With the start of the current lunation, the surveys kicked into high gear. Recent discoveries include:
2010 OC127 – This object was first seen by the La Sagra Survey, a Spanish amateur asteroid survey, on July 31. At the time its motion was very boring so it was assumed to be a routine Main Belt asteroid. On Sept 27, the Siding Spring Survey reobserved the asteroid and this time its motion was indicative of a NEA. Follow-up observations confirmed the object as the same as La Sagra’s July 31 find and as an NEA.
2010 SK13 – A small asteroid (diameter of 7 – 20 meters) which passed within 0.0018 AU (167,000 miles or 267,000 km or 0.7 lunar distances) from Earth on Sept 30. It was discovered the night before closest approach. It reached magnitude 16.0 at its brightest.
Follow up on recently discovered comet C/2010 S1 (LINEAR) (see the previous post):
Additional follow-up observations have allowed an improved orbit to be determined for this object. Rather then reaching perihelion at a distance of 4.41 AU from the Sun, the new orbit shows perihelion at a distance of 5.80 AU. Time of perihelion remains in May of 2013. Even with the larger perihelion distance, this comet should reach magnitude 14-15 in the summer of 2013.
Asteroid Type MOID a e i H Mag Discoverer MPEC 2010 ST16 Apollo 0.090 2.69 0.62 6.5 23.6 21 Mount Lemmon 2010-T04 2010 SS16 Amor 0.132 2.77 0.59 0.9 23.1 21 Mount Lemmon 2010-T03 2010 SR16 Apollo 0.052 1.35 0.30 27.4 24.1 18 Catalina 2010-T02 2010 SO16 Apollo 0.027 1.00 0.08 14.5 20.9 20 WISE 2010-S72 2010 SV15 Apollo 0.036 1.32 0.27 11.8 26.7 20 Mount Lemmon 2010-S71 2010 SU15 Amor 0.079 3.21 0.66 5.4 25.7 20 Mount Lemmon 2010-S70 2010 SL15 Amor 0.117 2.73 0.59 0.9 24.8 21 Mount Lemmon 2010-S69 2010 SK15 Amor 0.049 2.37 0.56 4.8 22.4 17 LINEAR 2010-S68 2010 SJ15 Apollo 0.114 1.37 0.48 33.9 22.7 21 Mount Lemmon 2010-S67 2010 SH15 Apollo 0.045 1.19 0.15 4.3 22.4 21 Mount Lemmon 2010-S66 2010 SG15 Amor 0.087 2.08 0.48 0.8 24.8 20 Mount Lemmon 2010-S65 2010 SF15 Amor 0.078 2.02 0.47 3.0 21.2 20 Mount Lemmon 2010-S64 2010 SL13 Amor 0.195 2.03 0.42 3.1 19.3 20 Spacewatch 2010-S62 2010 SK13 Apollo 0.002 2.42 0.71 1.3 27.4 19 Spacewatch 2010-S61 2010 SJ13 Apollo 0.107 1.70 0.59 7.7 21.2 19 LINEAR 2010-S60 2010 SH13 Amor 0.041 1.21 0.14 14.0 21.9 20 Spacewatch 2010-S59 2010 SG13 Apollo 0.085 1.16 0.69 31.3 18.5 20 Spacewatch 2010-S58 2010 SD13 Amor 0.125 2.71 0.60 10.7 18.7 18 Siding Spring 2010-S52 2010 OC127 Amor 0.257 2.42 0.49 7.0 19.2 18 La Sagra 2010-S57 Comet Type T q a e i Mag Period MPEC None Type Aten - Earth crossing with semi-major axis (avg distance from Sun) < 1 AU Apollo - Earth crossing with semi-major axis (avg distance from Sun) > 1 AU Amor - non-Earth crossing with perihelion distance < 1.3 AU JFC - Jupiter family comet HFC - Halley family comet LPC - Long-period comet MBC - Main belt comet ECC - Suspected extinct or dormant (or just unrecognized) comet T - Date of Perihelion MOID - Minimum Orbit Intercept Distance, minimum distance between asteroid and Earth's orbit a - semi-major axis, average distance from Sun in AU (1 AU = 93 million miles) e - eccentricity i - inclination H - absolute magnitude Mag - magnitude at discovery Discoverer - survey or person who discovered the object MPEC - Minor Planet Electronic Circular, the discovery announcement
The Transient Sky - Comets, Asteroids, Meteors 