Designations

Hi-graded
AVK0151 = 2013 AD78 G84  > possibly will be assigned to 2006 observations :(  Oct 2015
AVK0080 = 2012 TW159 G84  > most likely candidate!!! plan follow-up in June 2016
AVK0063=2012 TF29 G84 > most likely mine!!! March 2015



AVK168=2005 JP102 G84   - i am the only one so far who recovered this 2005 discovery by Spacewatch
AVK172=2011 SY262 G84 
AVK234=2011 UG327 G84
AVK261= 2013CF1=2008EO127 - scored NEO 12. It is a Hungaria with i~24deg
AVK274=2005 EH151 = 2013 CL208
AVK278=2013 CC190 = 2010 NK116
AVK281=2013 GA133 = 2004 TX80 = 2007 FM21
AVK283=2013 GO1 = 2006 WN151 = 2008 FH29 = 2010 RG134
AVK284=2013 GN1 = 2009 FV10
AVK298=2013 FE13 = 2011 UQ393  (MBA discovered in 1994)
AVK302 = 2005 UM28 = 2013 GJ9
AVK303 = 2010 TG1 = 2013 FB14



AVK251 = 2013 EE107 H21
AVK250 = 2013 EG107 H21

2013 China Campaign
AVK0121 = 2005 WE189 = 2013 AL51 *
AVK0123 = 2013 AK51 G84   Väisälä looks like mine*
AVK0133 = 2005 UH71 = 2013 AN51 *
AVK0134=  2013 AO51 G84  Väisälä looks like mine*
AVK0129 = 2013 AR51 G84 Väisälä looked mine
AVK0132 = 2013 AS51 G84  Väisälä looks like mine*
AVK0139 = 2013 AQ51 G84  Väisälä looks like mine
AVK0140 = 2013 AP51 G84
AVK0142 = 2013 AU51 G84 Väisälä
AVK0150 = 2013 AC78 G84
AVK0160 = 2013 AH94 G84 Väisälä
AVK0171 = 2013 AF91 G84 discovered by 926
AVK0170 = AVK0174 =  2013 BH19 G84
AVK0176 = 2013 BG19 G84
AVK0167 = 2013 AA G84
AVK0178 = 2013 BQ28 G84
AVK0186 = 2013 BS28 G84
AVK0192 = 2013 BN28 G84
AVK0223 = 2013 BP28 G84
AVK0220 = 2013 BO28 G84
AVK0213 = 2013 BM28 G84
AVK0209 = 2013 BR28 G84




2012 China Campaign
AVK083= 2012 TS35 G84
AVK0063=2012 TF29 G84 mine!
AVK0066=2012 TS25 G84
AVK0068=2012 TD157 G84
AVK0074=2012 TL259 = 2010 EJ92
AVK0082=2012 TT16 G84
AVK0090=2012 TL16 G84
AVK0085= 2012 SJ55 G84
AVK0081= 2012 SL55 G84
AVK0091= 2012 SB27 G84
AVK0087= 2012 RW38 G84
AVK0086= 2012 RV33 G84
AVK0075 = 2012 SH9 MBA discovered by CSS 5 days prior
AVK0072 = 2012 SG9  G84  discovered by A14 – Les Engarouines Observatory 1 day prior!
AVK0070 = 2012 RU25  G84 discovered by J04 – ESA Optical Ground Station, Tenerife 5 days prior
AVK0065 = 2012 SK9 G84
AVK0058 = 2012 QM50 H21 no orbit.  Kitt-Peak saw it just a week before
AVK0052 = 2011 GD66
AVK0050 (IASC) =2012 QJ19 = 1995 ML2 MBA
AVK0048 (IASC) = 2012 QS46 MBA Panstarrs saw it first just 5 days prior
AVK0046 (IASC) = 2002 QH25 MBA close Mars approacher
AVK0032 (IASC) = 2012HH14 MBA
AVK0031 (IASC) = 2012 ME5
AVK0029 (IASC) =  2012 KL30   MBA

AVK0028 (IASC) = 2012 LV11   MBA (discovered in 2008)

AVK0025 (K12H51Z  (IASC) has also been discovered by Pann-STARRS 2012HZ51
AVK0022 ((ASC) = 2012 KL6  Orbit not know H21 only! probably lost
AVK0020 (SSO) = 2012 JS64 Looks like someone saw it just 1 day before me. MPC for May shows this is Pann-STARRS. Again!
2012 JS64 = 2005 GS102


This one has a high i ~30

Once again, Pann-STARRS discovered this one before me!
AVK019B (K12J01G (SSON)
K12J01G  Residuals

Looks like on this one we were first!

AVK012B K12K02A (IASC)
TOV6FC (K12K02A
Let's hope that 2012 GF38 is ours! or is it 2012 KA2 ? Possibly those are both AVK0012.
I tried to link what MPC gives for 2012 GF38 observations and it doesn't make sense. H21 observations in this link are clearly 2012 KA2 and it is discovered by us!

2012EO4

2012 EO4 Recovery

I my April 2012 post I wrote:

"So the future looks like this:

2012 EO4 will fade out quickly and by June-July 2012 I will lose it (I am going to measure it again in April to reduce the uncertainties).  Due to orbit eccentricity and inclination the next two observing opportunities will be : 2 January 2015 when it will be visible as a dim +21.9 magnitude object in Gemini ..."

We are in 2015 now, and I will attend to recover 2012 EO4, which is currently listed on MPC as first observed by me! It is dimmer now at +22, but it is high up in the northern sky and with the help of Mt. Lemmom 32-inch (0.81-meter) Schulman telescope I will hopefully be able to find it. I have just submitted two jobs on this telescope for the nights of January 18/19 and 19/20 . Fingers crossed... 

C/2014 E2 ( Jacques )

26 August 2014

61 Cygnus

61 Cygnus is an amazing high-proper motion binary located just 11 light years away. This animation clearly shows stars' proper motion across the sky over a period of 20 years. 1993 photo is from POSSII survey.

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON)

28 Nov 2013 Grand Finale

05 Nov 2013

06 Oct 2013

29 Sept 2013

10 Feb 2013

The comet photographed here in the center of the image at the magnitude of +15 shows small tail. 

Located slightly about the orbit of Jupiter at a distance of 4 AU from Earth it is projected to become extremely bright in November. Let's hope it will!

12 Dec 2012

C/2012 S1 (ISON) is expected to become one of the greatest comets of this century. Discovered by Russian astronomers Vitaly Nevsky and Artem Novichonok on September 21, 2012 as 18th magnitude object, this comet is currently approximately +16.5m and is located above the ecliptic plane roughly as far as Jupiter from Sun . This image clearly shows its non-stellar appearance.

C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS)

This comet discovered by PanSTARRS survey is expected to become a great magnitude 0 comet in Spring of 2013. Here I will try to follow it monthly and see how it brightens as it travels towards the Sun.
Here are the images on the discovery night (credit Credit: Henry Hsieh, PS1SC):

03/13/2013

And finally, Panstarrs is visible from my backyard!

06/23/2012

Although remotely controlled telescopes do an extremely good job, still there's nothing like capturing an image of a faint comet from your backyard! Here I used DSLR attached to my 8" SCT to capture the light of C/2011 L4 from my suburban home. It's not a pretty picture, but I had a lot of fun taking it, especially because there were not bright stars nearby and I don't have a go-to mount!

06/14/2012

Almost exactly a year since its discovery by PanSTARRS the comet is now moving between constellations of Scorpion and Libra and has reached magnitude 12. It is now 3.3 and 4.3AU away from the Earth and Sun respectively. It crossed the orbit of Jupiter in March and won't reach Mars orbit until January 2012. A small tail is clearly visible on stacked image.

Comet C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS)

   CK11L040  C2012 06 14.22025 15 50 00.09 -25 47 03.2          14.6 N      857
   CK11L040  C2012 06 14.22882 15 49 59.45 -25 47 02.7          14.6 N      857
   CK11L040  C2012 06 14.23578 15 49 58.92 -25 47 02.1          14.6 N      857
   CK11L040  C2012 06 14.24109 15 49 58.52 -25 47 02.1          14.6 N      857
   CK11L040  C2012 06 14.24803 15 49 57.94 -25 47 01.4          14.6 N      857
   CK11L040  C2012 06 14.25266 15 49 57.63 -25 47 01.6          14.6 N      857

04/22/2012

Over the past few weeks the comet kept moving through dense star fields and crossed the border of the constellation Scorpius. Here it is easily seen as bright magnitude 15 object. The images were taken with 370mm Riegel telescope.

It is somewhere in here... (this one was actually taken with Takahashi Epsilon 250 the following night). The bright star is 25 Sco.

COD 857
OBS A. Kostin
MEA A. Kostin
TEL 0.37-m f/14 reflector + CCD
NET PPMXL
    CK11L040  C2012 04 22.40209 16 47 48.59 -25 19 10.0          15.4 N      857
    CK11L040  C2012 04 22.42293 16 47 47.71 -25 19 12.2          15.4 N      857
    CK11L040  C2012 04 22.44375 16 47 46.79 -25 19 14.3          15.4 N      857

Supernova in M74