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help identifying object near NGC 722

Celestron EdgeHD 8" NGC722 NGC Objects Deep Sky Galaxy
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Michel Makhlouta avatar
Michel Makhlouta avatar
Hi everyone,
I was blinking through some images I've taken recently of NGC 722 and noticed a moving object, slowly moving, it resolves as a dot in 3 minutes exposures and moves very slowly. Link to GIF: NGC722 Blink

Equipment:
EdgeHD 8 at native focal length (2032mm)
ASI1600mm using Astronomik Lum filter, bin 2x2 (2*3.8 um), Unity Gain
Location:  34°07'16.6"N 35°54'14.5"E (or if you prefer 34.121276, 35.904019)
Date: 2021-11-05 around 21:48 GMT+2 (19:48 UTC)

GIF is made from 41 3 minutes frames and looped. Calibrated and registered. Object moves from lower left towards the galaxy in the highlighted area:
(not a GIF, please use the link above)

It's hard to see the object moving without a lot of focus, so I apologize if I break any of your eyes.

I checked various planetariums and I don't see anything happening. I appreciate your help in figuring this out.
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andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
Die Launische Diva avatar
Die Launische Diva avatar
Hi,

This is what a query at the Minor Planet Checker returns for a 10 arcmin search radius centered at NGC 772:
 The following objects, brighter than V = 24.0, were found in the 10.0-arcminute region around R.A. = 01 59 19.6, Decl. = +19 00 27 (J2000.0) on 2021 11 05.87 UT: Object designation R.A. Decl. V Offsets Motion/hr Orbit Further observations?
h m s ° ' " R.A. Decl. R.A. Decl. Comment (Elong/Decl/V at date 1)

(51455) 2001 FC38 01 59 22.5 +19 01 43 20.0 0.7E 1.3N 33- 14- 18o None needed at this time.
(195152) 2002 CW210 01 58 58.0 +18 56 00 19.7 5.1W 4.5S 19- 5- 15o None needed at this time.
(593028) 2015 FY231 01 59 27.9 +19 07 30 20.4 2.0E 7.0N 35- 2- 6o None needed at this time.
(416750) 2005 EC108 01 58 47.7 +19 06 59 21.1 7.5W 6.5N 35- 12- 9o None needed at this time.

It must be the first object, Asteroid (51455). You can confirm this by yourself by importing Asteroid (51455) in Stellarium.

If your field of view is large enough, try finding the rest objects, just for fun!
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Michel Makhlouta avatar
Michel Makhlouta avatar
Michel Makhlouta avatar
Michel Makhlouta avatar
Die Launische Diva:
Hi,

This is what a query at the Minor Planet Checker returns for a 10 arcmin search radius centered at NGC 772:
 The following objects, brighter than V = 24.0, were found in the 10.0-arcminute region around R.A. = 01 59 19.6, Decl. = +19 00 27 (J2000.0) on 2021 11 05.87 UT: Object designation R.A. Decl. V Offsets Motion/hr Orbit Further observations?
h m s ° ' " R.A. Decl. R.A. Decl. Comment (Elong/Decl/V at date 1)

(51455) 2001 FC38 01 59 22.5 +19 01 43 20.0 0.7E 1.3N 33- 14- 18o None needed at this time.
(195152) 2002 CW210 01 58 58.0 +18 56 00 19.7 5.1W 4.5S 19- 5- 15o None needed at this time.
(593028) 2015 FY231 01 59 27.9 +19 07 30 20.4 2.0E 7.0N 35- 2- 6o None needed at this time.
(416750) 2005 EC108 01 58 47.7 +19 06 59 21.1 7.5W 6.5N 35- 12- 9o None needed at this time.

It must be the first object, Asteroid (51455). You can confirm this by yourself by importing Asteroid (51455) in Stellarium.

If your field of view is large enough, try finding the rest objects, just for fun!

and you are right, I just imported Asteroid 51455 as you suggested and it matches the trajectory. Thanks a lot for your help, I appreciate it!
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