The database of the Nikolaev Astronomical Observatory as a unit of an international virtual observatory

Results of the development and organization of the digital database of the Nikolaev Astronomical Observatory (NAO) are presented. At present, three telescopes are connected to the local area network of NAO. All the data obtained, and results of data processing are entered into the common database of NAO. The daily average volume of new astronomical information obtained from the CCD instruments ranges from 300MB up to 2GB, depending on the purposes and conditions of observations. The overwhelming majority of the data are stored in the FITS format. Development and further improvement of storage standards, procedures of data handling and data processing are being carried out. It is planned to create an astronomical web portal with the possibility to have interactive access to databases and telescopes. In the future, this resource may become a part of an international virtual observatory. There are the prototypes of search tools with the use of PHP and MySQL. Efforts for getting more links to the Internet are being made

Some results from the National Observatory of Turkey, Kazan State University, and Nikolaev Astronomical Observatory on small bodies of the solar system

A scientific collaboration between TÜBİTAK National Observatory (Turkey), Kazan State University (Russia) and Nikolaev Astronomical Observatory (Ukraine) involves observations of minor planets and near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) with the 1.5 m Russian-Turkish telescope (RTT150). Regular observations of selected asteroids in the range of 11-18 magnitudes began in 2004 with the view of determining masses of selected asteroids, improving the orbits of the NEAs, and studying physical characteristics of selected asteroids from photometric observations. More than 3000 positions of 53 selected asteroids and 11 NEAs have been obtained with an internal error in the range of 30-300 mas for a single determination. Photometric reductions of more than 4000 CCD frames are in progress. Masses of 21 asteroids were estimated through dynamical method using the ground-based optical observations, mainly from the RTT150 and Minor Planet Center. A comparison of the observational results from the RTT150 in 2004-2005 with observations of the same objects at other observatories allows us to conclude that RTT150 can be used for ground-based support in astrometry for the space mission GAIA. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Position observations of NEAs at the RTT150

In 2004-2007, 560 observations of 17 Near-Earth Asteroids of 15-21 magnitudes were made at the Russian-Turkish telescope (RTT150). The reduction was made using reference stars from the UCAC2 and USNO-B1 catalogues. The comparison of the observed and calculated positions of the asteroids using the HORIZONS system gave standard errors of a single position in the range 0.05÷H 0.50″. Analysis of the (O - C) is given in this paper. © 2008 American Institute of Physics

Reference stars compiled catalogue around extragalactic radio sources. Reduction techniques and the first results

Some differential reference stars catalogues around extragalactic radio sources obtained from photographic and CCD-observations at different observatories are considered. Compiled catalogue of star positions in fields of 30 ×30 is intended for reduction of ERS optical observations using the telescopes equipped with CCD-cameras. Photographic observations of the fields around 74 ERS were made at the Pulkovo Observatory, around 115 ERS – at the AO KNU, around 188 ERS – at the AIRA in Bucharest. The 208 fields around ERS at NAO using the telescope equipped with a CCD-camera were obtained. The first results of the creation of uniform compiled catalogue are given. Astrometric positions for stars brighter than 16 magnitude in more than 20 fields around ERS are presented. A comparison of our results with those of other authors is made

Optical counterpart positions of extragalactic radio sources and connecting optical and radio reference frames

We discuss the results of an investigation of astrometric positions of extragalactic radio sources from a list for the International Celestial Reference Frame. About 300 fields around extragalactic radio sources were observed during the years 2000-2003. The observations were performed mainly using two telescopes equipped with CCD cameras at TUG, Turkey (Russian-Turkish Telescope - RTT150) and at YAO (1 m telescope), (Kunming, China). The mean accuracies of the measured positions are 38 mas in right ascension and 35 mas in declination. A comparison between the measured optical positions determined using the UCAC2 catalog and the radio positions from the current ICRF shows that the overall optical-minus- radio offsets are -4 and +15 mas for right ascension and declination, respectively. The formal internal errors of these mean offsets are 4 mas. The results of optical positions with respect to the reference catalogue 2MASS are also given. A search for a relation between optical and radio reference frames indicates that the orientation angles are near zero within their accuracy of about 5 mas. The link accuracy becomes 3 mas when our observations are combined with other studies. © ESO, 2010

Results of joint project on linking optical-radio reference frames

Results of international co-operation between observatories from China, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine on refinement of linking optical and radio reference frames are discussed. About 300 fields around extragalactic radio sources in the selected fields of extragalactic radio sources from −40 to +70 degrees in declination were observed with CCD ground-based telescopes. The catalogue of optical positions of more than 200 ERS with average accuracy 30 mas in ICRF by using of secondary reference stars from the UCAC2 and USNO-B1.0 catalogues was obtained as a result of this cooperation. The intermediate internal estimation of link between optical and radio reference frames was shown the angle values near zero within an accuracy of about 6 mas by using of secondary reference stars from UCAC2. A comparison of presented results with those of other investigations was made

Results of observations of asteroids at the Russian–Turkish RTT-150 telescope from 2004–2013

© 2015, Allerton Press, Inc. We report the results of analysis of the data volume containing 13834 topocentric positions of 231 asteroids obtained from observations at the Russian–Turkish RTT-150 telescope (TÜBITAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey), Turkey) in 2004–2013. The positions of asteroids were calculated with the differential reduction method in the ICRS system with the use of the reference catalogs of the UCAC series. The observational program covered the main-belt asteroids closely encountering the other asteroids and the near-Earth asteroids (NEA). For the main belt asteroids, the mean-square error of one position was 84 and 68 mas in right ascension and declination, respectively, while it was 160 and 120 mas, respectively, for NEAs. The obtained volume of the asteroid positions widens the arc of groundbased observations of these bodies, which is important for evaluating their orbital elements with a higher accuracy. Moreover, observations of the main-belt asteroids in the periods of close encounters yield valuable material to solve the problem on accurate estimation of the masses of asteroids with a dynamic method. It has been shown that the supplementing of the input dataset with the here-reported observational volume decreases the error in the estimates of the perturbing asteroid mass and the orbital parameters of perturbed bodies

The astrometric Gaia-FUN-SSO observation campaign of 99 942 Apophis

Astrometric observations performed by the Gaia Follow-Up Network for Solar System Objects (Gaia-FUN-SSO) play a key role in ensuring that moving objects first detected by ESA's Gaia mission remain recoverable after their discovery. An observation campaign on the potentially hazardous asteroid (99 942) Apophis was conducted during the asteroid's latest period of visibility, from 12/21/2012 to 5/2/2013, to test the coordination and evaluate the overall performance of the Gaia-FUN-SSO . The 2732 high quality astrometric observations acquired during the Gaia-FUN-SSO campaign were reduced with the Platform for Reduction of Astronomical Images Automatically (PRAIA), using the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalogue 4 (UCAC4) as a reference. The astrometric reduction process and the precision of the newly obtained measurements are discussed. We compare the residuals of astrometric observations that we obtained using this reduction process to data sets that were individually reduced by observers and accepted by the Minor Planet Center. We obtained 2103 previously unpublished astrometric positions and provide these to the scientific community. Using these data we show that our reduction of this astrometric campaign with a reliable stellar catalog substantially improves the quality of the astrometric results. We present evidence that the new data will help to reduce the orbit uncertainty of Apophis during its close approach in 2029. We show that uncertainties due to geolocations of observing stations, as well as rounding of astrometric data can introduce an unnecessary degradation in the quality of the resulting astrometric positions. Finally, we discuss the impact of our campaign reduction on the recovery process of newly discovered asteroids.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&