(meteorobs) neo fly by

[Mike Hankey]

I tried observing the NEO on Tuesday night but my procedure failed.
After reading a post on software bisque's website about how to acquire
and track 2005 YU55 I was able to do it. I had to update to the latest
version of the skyx and also manually install the ephemerides after
obtaining it from the JPL Horizons website. This was a 'hack' which
tracked the asteroid like a satellite because apparently it was too
close to track it the normal way.

The hack worked and I was able to acquire, track and photograph the
asteroid last night. I watched it for about 2 hours before it got
clouded out. Here are two animated gifs of it:

http://www.mikesastrophotos.com/comets/asteroid-2005yu55-close-pass-with-earth/

On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 3:20 PM, Mike Hankey <mike.hankey at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks for the responses Chris & Dan.
>
> I mainly wanted to know if it would be worth trying to look for / even
> possible. Sounds like it will be. So thanks!
>
> On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 1:45 AM, Chris Peterson <clp at alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:
>> Well, that would certainly make it a challenging visual object. But it's
>> a trivial imaging target at magnitude 11, even close to the Moon. Even a
>> small refractor and a DSLR would capture it in just a few seconds of
>> exposure.
>>
>> Certainly, there is a level of skill required to collect good
>> astrometric or photometric data, but not a lot just to capture an image.
>>
>> Chris
>>
>> *******************************
>> Chris L Peterson
>> Cloudbait Observatory
>> http://www.cloudbait.com
>>
>> On 11/1/2011 6:29 PM, dfischer at astro.uni-bonn.de wrote:
>>>> I didn't look at the elements).
>>>
>>> Which you should have done before posting: In spite of its size and
>>> closeness 2005 YU55 with its very low albedo will never get brighter than
>>> 11th magnitude - and will be only 10 degrees from the full moon when
>>> closest! This is only one for experienced astrophotographers (who have
>>> actually been asked to deliver astrometry and photometry) - and the radar
>>> folks, of course.
>>>
>>> Dan
>>
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>