Bernhard's comets and asteroids    IAU codes: B82 Maidbronn (retired) and K87 Dettelbach Vineyard Observatory

© Copyright: Photo montage performed by Bernhard Häusler, Germany
Credit of the comet image of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
and ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

[Neo Planner] [asteriods] [meteorids] [satellites] [equipment] [discoverers of comets] [nature] [sweet home] [sky quality SQM and weather] [allsky camera]

A warm welcome to all friends of comets and minor planets!  

We are living on a beautyful planet, surrounded in space from its large and small brothers and sisters since unimaginable times.
This web is an independant and ad-free approach to the grand show in our neighborhood in space with small amateur equipment.

The collaboration of amateurs in the follow-up observation of NEOs and comets is important
and I am delighted to be part of this global team.
For me as an amateur, participating in the measurement of near-earth bodies is definitely inspiring for my demanding hobby.

NEO Planner  (is currently used by K87, K74, B72 and G04)

Amateur or professional IAU observatories are welcome to use NEO Planner.  Actual version: V2.3.13.  (June,18 2021)

Have a look here for historical informations of K87 and other observers --> Hohmann's MPEC'able (Tracking News for Humans) and NEODyS 

The auto-guiding telescope (LX600) and the cmos-camera (QHY600L) are fully automatic controlled by the programs Orchestrate and TheSky X Pro of Software Bisque over the night session.
The focuser works temperature controlled and is usually focused one time in the evening on a star in 55° altitude.

Both the following template and the script for Orchestrate are generated by self-written  programs on .NET platform.

The preparation time for a night session usually takes about 15 - 30 minutes. High Moon phases are requiring more time.

last Program from June, 18 2021 for K87 (Moon 60% waxing):

last Script for Orchestrate  and Template 

© Copyright: The data comes from official access to web services from MPC, JPL, NASA and ESA, whose origins are the tireless measurements of dozens of professional and amateur observatories around the world

© Copyright: The data comes from official access to web services from MPC, JPL, NASA and ESA, whose origins are the tireless measurements of dozens of professional and amateur observatories around the world

All parameters of the template are calculated for my equipment on location K87 and based on expected SQM results from Mag/SqArcsec 20 and weaker within the observation slot.
The Vmag average is the average of the last 10 observations of the objects taken from the MPC observation site.

Asteroid of the day:  1999 RM45 from March, 1 2021  20:46UT   MPC   JPL orbit

  45MB

animation of 96 images with 2.9 seconds exposure time each, speed: 65 arcsec/min in P.A. 279.8, V~14.0                                                 detail
Telescope: LX600 12" f-8, camera: QHY600L with SONY Full Frame BSI CMOS Sensor IMX455  and Binning 4 x 4

Comet of the day: C/2021 A4 (NEOWISE) from March, 1 2021  18:27UT   MPC   JPL orbit

3.7 MB

animation of six images with 48.5 seconds exposure time each, speed: 4 arcsec/min in P.A. 197.2, V~16.3                                                 detail
Telescope: LX600 12" f-8, camera: QHY600L with SONY Full Frame BSI CMOS Sensor IMX455  and Binning 4 x 4

Some events of the last years:   September, 21 2020 - first night half

Around midnight a bright shooting star of the Southern Piscids crossed Andromeda and Lacerta
and ended its brief light show with a small explosion in the lizard's head... and is this meteor connected with some NEOs? - may be.

© 2020-09-21 by Bernhard Haeusler, Dettelbach, Germany                                                                                                            

15sec. exposure, 2020-09-20 UT23:09, local time 01:09, taken with ZWO ASI178MC, 8mm  f/1.4  lens, 1/2.7"; SQM: MPSAS 21.03 mag, NELM 6.1 mag
Elevation: 267m, Processing: Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. No stiffeners, airplanes or satellites on the image.

The red cross marks the radiant of the Southern Piscids meteor shower, annual maximum: September 20th. Mars is in the lower left.

In this paper by P. B. Babadzhanov - I. P. Williams - G. I. Kokhirova from 2007, the connection between the September Piscids and some Near Earth objects is discussed.

Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn came together this morning with the beautiful comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE.

A moment to pause and think about the beauty and size of our universe. This morning made my face smile.

I left my telescope with its automatic scanning of the sky and drove a few kilometers to the highest elevation nearby.
There one of the best moments of nighttime observations awaited me.

C/2020 F3 NEOWISE  in Auriga, Lynx on the left. Menkalinan in Auriga is the brightest star top right.

© 2020-07-12 by Bernhard Haeusler, Dettelbach, Germany                                                                                                                double size 1.9MB                  original size 10MB

4sec. exposure, 2020-07-12 UT01:38, local time 03:38, 70mm f/3.2, Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EF70-200mm f/2.8L ISII USM mounted on a tripod, ISO1000, SQM 19.6 mag
Outside temperature: 7° C, elevation: 297m, Processing: Adobe Lightroom. No stiffeners and best distant view.

The wind turbines with their warning lights on the horizon are approx. 27.5 km (17 miles) away.

C/2020 F3 NEOWISE  in Auriga

© 2020-07-12 by Bernhard Haeusler, Dettelbach, Germany                                                                                                                                                                     larger image click here

4sec. exposure, 2020-07-12 UT01:20, local time 03:20, 170mm f/3.2, Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EF70-200mm f/2.8L ISII USM mounted on a tripod, ISO1250, SQM 20.1 mag
Outside temperature: 7° C, elevation: 297m, Processing: Adobe Lightroom.

The Apollo  asteroid 2020 MX3 was first observed at F51 Pan-STARRS 1 on 2020-06-28.
Live track of F51

NEO Apollo 2020 MX3 will pass the Earth on July, 29 2020 in 0.02413176 AU distance ~ 3,610,060 km ~ 2,243,176 miles    
The object has a diameter of about 65 meters.

Here you can see a gif animation of this small object:

© 2020-07-28 by Bernhard Haeusler, Dettelbach, Germany                                  West left               North up                                                

66  7.3sec. exposures, 2020-07-28 UT00:09, 0.30-m f/6.15 SCT +  CCD
17.4 mag, H=23.6, e= 0.2581244

Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) is probably starting a desintegration process.

There are two dots westward the central condensation. The comet tail is looking more and more like a cigar.

Here you find a light curve of the comet on CometasObs showing a decrease of the central magnitude since March, 28 2020 

In comparison an image of comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) during its desintegration process...                                            and one week before

2020 FR3 is an Apollo type asteroid and classified as a PHA.

The small body passed a weak galaxy cluster in the Western edge region of constellation LEO close to the bounder of CANCER

NEO and Amor 2018 NB on July,19 2018

10 x 20sec. exposure, 2018-07-19 UT 01:18, 12" SCT  f-5.66 + CCD ST10XME,              
15.0 mag, H 19.5, ~426m

Animation of 100 20sec. exposures, 01:12UT - 01:54UT, 42 minutes in reality ~ 1.5 sec. in animation

last observed comets:

C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS)  by Bernhard Haeusler, 2018-02-16 B/W   

composed 31 2min. exposures, 2018-02-16 UT18:42, 0.30-m f/1646.2mm ACF-SCT +  CCD
14.73mag, coma: 6', tail: 16' in PA91

C/2016 A1 (PANSTARRS)  by Bernhard Haeusler, 2018-02-06 B/W

composed 33 120sec. exposures, 2018-02-06 UT22:32, 0.30-m f/2240.2mm SCT +  CCD
16.23mag, coma: 13", tail: 3' in PA161  

C/2016 A1 (PANSTARRS)  by Bernhard Haeusler, 2018-02-06 B/W

animated 64 2min.exp, 2018-02-06  UT21:23 - 23:41; asteroid on the left side: 34286, 18.1 mag

C/2016 N4 (MASTER)  by Bernhard Haeusler, 2017-09-22 B/W   

composed 35 60sec. exposures, 2017-09-22 UT21:37, 0.30-m f/1873.1mm SCT +  CCD
16.29 mag, coma: 30", tail: 4'30' in PA150  

C/2015 V2 (Johnson)  by Bernhard Haeusler, 2017-05-20 B/W                                               

composed 10 30sec. exposures, 2017-05-20 UT22:12, 0.30-m f/1873.1mm SCT +  CCD, IP: DDP low pass
12.05 mag, tail: 16' in PA317  

41/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak © by Bernhard Haeusler, 2017-05-01 B/W

composed 90 20sec. exposures, 2017-05-01 UT01:54, 0.30-m f/1875mm SCT +  CCD, IP: DDP Kernel low pass
13.6 mag, coma: 5', tail: 1' in PA236

Right:  Video of 70 frames of 20 seconds exp.time each, 2017-05-01 UT01:54
Original size MP4 or MP4 HTML (22,353 KB) 

45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova © by Bernhard Haeusler, 2017-03-26 B/W       

composed 36 2min. exposures, 2017-03-26 UT20:10, 0.30-m f/1875mm SCT +  CCD,
17.3 mag (10" Box), coma: 1'15", tails: 8'30" in PA284, 1'15" in PA106

Right: Video of 35 frames of 2 minutes exp.time each, 2017-03-26 UT20:10 - UT21:24
 

Flash of the Satellite IRIDIUM 86, Mirror 2 on February,13 2018 with -2.5 mag

IRIDIUM 86 © 2018-02-13 by Bernhard Haeusler, Dettelbach, Germany                            

detail of 1 15 sec. exposure, 2018-02-13 UT 17:56:32, camera: ZWO ASI 178 MC Color,  allsky lens: 2.5mm, f-1.2  170°
No Moon.

Copyright: The author of NEO Planner and all sites of this web is Bernhard Haeusler, Dettelbach, Germany, all rights reserved