and M61) since Vesta is currently located in the heart of the eastern portion of the Virgo Cluster. Observed earlier were Jupiter, M81, M82, and NGC 2903. The seeing was rather mediocre so I used only 162x.

Asteroid (Asteroid)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch refractor   Location: Lewisberry, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: poor   Seeing: poor
Time: Tue Oct 1 01:40:00 2002 UT   Obs. no.: 689

Despite rather poor transparency I managed to observe the four asteroids that are prominent this month using the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg's 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at 162 (40mm U.O. MK-70) and 259x (25mm U.O. MK-70). I also loooked at a few deep-sky objects along the way (M34, M30, M2, and Eta Persei) as well as two planets. A very hazy southern sky prevented me from checking on the status of V4743. I started with 15 Eunomia (magnitude 8.2), which was located in Pegasus (p.82, Uranometria 2000.0 volume I, 2nd edition). The next, 7 Iris (magnitude 8.3), was situated in Aquarius (p.103, I) and formed a faux "double star" with a ~8.5 magnitude field star. Moving to Cetus (p.120, II) I tracked down 18 Melpomene (magnitude 7.8) ten minutes later. The fourth and final minor planet of the night was the very first to be discovered (by Giuseppe Piazzi on January 1st, 1801), 1 Ceres (magnitude 7.6), which was also positioned in Cetus (p.140, II). Ephemerides for these "vermin of the skies" can be found at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Bright/2002/index.html. I finished the night with Neptune and Uranus at 259x.

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 9-10, est. to be in Hercules)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Lewisberry, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Aug 18 06:18:00 2002 UT   Obs. no.: 677

Things were not looking very good last night in south central Pennsylvania for a successful observation of the NEA 2002 NY40. However, my persistence paid off in spades as I was fortunate enough to have a hole in the overcast develop on Sunday morning around 6:00 UT. Using the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain, which is not the easiest instrument to do this sort of observing with by the way, I located 2002 NY40 in the constellation of Hercules at 6:18 UT and tracked it for over 20 minutes. Magnifications of 162 (40mm University Optics MK-70), 259 (25mm U.O. MK-70), 324 (20mm Meade Wide Angle), 381 (17mm Pro-Optics Ploessl), and 498x (13mm Tele Vue Ploessl) were employed. At 498x it was quite difficult to keep the asteroid in view for very long. :-) I'd observed the speedy NEA 1996 JA1 with the same telescope 6 years ago but 2002 NY40 was much swifter, the fastest natural object that I've ever seen through a telescope other than the occasional meteor. Afterwards a fellow ASH member put C/2002 O4 (Hoenig) into view using coordinates that I supplied to him. The transparency was not very good but the comet was nevertheless visible. At 118x (55mm U.O. Ploessl), 202 (32mm U.O. Koenig-II), and 259x Comet Hoenig did not appear to be appreciably different than my last view of it a week before at Stellafane. The coma was diffuse and poorly condensed. I also was able to observe a number of denizens of the deep-sky through the 17" (at 118x) and its 5" f/5 finder - M57, M92, Stock 2, the Double Cluster, the Alpha Persei Association, Almach, M34, M15, M31, and Gamma Arietis - before the clouds returned.

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 7.6, est. to be in Monoceros, Est. RaDec 7h36m, +13d49')
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: poor   Seeing: good
Time: Wed Mar 1 02:15:00 2000 UT   Obs. no.: 514

There are currently a number of bright asteroids just waiting to be observed. On this hazy Tuesday night I first tracked down with ease 2 Pallas (magnitude 7.6; 7h36m, +13d49'), which was just a bit north of M47 and slightly west of another open cluster NGC 2423. Next came much fainter 7 Iris (magnitude 8.9; 8h29m, +11d00') which was a bit more difficult to locate with certainty. Finally, I found 1 Ceres (magnitude 7.2; 12h50m, +12d28'), which was situated to the northeast of the galaxy M59 in Virgo. A daily ephemeris for each of these asteroids can be downloaded from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Bright/2000/index.html. I used the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at the ASH Naylor Observatory located near Lewisberry, PA and a 55mm University Optics Ploessl (118x) for my minor planet hunting. I looked at a few other celestial objects with this telescope as well - Saturn, M47, NGC 2423, M46, M58, M59, M60, and another binary star that is on the 33 Doubles in Leo list, namely Struve 1503. Also observed earlier in the evening were M41, Jupiter, Saturn, the Double Cluster, and M44 using the ASH 12.5" f/6.5 Cave Newtonian.

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 7.0, est. to be in Taurus, Est. RaDec 4h21m, 17d25')
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Nov 29 09:55:00 1998 UT   Obs. no.: 425

Before closing the dome at the ASH Naylor Observatory (http://www.msd.org/obs.htm) I had a final look at the largest minor planet, asteroid 1 Ceres. I have been following the progress of this 1000 km sized celestial body as it approached Aldebaran and then ventured "into" the Hyades. Ceres, which reached opposition on 11/28 and was thus at a maximum brightness of 7.0 magnitude, was located to the west of delta 1 Tauri.

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 8.3, est. to be in Pisces, Est. RaDec 23h40m,-1.0d)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Sep 11 02:10:00 1998 UT   Obs. no.: 395

The last celestial object that I viewed in a rather short observing session was the asteroid 2 Pallas (at 118x), which will reach opposition on the September 16th. This 570x525x482 km minor planet was located just north of Jupiter (page 259 Uranometria 2000.0). Pallas, the second asteroid to be discovered, was due east of a pair of field stars that formed an acute right triangle with a third field star. All three stars and Pallas (~magnitude 8.3) were of a similar brightness. Other objects logged: Epsilon Bootis, M3, M14, M10, M12, Nu Scorpii, M4, M80, M107, M62, M8, M23, M21, M24 and NGC 6603, M22, M28, Barnard's Star, and Jupiter.

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 6.6, est. to be in Cetus)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 63-mm binoculars   Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Nov 6 02:40:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 251

I located asteroid 4 Vesta with my Celestron Pro 9x63's from a nearby ball field. Situated currently in Cetus to the southeast of Saturn the 6.6 magnitude asteroid was easy to see. I also observed M37, M36, M38, M45, the Hyades, the Alpha Persei Association, the Double Cluster, M34, M31, M15, M42, NGC 1981, Epsilon Lyrae, Albireo, Jupiter and Saturn.

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 6.6, est. to be in Cetus, Est. RaDec 1h33m, -2d30')
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: severe   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Fri Oct 31 02:10:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 247

Asteroid 4 Vesta, which is about 530 kilometers in diameter and was at opposition on 10/17, is currently southeast of Saturn. When I observed Vesta again on 11/2 there was a small but noticeable change in its position.

Asteroid (Asteroid, est. mag 6.6, est. to be in Cetus, Est. RaDec 1h33m, -2d30')
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: severe   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Fri Oct 31 02:10:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 247

Asteroid 4 Vesta, which is about 530 kilometers in diameter and was at opposition on 10/17, is currently southeast of Saturn. When I observed Vesta again on 11/2 there was a small but noticeable change in its position.

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