Tuesday 1 August 2006

2006 July notes

With the summer monsoon having taken hold in the southern USA, stopping the big surveys from operating for most of the month, time was spent catching some NEOs at their second and subsequent oppositions.

Working with Roger Dymock we also went after some more normal main belt minor planets on the FUAP (Follow Up Astrometric Program) target list at http://asteroidi.uai.it/ which is maintained by Sergio Foglia on behalf of the UAI Minor Planets Section. This site lists minor planets of mag +18.5 or brighter that are in need of observation, whether newly discovered and under-observed, or awaiting recovery at their second or subsequent oppositions.

The last week of the month saw a flurry of NEO discoveries from the surveys in a brief respite from their bad weather, with several objects at mag 16-17.