M1/Asteroid Animation

[andyschlei]

A week or so ago I took some more shots of M1, the Crab Nebula (http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m001.html) in Taurus.

When I was processing the image, I noted an asteroid (OK, minor planet) in the images. The attached image is an animation of 9 5-minute exposures taken on 15-Jan-07.

The asteroid is the moving object at 12 o'clock, moving from top to bottom.

As best as I can tell, the asteroid is 822 Lalage (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=822), a fairly bright minor planet at magnitude 14. The exposures include those made without a filter and with the red filter. The green and blue shots are dim and uninteresting.

A larger image (http://obsballona.net/coppermine/displayimage.php?pos=-47) is available at my site (http://obsballona.net/). The attachment just fits within the size limits for the forum :).

The images I took the next day have yet another minor planet in them. Great fun imaging near the ecliptic!

Clear skies,

--Andy

[paul f. campbell]

Hi Andy

nice animation of M1 and the Astreroid. I have a friend who lives in Pittsburgh pa. He has a video camera under glass that stays outside all the time and at night he turns it on and it films all night. He picks up alot of neat images that way. great work

Paul

[tvdavis]

Now that's great fun!

Tom

[Galactic2000]

Hi Andy,

Minor Planets are a lot of fun, this is why I track them for the MPC.
NEO's are even more fun than the MBA. And I've been surprised more than once by these interlopers while imaging a DSO.

You can capture many asteroids appulsing deep sky objects, this happens frequently throughout the year.

I believe Brian Warner of Palmer Divide Observatory publishes a yearly CD almanac that points out these type of crossings. It's called The Minor Planet Observers Guide.
Located at this link

http://www.minorplanetobserver.com/

Nice animation....great catch!

Thanks for sharing the view!

[stargazer_7000]

hey Andy,

very nice animation!!!
well done!
good planning too!
regards
Dietmar

[andyschlei]

Thanks to all for the kind comments.

And Dietmar: It was luck, not planning. I caught another one the next night at the lower part of the nebula.

[JAICOA]

a great shot of this special momment-Well done!