C'mon--an object the size of Mercury, going from 22nd magnitude to 3rd magnitude in two weeks!!!!! Spencer Ball Spencer Ball & Associates, LC 3690 E. Ft Union Blvd # 101 Salt Lake City, UT 84121 (801) 453-2000 spencer@spencerball.com -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of daniel turner Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 7:32 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Super minor planet? The perihelion distance and the diameter are both suspiciously close to that of Mars, though Mars is not in Orion. I think we would have seen this thing a long time ago if it were real. DT --- On Wed, 3/31/10, Dale Hooper <Dale.Hooper@sdl.usu.edu> wrote:
From: Dale Hooper <Dale.Hooper@sdl.usu.edu> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Super minor planet? To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 11:02 AM The JPL Horizons Web interface currently shows 2010 DF64 at magnitude 21.98 (31 Mar 00:00 UT) and magnitude 22.17 in mid-April. So, I'd go along with the early April Fool's joke.
Clear skies, Dale.
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Wiggins Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 7:53 PM To: utah astronomy utah astronomy listserve Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Super minor planet?
Interesting thread on the Minor Planet Mailing List today.
Seems NASA's WISE has found something now called 2010 DF64 "...with a perihelion distance of 1.42 AU and an assumed diameter of 6151 km."
It goes on to say: "High overhead in Taurus, it is projected to move into Orion by midmonth and attain a whopping 3.7 magnitude."
For scale Ceres is a bit less than 1,000 km an doesn't get brighter than about 6.9.
One post suggested it's an early April Fool's joke but others have said the report is real.
Others have suggested a problem with the data.
I'm in the doubters camp. But I'm also try to image it.
Interesting...
patrick _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
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