Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.2817k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #28.17; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.439
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Asteroids are studied to determine if they pose a threat to earth and, more generally, to gain knowledge about the origin and evolution of the solar system. We chose to study 5992 Nittler because it was perfectly placed in its orbit to observe it from Earth and because it was a project feasible for a high school student to accomplish in the span of a week. 5992 Nittler is a main-belt asteroid (semi-major axis=2.68 AU) of approximate size 6-12km. We used a CCD camera on a 12” telescope to acquire about 20 images of the asteroid as it moved across the sky. We dark subtracted the images, aligned them, and equalized their brightness using the program Maxim DL. We then animated the pictures to locate the asteroid and see its movement across the night sky. The speed of the asteroid was calculated by determining the asteroid's movement relative to three fixed stars. Our derived speed for 5992 Nittler, 0.7 arcsec/min, differs by 30% from that listed in the Minor Planets Center. This discrepancy most likely reflects error in our analysis due to the faintness of the object (apparent magnitude of 17) and the limited number of observations.
We calculated the asteroid's relative light curve using Maxim DL. The asteroid's magnitude varied greatly compared to the magnitudes of the stars in the field of view. The brightness variations indicate that as the asteroid tumbles through space, it reflects different amounts of light as different surfaces of the asteroid are exposed. Thus, the non-constant brightness indicates that the asteroid is not perfectly round.
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