UPDATES! Share your observations of T CrB

  • 20 Jun 2024 3:34 AM
    Reply # 13372346 on 13369381

    No T CrB obs tonight... winds blowing 40-50 mph. Rest of the week not much better, so other time zones had better be filling in! ;-)

    I reran the numbers through Stellarium (Online edition) and also came up with 22-26 arc seconds depending on timing, as did Howard. Curiously, that was also similar to my results with JPL's Minor Planet Data Base (about 26-27'). However, when you use their tools, they do not give you hour-to-hour updates in spite of offering that data field. They seem to only update positions once per day.

    I then checked The Sky Live (Online) and got a result of 12.53' (using an updated time noted below). Heavens-Above provided a similar result of 12.23', again, after a time adjustment.

    I returned to Lowell Observatory's Minor Planet Services Asteroid Finder and ran the coordinates hour by hour (new chart attached). What I found was the closest approach was about 10 hours later than I had originally estimated but the distance was still about the same: 12.52' on or around June 24, 12:00 UT (8:00am EDT). (All of the estimates in this post now reflect the new, somewhat later timing.)

    The Minor Planet Center agrees almost precisely with Lowell (not surprisingly since that data is pushed from Lowell, among others; but MPC does their own data crunching). MPC shows the closest encounter of Pallas and T CrB of 12.54', again, around 1200 UT, June 24.

    Bottom line is that we have two sets of competing data in our various planetarium programs -- which is a little sad considering this is the second space rock ever discovered.  I think it's time for some precise measurements and see which of these resources are actually correct.


    1 file
  • 20 Jun 2024 7:41 PM
    Reply # 13372745 on 13369381
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    For the epoch 06/21/2024 04:00 EDT in Gainesville, FL, Stellarium Web Places Pallas at an RA 1m 49s east of the position shown by SkySafari desktop. The result is that Pallas is closer to T CrB than what SkySafari shows. The photo that I posted several days ago showed Pallas in a position that agrees closely with SkySafari. So I think Stellarium Web is showing an incorrect position for Pallas. On the other hand, SkySafari and Stellarium agree closely with respect to the calculated RA/Dec & Az/El of T CrB. I believe this means that Stellarium Web is using old elements, an incorrect math model, or something else is wrong when it computes asteroidal positions.

    1 file
    Last modified: 20 Jun 2024 9:01 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • 23 Jun 2024 10:48 PM
    Reply # 13373647 on 13369381
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Good evening!

    I just came in from observing T CrB and for that matter 2 Pallas, which is quite close. 

    • Matthew Peters
    • June 23, 2024 - 10:15PM EDT
    • 29.629, -82.324 - Gainesville, FL
    • Mag 10ish (I'm not nearly as confident in assessing a number)
    • Seestar S50 - (74) 10s frames - Quick process on PI
    • Dwarf 2 - (71) 10s frames - Quick process on PI

    Image 1: S50 Annotations - Image 2: S50 No Annotations - Image 3: Dwarf2

    3 files
    Last modified: 24 Jun 2024 12:25 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • 24 Jun 2024 4:24 PM
    Reply # 13373973 on 13369381
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Matt, you observed about the same time as I. Attach your FITS file, and I'll extract the Tricolor Green magnitude using PI and LesvePhotometry software.

  • 24 Jun 2024 5:29 PM
    Reply # 13374004 on 13369381
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Stacked and untouched Fits linked, the site didn't like the format when uploading

    Version is merely stacked, no further processing. 

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xyp3cwJqF1slUq1Lv5lV-ol7zvKi_eEO/view?usp=sharing

    Last modified: 24 Jun 2024 5:30 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • 24 Jun 2024 8:38 PM
    Reply # 13374076 on 13369381
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Matthew, here are the photometry results:

    T CRB,2460485.571557, 9.438, 0.004,TR

    T CRB,2460485.571557,10.314, 0.004,TG

    T CRB,2460485.571557,11.592, 0.005,TB

    Column 1: object identifier;

    Column 2: julian date;

    Column 3: magnitude;

    Column 4: error;

    Column 5: filter.

    Note that T CrB is brighter in the Red, which is brighter than in Green, which is brighter than Blue. The color index is TB-TG = 1.278, which indicates a very red star. The light of the red giant overwhelms the light of the white dwarf.

    Attached is the AAVSOReport file, which you could upload to the AAVSO as your observation of T CrB. Before uploading, you would need to register with the AAVSO and then request your observer initials. Insert your observer initials into the data field #OBSCODE in the 2nd row of AAVSOReport.


    1 file
  • 24 Jun 2024 8:53 PM
    Reply # 13374079 on 13369381
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Attached is a superposition of two images taken 1h 37m apart, to illustrate the motion of the asteroid (2) Pallas as it cruised through the T CrB field last night. At the time of the images, the measured distance of Pallas from T CrB is about 13 arc-minutes.

    1 file
  • 24 Jun 2024 9:22 PM
    Reply # 13374086 on 13369381
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    My photometry of T CrB at two different times on the evening of June 23/24 gives the following results:

    T CRB,2460485.597220,11.476, 0.005,TB

    T CRB,2460485.597220,10.240, 0.004,TG

    T CRB,2460485.597220, 9.453, 0.003,TR

    T CRB,2460485.664577,11.524, 0.005,TB

    T CRB,2460485.664577,10.226, 0.004,TG

    T CRB,2460485.664577, 9.339, 0.003,TR

    The two FITS images were debayered using Pixinsight to yield the Tricolor TR, TG, and TB images. LesvePhotometry software was used to extract the magnitudes in each of these three passbands. A characteristic of the Bayer array is that there are two G pixels for every R and B. One would expect, therefore, that the G images yield better photometric precision than the B and R images. Ordinarily, the TG magnitude is all that I report to the AAVSO, so this time is an exception. The calculated color index TB-TG = 1.236 in the case of the first image, and TB-TG = 1.298 in the case of the second image. Any number greater than 1 indicates a red star.

  • 24 Jun 2024 9:43 PM
    Reply # 13374096 on 13369381
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    I registered last night and made the upload just now. Thanks!

    PMADA

  • 24 Jun 2024 10:22 PM
    Reply # 13374105 on 13369381
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Matthew, congratulations on getting your AAVSO observer initials! You can create a light curve of any variable star using this link. https://www.aavso.org/LCGv2/ Just enter your star's identifier (e.g., T CrB)

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