Breaking News!!

[John9929]

I have just been informed by Dave McDonald that he has discovered an asteroid in the constellation Pegasus.
It has been confirmed as a "new" object and is designated as 2008 TM9. It is estimated to be around magnitude
19.9 - 20 and was discovered using his 14" SCT from his home at Celbridge Co Kildare Ireland using images
taken over the last few nights. Dave is over the moon with his new discovery, the first one from Ireland since
Andrew Graham discovered 9-Metis from Markree Observatory 160 years ago! Very many congratulations Dave,
and thanks for letting me be one of the first to know of your great discovery.

[Paul]

That is absolutely fabulous news - well done Dave! John, thanks for getting this to us hot off the press!

Paul.

[John9929]

It's great news indeed Paul, I will try to post more info as it becomes available. Dave has a very busy afternoon with several interviews lined up.

[Paul]

So John, what happens next? Once the object is confirmed as a new one, how long does it take to get enough observations to work out orbit and size, or will there be past information that can be used to calculate this?

P.

[John9929]

Not very long, I suspect Dr Brian Marsden and his colleagues at MPC are already working on that one.
It will probably take a few more observations before an orbit, distance etc can be worked out. Size is always
guess work with asteroids anyway but I suspect it's probably between 2 and 4km across, this is what
they reckon for most of the recently discovered ones anyway, but it's so hard to tell as they are so distant,
probably about 2+ AU. As it is a confirmed "new" object it probably hasn't been picked up before by any of
the big surveys.

[martinastro]

That's fantastic John!!!. I knew Dave would pull one of those guys from the sky!!. That's fantastic news. Congrats Dave!!

[brianb]

Well done Dave!

how long does it take to get enough observations to work out orbit and size, or will there be past information that can be used to calculate this?

Usually a trawl of old images will yield enough info for the orbit. Even for comets which tend to be brightening fast when discovered. The size is going to be an estimate until direct high resolution imaging occurs (this is unlikely to be much use in the case of a faint asteroid) or an occultation is well observed.

[Paul]

This, they tell me, is all about the orbital parameters etc....

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2008tm9;orb=0;cov=0;log=0#elem

Fast work!

P.

[John9929]

Good work Paul, I saw that as well, you got there before me!

[davegrennan]

I would also add my heartiest congratulations to Dave on this wonderful discovery. As Dave is away at his press conference, I'll give you the gist of how it happened.

2008TM9 was fist recorded on Tuesday night. A moving object detected on a sequence of survey images did not correlate to any known asteroid. In fact it was just one of three objects which were unidentified and recorded at Celbridge and Raheny observatories. Two of the objects recorded at Raheny were subsequently identified as asteroids discovered as early as a week ago by the LINEAR sky survey.

Anyway the object recorded at Celbridge by DaveMc remained unidentified. A second night of observations were carried out Before submitted to the minor planet centre, the observations were double/triple/quadruple checked by Dave/Andreas Doppler/myself and then sent to the MPC. I don't know who was more nervous while waiting for the response, as usual Dave was the calmest of all. There was lots of finger nail biting and praying going on. The fear is always that the MPC have observations in their database which they have not processed and will always issue a discovery to the earlier observer.

There wasn't long to wait until Tim Spahr at the MPC confirmed that the object Dave designated as DMCD001 was now officially K08T09M or more commonly 2008 TM9. After the yelling and screaming had died down the realisation sunk in that Dave had just discovered the first asteroid from these shores since Andrew Graham discovered (9) Metis in 1848. 160 years is a long time to wait but I'm sure Dave will agree that it was worth the wait.

You can expect to see further discoveries from these shores in the not too distant future but for the moment I'm sure everyone will agree that if anyone in Ireland deserves this then its Dave, a tireless astrometrist and a great guy allround.

[davegrennan]

So John, what happens next? Once the object is confirmed as a new one, how long does it take to get enough observations to work out orbit and size, or will there be past information that can be used to calculate this?

P.

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.

[martinastro]

Many thanks for the discovery data Dave. I can only imagine what you guys have went through since that period. Dave Mc must be in an incredible high now - he has achieved his dream!. This really is an historical feat for Irish astronomy!. I'm also impressed that Dave hunted this guy down in Pegasus, far from the Sun, and in the search area of the major surveys. It's a real testiment to what a dedicated amateur can do and inspiration to all of us.

I'm looking forward to the final orbit calculations. Is this object an NEO?, could it also be a comet?

Cheers

[davegrennan]

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!"

[martinastro]

Thanks for those times Dave. I will be tuning in!

[davegrennan]

I'm looking forward to the final orbit calculations. Is this object an NEO?, could it also be a comet?

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.