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EVIDENCE OF ASTEROID SATELLITES FROM 30 YEARS OF OBSERVATION PAUL D. MALEY¹, D.W. DUNHAM², D. HERALD³ ¹UNITED SPACE ALLIANCE & INTERNATIONAL OCCULTATION.

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Presentation on theme: "EVIDENCE OF ASTEROID SATELLITES FROM 30 YEARS OF OBSERVATION PAUL D. MALEY¹, D.W. DUNHAM², D. HERALD³ ¹UNITED SPACE ALLIANCE & INTERNATIONAL OCCULTATION."— Presentation transcript:

1 EVIDENCE OF ASTEROID SATELLITES FROM 30 YEARS OF OBSERVATION PAUL D. MALEY¹, D.W. DUNHAM², D. HERALD³ ¹UNITED SPACE ALLIANCE & INTERNATIONAL OCCULTATION TIMING ASSOCIATION (IOTA), HOUSTON, TX; ²IOTA, GREENBELT MD; ³IOTA, CANBERRA AUSTRALIA FIRST BINARY WORKSHOP STEAMBOAT SPRINGS CO. JULY 21-23, 2007

2 HISTORY OF SATELLITE DETECTION 1977 (6) HEBE OCCULTATION STARTED THE PROCESS >1029 PRIMARY OCCULTATIONS OBSERVED ( as of December 2006 ) 42 SUSPECTED SATELLITE EVENTS 9 HIGH PRIORITY CANDIDATES

3 CONSTRAINTS IN SITU OBSERVATIONS CHASING SHADOWS TECHNOLOGY: SMALL TELESCOPES; COTS EQUIPMENT VISUAL OR VIDEO OBSERVATIONS ARE UNREPEATABLE RESOLUTION LIMITED TO HUMAN EYE OR VIDEO FRAME RATE NO FUNDING

4 (6) HEBE & γ CETI

5

6

7 OCCULTATION CANDIDATE DEPENDENCIES Limiting magnitude +12.5 star and asteroid magnitudes depth of magnitude drop during occultation duration of occultation path reliability proximity of observation zone to twilight elevation of target star above the horizon whether available instrumentation is expected to be sensitive enough to collect the data angular separation from the moon phase of the moon overall weather in the region of proposed observation possible hazards in observation zone including political, civil, military

8 METHODS OF DETECTION VISUAL PHOTOELECTRIC VIDEO (STANDARD VIDEO RATE) DRIFT SCAN

9 IOTA STRATEGIES USE OF INTERNET -COMMUNICATION AND COORDINATION -DISTRIBUTION OF PREDICTIONS/CHARTS/SOFTWARE TOOLS -LOCATING SAFE SITES -LATEST WEATHER DATA USE OF MOBILE STATIONS PREPOINTED REMOTE STATIONS

10 SATELLITE DETECTION STRATEGIES UTILIZE VOLUNTEER OBSERVERS, KNOWN OBSERVATORIES MULTIPLE OBSERVERS, CLOSE SPACING ALTERNATION OF VIDEO & VISUAL OBSERVERS TWO VIDEO STATIONS 1KM APART

11 PREPLANNED SITE LAYOUT

12 ISSUES OF CREDIBILITY SINGLE SITE OBSERVATION REACTION TIME HARDWARE PROBLEMS ATMOSPHERIC SCINTILLATION CLOUD PASSAGE WRONG STAR TARGETED LOW ELEVATION INTERPRETATION OF DATA

13 SINGLE CHORD

14 ONE POLE

15 FRAGMENTED COVERAGE

16 NEAR COMPLETE MAP

17 TRANSATLANTIC

18 TRANSPACIFIC

19 COMPLETE SITE COVERAGE

20 HIGHEST RESOLUTION

21 FINE MAPPING

22 SATELLITE ANALOG: (11072) HIRAOKA

23

24 CASE STUDY 1– (532)HERCULINA (1978 June 7) Pro: Simultaneous Photoelectric & visual observations Con: Low star elevation (3 degrees) at Anderson Mesa

25 CASE STUDY 2– (216)KLEOPATRA (1980 Oct 10) Pro: 2 observations 2000 ft apart; color change reported like for main event Con: Both observations were visual

26 CASE STUDY 3– (71)NIOBE (2005 Feb 10) Pro: 16-inch telescope used for secondary event; star 8 th mag. Con: Visual (but accurately timed with WWV)

27 CASE STUDY 4– (98)IANTHE (2004 May 16) Pro: Video Con: Event was 0.2 seconds long

28 REJECTION (2004 Jun 24)

29 OPPORTUNITIES for STUDY VESTA OCCULTATION JAN 07 (CHILE) + 1991 OBSERVATIONS + HST IMAGES 3D MODEL CHECKS ON POSITIONS OF KNOWN SATELLITES USING MOBILE IOTA OBSERVERS

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31 CHALLENGES - 1 AGING EXPERIENCED OBSERVER CADRE LACK OF FUNDING PREVENTS EXPANSION OF EFFORTS SIFT THROUGH THE FACTS TO ISOLATE THE TRUTH LIMITED TO EARTHBOUND OBSERVATION NEAS HAVE POOR ASTROMETRY EDUCATING NEW OBSERVERS

32 CHALLENGES - 2 SAGAN DANGERFIELD GALILEO

33 PROMISE FOR THE FUTURE MIGRATION AWAY FROM VISUAL OBSERVATION ESTABLISH VIDEO AS A STANDARD ADOPT SOFTWARE VIDEO REDUCTION TOOLS ADOPT STANDARD METHODOLOGY: -OBSERVATION WINDOW -MULTIPLE FIELD STARS -AUTOMATED OBSERVATION STATIONS IMPROVE NEA ASTROMETRY

34 PROMISE -2 DEMONSTRATIONS IN OTHER COUNTRIES ESTABLISH FUNDING SOURCES -CLAY CENTER MOBILE OBSERVATORY DEVELOPMENT DEVELOP BETTER STRATEGIES FOR INTERCEPTION EXPAND OBSERVER CORPS THROUGH PUBLICATION BETTER PREDICTIONS FROM TMO AND FASTT INTERACTIVE GOOGLE MAPS FOR SITE DETERMINATION NEW SOFTWARE FOR OBSERVER COORDINATION DEVELOP WAYS TO USE ROBOTIC OBSERVATORIES COLLABORATION WITH PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY (E.G. BERTHIERKNOWN MINOR SATELLITES, SICARDY PLUTO) EXPANSION OF ONE OBSERVER ESTABLISHING MULTIPLE UNTENDED STATIONS

35 CONCLUSION EVIDENCE SHOWS: DETECTION OF A KNOWN SATELLITE HAS BEEN PROVEN NO SATELLITES HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED VIA METHODS DESCRIBED SATELLITE SIGNIFICANCE: ORION MISSION TO A NEA

36 BACKUP SLIDES

37 CASE STUDY 5– (2)PALLAS (1978 May 29) Pro: Photoelectric; secondary event reached level of primary event Con: 0.1 second duration

38 CASE STUDY 6– (146)LUCINA (1982 Apr 18) Pro: Image intensified video; bottom level expected for Lucina alone Con: No other field stars

39 CASE STUDY 7 – (18)MELPOMENE (1978 Dec 11) Pro: Photoelectric obs of primary/secondary

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41 Photoelectric Record at Monticello, UT; tracking errors, frozen drive

42

43 Photoelectric recording at Flower & Cook Obs., Ambler, PA

44 CASE STUDY8 = (772)TANETE (2004 Apr 18) Con: Visual, seen 2 minutes before primary


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