Study of The Asteroid 2009DL46

2009 DL46 was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on 2009-February 28. This asteroid has a diameter of about 194 meters (119 to 268 meters) [1], and Brian Warner has obtained a rotation period of at least 10 hours [2]. The asteroid 2009 DL46 flew past Earth on May 24/2016 at a distance of about 6.2 lunar distances (0.0158293668567628 A.U) [3]. The NEOWISE mission had a great likelihood to observing this asteroid in early May. Radiotelescopes of Goldstone and Arecibo had planned to make observations of 2009 DL46. “Using the Goldstone facility, we had planned to make radar observations of 2009 DL46” said Landis, Rob R. (HQ-DG000). This asteroid is on list for possible human mission targets. From our Observatory, located in Pasto-Colombia, we captured several pictures, videos and astrometry data during several hours during three days. Our data was published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) and also appears at the web page of NEODyS [4]. The pictures and data of the asteroid were captured with the following equipment: CGE PRO 1400 CELESTRON (f/11 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope) and STL-1001 SBIG camera.. Astrometry was carried out, and we calculated the orbital elements. Summary and conclusions: We obtained the following orbital parameters: eccentricity = 0.30731 +/- 0.00025, semi-major axis = 1.460279 +/- 0.000532 A.U, orbital inclination = 7.9503 +/- 0.0048 deg, longitude of the ascending node = 63.45053 +/- 0.00034 deg, argument of perihelion = 159.8804 +/- 0.0024 deg, mean motion = 0.558535 +/- 0.000305 deg/d, perihelion distance = 1.01151363 +/- 3.39e-6 A.U, aphelion distance = 1.90904 +/- 0.00106 A.U, absolute magnitude = 22.5. The parameters were calculated based on 83 observations. Dates: 2016 May: 18 to 21 with mean residual = 0.29 arcseconds. The asteroid has an orbital period of 1.76 years (644.53 days). [1] http://newton.dm.unipi.it/neodys/index.php?pc=1.1.9&n=2009DL46. [2] http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/2009DL46/2009DL46_planning.html [3] http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2009%20DL46;orb=1;old=0;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#cad [4] http://newton.dm.unipi.it/neodys/index.php?pc=2.1.2&o=H78&ab=

The Asteroid 1998 WT24

The asteroid 1998 WT24 flew past Earth on Dec.11, 2015 at a distance of 11 lunar distances. Astrometry was carried out and we calculated the orbital elements

A small observatory with big projects

The Astronomical Observatory of the University of Nariño-Colombia was founded on March 2002. We have participated on several international meetings as speakers

The Asteroid 2012 QG42

From our observatory we captured several pictures and astrometry data during four days. We calculated the orbital elements based on 125 observations

Study of the Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring)

The comet called C/2013 A1 (SIDING SPRING) was discovered on January 3, 2013 in Australia. In January 28/2014, NASA announced that is preparing for the close encounter that will happen between the comet C/2013 A1 and Mars on October 19-2014. The Mission called “MAVEN” will insert in Mars orbit on september 21—2014

The Asteroid 2002 CE26

We obtained the light curve of the Asteroid 2002 CE26 and astrometry was carried out. We calculated the orbital elements. Our data was published by the MPC

The Asteroid 2000 ET70

The asteroid 2000 ET70 (162421) was discovered by Lincoln Laboratory ETS (LINEAR) in New Mexico on March 8, 2000. Whiteley (2001) classified 2000 ET70 as an X-type object: This asteroid belongs to an ambiguous group that includes objects that are large and dark, metallic.The composition of this asteroid is unknown.The asteroid was at 0.0454430 U.A from the Earth on February 19.85956 (2012) and it will be at approximately 0.1503270 A.U from the Earth on August 21.07061 (2012

The Asteroid 2000 ET70

The asteroid 2000 ET70 (162421) was discovered by Lincoln Laboratory ETS (LINEAR) in New Mexico on March 8, 2000. Whiteley (2001) classified 2000 ET70 as an X-type object: This asteroid belongs to an ambiguous group that includes objects that are large and dark, metallic.The composition of this asteroid is unknown.The asteroid was at 0.0454430 U.A from the Earth on February 19.85956 (2012) and it will be at approximately 0.1503270 A.U from the Earth on August 21.07061 (2012

Study of the comets C/2012 S1(ISON) and C/2013 A1(Siding spring)

C/2012 S1(ISON) The comet C/2012 S1(ISON) was discovered on September 24/2012 by Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok (Rusia) , and though it was expected to be very bright at the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, the close encounter with the Sun (November 28th /2013) was devastating; the comet couldn’t survive this event. In this work the comet’s light curve and the orbital parameters are obtained. We have photographed and studied the comet from the University of Nariño’s Observatory (Pasto-Colombia) since January 31st /2013. The brightness’ variation of a comet with respect to the heliocentric distance is given by the following equation: m = mo + 2.5 n log ( r ) + 5 log ( ∆ ) m = magnitude as observed from the Earth mo = absolute magnitude r = distance of the comet to the Sun = distance of the comet to the Earth n = index of cometary activity We also obtained the following orbital parameters: eccentricity = 1.000009, orbital inclination = 61.92926 deg, longitude of the ascending node = 295.72536 deg, argument of perihelion = 345.51426 deg, perihelion distance = 0.01249335 A.U. The parameters were calculated based on 22 observations (2013 Jan 31-May 17) with mean residual = 0.387 arcseconds. COMET C/2013 A1 (SIDING SPRING) The comet called C/2013 A1 (SIDING SPRING) was discovered on January 3/2013 in Australia. In January 28/2014, NASA announced that is preparing for the close encounter that will happen between the comet C/2013 A1 and Mars on October 19-2014. The Mission, called “MAVEN”, was inserted in Mars orbit on september 21/2014. The comet passed just 138,000 kilometers far from the surface of Mars. The probability that the comet collided with Mars was small but the dust particles emitted by the comet could cause damage to spacecrafts and probes that are in orbit around that planet. NASA made preparations to take all precautions. We captured images and astrometry data during several days. The pictures of the asteroid were captured with the following equipment: CGE PRO 1400 CELESTRON (f/11 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope) and STL-1001 SBIG camera. We obtained the light curve of the body. We calculated the orbital elements and obtained the following orbital parameters (Jan 21 to October 29): Eccentricity = 1.0005849, orbital inclination = 129.04413 deg, longitude of the ascending node = 300.97593 deg, argument of perihelion = 2.42011 deg, perihelion distance = 1.39876996 A.U. The parameters were calculated based on 32 observations with mean residual = 0.309 arcseconds. We also obtained the light curve of the body with our data (January to November/2014). The orbit had a perturbation of 7 minutes, 44 seconds