[AZ-Observing] Re: [SHALLOW] 2002 NY40, the asteroid no one could stop!

Using the orbital elements from the site supplied by Brian Skiff and entered 
into Earth Centered Universe, finder charts were generated for Friday and 
Saturday nights to locate 2002 NY40 from Stone Haven Observatory located 
south of Maricopa, AZ.
  Friday night was a wash, with lots of lightning and clouds but no rain or 
thunder.  Fairly typical for the last couple years, unfortunately.
  Saturday was different, with mostly clear skies and a bright Moon.  After 
failing to locate the asteroid at 8:00 when it was supposed to be just north 
of 5.7 mag HD 173417, I managed to locate it using a method similar to Steve 
Coe's-park the C8 on Kappa Lyrae with a wide angle EP and wait.  At 9:07 pm 
MST, I suspected something moving across the bottom of the field.  Seconds 
later, I confirmed it.  I bossted the power up to 112x and followed the 
interloper for almost an hour as it passed star fields bright and faint.  It 
took about 45 seconds to traverse the ~20' FOV.  It was really cruisin'!
   I almost lost it a couple times when I ran inside to get Rosie to look.  
I'd describe the field to her, but she couldn't see it.  "C'mon, it's right 
there!", but in my excitement, I'd forgotten how long it takes to adapt to 
9th-10th magnitude stars in an ep.  Sorry, Rosie!  She did eventually see it 
getting almost as excited as me.  Really neat sight and an excellent evening 
indeed.


Steve and Rosie Dodder
sdodder@xxxxxxxxxxx
Visit my web site at http://www.stargazing.net/Astroman

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