Nice report Martin.

Here's a short video I caught from Dublin.  A bit shaky but I was just a tad excited!!

http://www.webtreatz.com/shuttle

Some amazing NLC's tonight too!!!

Some quick and dirty photos;

There was some visibility this evening from Raheny.

Here's a couple of images I snapped.

http://webtreatz.com/content/view/77/1/

Roman,  If possible please pass on my sincerest congrats to Timur via the astronomy.ru forum.  If I understood a word of russian I would do so myself.
Timur must be on top of the world right now!!  Denis Denisenko posted some info on the Minor Planet Mailing List and I replied there.

If I understood Denis correctly (2212) Hephaistos and (5324) Lyapunov were discovered from Ukraine so Timur's discovery is the first NEO from Russia.
Please also tell Timur that I will keep 2009 HZ67 on my observing schedule and get additional astrometry for it when possible.  Unless there is a good observation arc it may make it a little more difficult to recover this at next opposition so I will try to help out when that time comes.

Congratulations go to Timur Kyrachko of Engelhardt Observatory, Zelenchukskaya Station (MPC #114) on his discovery of NEA 2009 HZ67.  As it happens this turns out to be the first NEO discovered from Russian soil.  Last night (Monday 28th) Timur was monitoring for variable stars in Corona Borealis with a 12" reflector when this object appeared.  As a fast mover it was placed on the NEO confirmation page where your's truly was waiting to pounce.  I submitted an immediate follow up and was delighted to read today that this object has been designated 2009 HZ67

See;
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K09/K09H76.html

Timur has had past successes with the recovery of Comet Hartley 2 back in 1991 and he has discovered several main belt asteroids and variable stars.  Hius latest discovery hopefully has him grinning from ear to ear.

Heartiest congrats to Timur.

Here's a quick chart guys;

Hi Guys here's a quick process taken from a couple of Carl's frames.  Showing F6 pre-designation.  Only 3 short frames, but it does show the coma nicely.

...and here's the discovery MPEC

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K09/K09G21.html

Guys,

This 'object' appeared on the Minor Planet Center NEO confirmation page yesterday.  Myself and Carl imaged this last night and I have submitted data to the MPC to hopefully assist in the confirmation and designation process.  From my measurements, it clearly is a comet, I do think mag +10 is a bit optimistic, it is currently about mag +12(ish).  It is currently listed as 'SWAN09' therefore I assume this will be C/2009 F? (SWAN) when the MPC designate it hopefully today.  The problem of course will be that cassiopeia is approaching lower culmination at the prime observing hours.

Anyway there is a big bright coma surrounding this one and its fairly speeding along (approx 3"/min currently)
Hopefully it will be designated today I will let you know as soon as I do.

I just know Martin is gonna love this!!

Last Wednesday an object popped up on the NEO confirmation page at the Minor Planet Centre.  After a short imaging session, I submitted three positions for this object to the MPC.  Late this afternoon the IAU confirmed this object was not in fact an asteroid but a comet!!  It has now been designated C/2009 F1 (Larson).  The discovery notice (MPEC) confirms Raheny Observatory as one of the supporting (confirmation) observatories.  Just so I am clear (I DID NOT DISCOVER THIS COMET!) it was discovered at the Mt Lemmon Sky Survey) I was merely part of the team that provided confirmation of the discovery.

Here's a link to the discovery announcement MPEC

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K09/K09F34.html

I'm really chuffed to bits with that. A real first for me!  2009 F1 is magnitude +19.5,  I have no idea if it will get much brighter, would be really nice if this gets bright enough to be seen in a telescope, that would be sooo cool.

Heres an image from Raheny.

Wonderfully atmospheric image Keith.  Really first class stuff!!

Hi All,

Certainly discovering an asteroid was a dream in itself and now discovering two is something that I would have considered unthinkable just a few short years ago. It is a testament to dedication of many other amateurs that we have arrived at this point for without the support and encouragement of many many people this would not have been possible. Of course it is not possible to mention everyone but I think a special mention to Mr.Asteroid, Dave McDonald and of course Andreas Doppler and Eamonn Ansboro. Without the support of these guys, this would not have been possible. I also want to say thanks to Carl for his untiring support and encouragement. The dedication of many of you guys including Martin and John Mc Connell make me feel very unworthy to have been this lucky.

The story of 2009 EN1 began last Sunday night. My setup had been out of commission for some time due to a problem with the camera. I was really only getting back up to speed in the last few weeks, but as ye all know the weather has been severely limiting opportunities. Last Sunday was one of the best nights in some time and a really good opportunity to let go at a serious search effort. When I got a hit I felt full sure that this was something that would readily be identified with a known object but the more I looked the more I began to think 'just maybe'.

With all such discoveries nowadays, it is highly likely that one of the big surveys might have gotten a 'one night stand' on this object. Although its never possible to know this for sure, there is a pretty good chance that linear or catalina have one night 'in the bag'. Therefore getting a second night quickly is vital as there is good chance that they will sweep this area again and get a second night which would then give them discovery credit. Monday night looked good on paper, but some might remember that around 9pm the satellite pics showed cloud magically appearing from apparant clear skies. The Moon would be a problem as the week progressed and I must admit, I thought this one might not work out. Thankfully, Tuesday night turned out to be exceptionally transparent although it was rather windy. The new object was easily picked up despite relatively bright moonlight. I've never empirically tested the absolute mag limit of my system (14" SCT and SBIG ST-402 CCD) however I suspect that it must be possible to go fainter than mag +20.0 on good nights. I really must test this hypothesis on such an evening.

Anyway I prepared and submitted the report to the Minor Planet Center and waited and waited until finally I got an e-mail this afternoon it read

DG00002 K09E01N

In short this means "The object you call Dg00002 is now offically 2009 EN1"

Anyway thanks again to everyone for the kind words

Many thanks for all your kind words.

Brian hit the nail on the head with regard to the geographical IP recognition on the website.  It usually comes back to where your ISP is based as thats where the IP address currently assigned to you is located.  Can be a bit hit and miss but once it gets close enough the data will be reasonable accurate.

Very nice work John.

Here's an image taken over the Christmas period. I had 'high' hopes to get a few good nights imaging in over the holiday period with all that high pressure about.  Alas it turned out to be a typical winter high filled with lots of murky strato cumulus

Anyway here's the image comprising of 150mins Luminance, 60m R + HA, and 60 mins each in G and B.  I wasn;t entirely happy with this image as the colour data was acquired in less than ideal conditions.  Anyway I guess any image is better than no image at this stage!

Anyway here's the image;

http://webtreatz.com/component/option,com_zoom/Itemid,27/page,view/catid,1/PageNo,12/key,100/hit,1/