Asteroid 2004-B186, with a maximum magnitude of 9.5, is currently passing Earth, making it visible with binoculars and small telescopes. Observers are encouraged to capture images, as the asteroid's movement is slow enough to be discernible in photographs taken 10-15 minutes apart. A forum member successfully captured video of the asteroid using a Celestron 80ED telescope and a Sony NEX5T camera, processing the footage with PIPP and AVS video converter. The discussion highlights the challenges and techniques involved in imaging asteroids and their moons, particularly using radio telescopes for high-resolution captures.
PREREQUISITESAstronomy enthusiasts, astrophotographers, and researchers interested in capturing and analyzing images of asteroids and their moons.
DaveC426913 said:Hm. 10 degrees of movement per 4 hours.
Not fast enough to be discernible to the eye, except if really close to some background stars.
so cool! :)Pretty much sacrificed everything to optimize the video. Somebody better than me could probably separate the asteroid, process the background, then merge back the asteroid.
Celestron 80ED, Sony NEX5T, 3 second jpgs (the jpg format was a futile effort to minimize stuttering). ISO 6400 to keep the individual exposures short. Video made by PIPP, compressed with AVS video converter for upload.
Thanks to SergeC, whose lovely picture inspired me to press on when I thought I'd messed up (just imaged for a while before and after, this is 300 frames from 600 taken), Astronewb for his excellent stuff on the ZEQ25, TorstenEdlmann for pointing out the virtues of PIPP for another purpose, and tazer for the intervalometer program that drives the NEX.
Best viewed full screen, the asteroid enters on the lower edge, 2/3 left.