Nice report and photos Martin.  SOunds like one of those nights which reminds us what astronomy is all about.

Nice one!

If discovering an asteroid wasn't the highlight of my astro life, I've just discovered something fascinating about 2008 US3.

Between November 9th and 14th 2008 US3 passes right through the heart of M33

How cool is that 

Of course there is a downside in the form of a damn full moon which is right in the wrong part of the sky and just 17degrees from M33 on November 12th.  Of course this wont stop me from trying to image this amazing event.  Whats even more amazing is that this exact event repeats every four years almost to the day!  On November 11th 2012, then on November 9th 2016,  9th November 2020 and 7th November 2024.  After that the four year cycle puts 2008 US3 just outside the bounds of M33.  Isn't that just astonishing!

An article in todays Irish Times;

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1029/1225197273692.html

Sorry its taken me so long to get here and thank you guys for the kind words.  Martin:  I saw the write up on your website, many thanks for that.

I cannot overstate that this is a real team effort.  Without the input of lots of people this would not be possible.  Particularly Dave McDonald and Andreas Doppler.  Without their assistance this would definitely not be possible.  Without the inspiration of dedicated amateurs like you guys this would be neither possible nor desirable.  I'm sure the rest of you will forgive me if I single out John McConnell in particular as a real inspiration to us all.

It certainly is a dream come true for me.  When this object appeared on the images on last tuesday.  I had a fair idea that this was a real new one.  Lessons were learned from the couple of near misses around the time when Dave Mc discovered 2008 TM9.  For example I learned that astrometrica (software used for data reduction) can overlay the positions of existing asteroids over an image.  When these images were overlayed there was nothing marked.  So astrometrica thought this was new. So the next question is has one of the big survey like LINEAR discovered this and not told the MPC yet?  This is always the worry.  As it turned out Catalina had already gotten one night on this object.   However two nights observations are required for a discovery and thankfully my two nights were submitted before Catalina got theres.  So there is added satisfaction from beating one of the 'big boys' to it.

There was a bit of a scare on Friday when I submitted these observations.  Within a short time I got an automatic email from the MPC saying that my observations had been rejected. The reason was one measure.  When you look at the animation on my website note how in the third frame the asteroid sort of merges with a nearby star.  That threw off the measure.  The MPC recommended just resubmitting without that measure.  Thats what I did on Friday night.  It was Saturday before I got the word.  Its funny that the emailfrom the minor planet centre is decidedly underwhelming.  All it said was;

DG00001  K08U03S

Meaning: the object you call DG00001 is a new object and is now designated 2008 US3.

If it said something like;

DG00001 (K08U43X

That would be very bad as it would mean the object you call DG00001 is in fact a known asteroid 2008 UX43.  One little bracket makes all the difference.

In some ways its important to remember that although discoveries make the headlines its the other less visible work that is more important.  For example on Saturday night I observed a number of objects.  One of these was an NEO candidate.  Observations from J41 and other observatories helped to determine that this was not an NEO but a hungarian.  So exciting as discoveries are its important to keep at the real work of astrometry.

Anyway I'm due to give a talk to the IAA on November 26th.  This was flagged as an astrophotography talk, however I suspect there'll be lots of asteroid related material discussed!  Thanks again to everyone here for the comments.

Piccie #1;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7666975.stm

That is one *sweet* photo.  Beautifully framed and really shows off the dramatic nature of Orion.  Many congrats.

I agree.  I know from past experience that that is not easy to do.  Great work Roman.

John that is a *really* nice image.  My congrats.

Paul,  you need to make a case for nuisance to the council.  If these are shining in your window then you would have a very strong case.  Start talking about astronomy and your get absolutely nowhere.  If you dont get anywhere with that send letters to the local newspapers highlighting the ecological impact of these. In particular the carbon emissions. Embarrass the developer every way you can.

Well done Paul and Martin.  Two very worthy shots.  Congrats

Wonderful slot on RTE.  I always cry at a good asteroid discovery:)

If this is not one of the best days for amateur astronomy on this Island then I don't know what is!

I want to congratulate Carl on that image.  I think without question, its your best image to date.  Technically perfect from every point of view.

Martin, were pretty sure now that its a main belt asteroid so definitely not an NEO or a comet.  The existing observations fit perfectly those expected by an MBA.

Just heard that Dave will be on both the 6 O'Clock and 9 O'Clock news on RTE, The Dave Fanning show on RTE Radio One on Monday night.  The Irish Independant are doing a spread, possible the Irish Times too, in fact there is interest from all the daily newspapers.  As they say in the Carlsberg ad, "THIS. Is gonna be great!"

Paul,  generally it takes a few oppositions to be 'numberable'  but here's the thing if it can be linked to a 'One night Stand' observation.  i.e. and observation recorded by another observation preciously but not designated because designation (discovery) requires two nights observations within the space of 10 days.  If such linkages can be made then the object will be Numberable much quicker since previous oppositions would be able to be integrated into its orbit.  Andreas Doppler at the MPC willbe working very hard to see if such a linkage can be made.  Lets hope he succeeds.