Author Archives: Luca Buzzi

UPDATE JAN. 04: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news182a.html Peter Brown (University of Western Ontario) and Petrus Jenniskens (SETI Institute) searched the data from low frequency infrasound observation sites of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. They found weak signals from stations in Bolivia, Brazil and … Continue reading →

2013 EW90 was discovered by the Tenagra survey (located near Nogales, AZ, U.S.A.) on images taken by M. Schwartz and P. R. Holvorcem with a 0.41-m f/3.75 reflector on 2013, Mar. 3. Its Tj parameter is 2.75, so it was … Continue reading →

2013 EV9 was discovered by the Spacewatch survey on images taken by T. H. Bressi with the Spacewatch 0.90-m f/3 reflector (+ CCD mosaic) on 2013, Mar. 2. Its Tj parameter is 2.77, so it was a good T3 candidate. … Continue reading →

2012 OP was originally discovered as a minor planet by R.H. McNaught using the Uppsala 0.5-m Schmidt from Siding Spring Survey on 2012 Jul. 16.62, when it was at mag. 20V. It was also a T3 candidate because of is … Continue reading →

2012 DA14 was discovered on 2012, Feb. 23 by La Sagra Sky Survey in Spain using a 0.45-m f/2.8 telescope, and the discovery was issued on MPEC 2012-D51. Soon it was clear that it would have passed very close to … Continue reading →

For a work with a student here at Schiaparelli Observatory I decided to determine the distance of an asteroid by parallax, a good educational experiment. Even with NEOs, it will be good to have the longest possible baseline, so I’ve … Continue reading →

C/2012 X1 (LINEAR) was discovered by the LINEAR survey using a 1.0-m f/2.15 reflector from Socorro, NM, USA, on Dec. 08.38. Their automatic routines do not require human intervention, so it was reported as asteroidal and posted in the NEO … Continue reading →

NEO asteroid (4179) Toutatis was discovered by Christian Pollas with the 0.9-m Schmidt at Caussols (France) on 1989, Jan. 4 (IAUC 4701). It is funny to note its naming citation: “Named after the Gaulish god, protector of the tribe.  This … Continue reading →

2012 XE54 was discovered by R.A. Kowalski with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope from Catalina Sky Survey (AZ, USA) when it was approaching Earth quite fast. I observed it the following night just after its exit from the NEO Confirmation Page, … Continue reading →

C/2012 V2 (LINEAR) was discovered by the LINEAR survey using a 1.0-m f/2.15 reflector from Socorro, NM. Their moving object detection proedure is not visually inspected by members of the LINEAR team, so cometary appearance at first was not detected. … Continue reading →