Category: Asteroid

Asteroids around IC443

5h exposure (Ha:30x600s)
Acquired from the 30th to the 31st of December 2019 with Samyang 135mm
From 09:56 pm to 04:22 am GMT+1


Setup: Samyang 135mm F/2, AZ-EQ6, QHY163m gain=100, QHYCFW2-M, AstroLink 4 mini, QHY5L2M. Software: APT, Stellarium scope, EQ MOD, PHD2

This image has mainly been acquired for future HOO/SHO mix. But the region is also located on the ecliptic plan giving some interest for looking at possible solar system objects. Let’s see if the Ha filter may have some influence on the detectivity of possible asteroids…

Asteroids in Virgo cluster

4h40 exposure (L:56x300s)
Acquired on the 28th of February 2019 with Samyang 135mm

Asteroids in Virgo cluster
Setup: Samyang 135mm F/2, AZ-EQ6, QHY163m gain=100, QHYCFW2-M, AstroLink 4 mini, QHY5L2M. Software: APT, Stellarium scope, EQ MOD, PHD2

This image is the result of 56 images stacked using the “Maximum” stacking mode of Deepskystacker. It contains many traces of solar system objets. Let’s see in this post the main characteristics of those objects using Aladin desktop, SkyBoT and  JPL Small-Body Database Browser.

Identify asteroids with Aladin and SkyBot

4h40 exposure (L:56x300s)
Acquired on the 28th of February 2019 with Samyang 135mm


Several asteroids in the field of Markarian chain. Samyang 135mm F/2 at F/2.8, QHY163m gain=100

This article depicts a method to identify asteroids on personal photos. This method uses Aladin Desktop software from Strasbourg astronomical Data Center and SkyBot (Sky Body Tracker) from IMCCE (Institut de Mecanique celeste et de calcul des ephemerides) / Paris Observatory. The last part of this article explains how to obtain the orbit as well as the mass of the asteroid using JPL Small-Body Database Browser of NASA.