Astrometry of Asteroids

Student Manual and Worksheet

 Student Manual

Goals
Overall
You should be able to understand how moving objects can be discovered on images of the sky.

You should understand the fundamentals of using the equatorial coordinate system of right
ascension and declination to locate objects on the sky.

You should understand how reference stars of known coordinates can be used to interpolate the
coordinates of unknown objects.

You should appreciate the way in which astronomers measure parallax and use it to determine the
distance to objects in the solar system and beyond the solar system.

Specific
If you learn to
Display CCD images of the heavens using an astronomical image display program.

Blink pairs of images, and learn to recognize objects that have moved from one image to
the next.

Call up reference star charts from the Hubble Guide Star Catalog (GSC) stored on the
computer.

Recognize and match star patterns on the GSC charts against the stars in your image

Measure the coordinates of unknown objects on your images using the GSC reference
stars.

You should be able to

Find asteroids on pairs of CCD images.

Measure the angular velocity of the asteroid in arcseconds per second.

Measure the parallax of an asteroid seen from two sites on opposite sides of the US.

Use the parallax to determine the distance of an asteroid, using the same technique
astronomers use to measure the distance of stars.

Use the distance of the asteroid and its angular velocity to determine its tangential
velocity.

Useful Terms You Should Review

Angular AU Degrees Parallax Universal Minutes

Velocity Time

arcminutes Blinking Hours Proper arcseconds Seconds

Motion

Asteroids Coordinates Magnitude Right Declination

Ascension

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The Computer Program
The program we will use (ASTROMETRY OF ASTEROIDS) can be downloaded to your computer, or you
can go to any of the computer labs (running Windows) and look in the Programs for ASTRO 121 menu (for
ICS labs) for the Asteroid Program or the ASTRO 150 menu (for ATLAS labs). Or, if you want to install
on your own machine, download from http://www3.gettysburg.edu/~marschal/clea/astlab.html and install
the AstrmLab.EXE program.

Introduction
Astrometrical Coordinate systems and the Technique of Astrometry

This lab involves the measurement of precise star positions, a technique called astrometry, which is one of
the fundamental tools of astronomers. Astrometry, of course, enables us to make charts of objects in the
sky, assigning two numbers or celestial coordinates to each object so that we can easily locate it. If you’ve
ever used a roadmap or a map of the world, where two coordinates are used to mark the positions of cities
and mountains, you know the usefulness of coordinate systems.

Astrometry also helps astronomers measure the changes in positions of objects in the heavens. One of these
changes, called annual parallax, enables astronomers to measure the distances to some stars. Parallax is a
semi-annual wobble in the position of a star caused by changing perspective as the earth circles the sun.
Another change, called the proper motion of a star, is a continuous drift across the sky caused by the
motion of the star itself with respect to us.

By using computers to measure the positions of stars on digital images of the sky, astronomers determine
the coordinates of objects to high precision. Even the relatively simple program you will be using in this
exercise can pinpoint objects to better than 0.1 arcseconds, which is about the diameter of a dime viewed
from a distance of 20 kilometers. This is not high enough precision to measure the parallax of most stars
because most stars are too far away, and therefore have an extremely small annual parallax. So we have
chosen to demonstrate astrometric measurement using asteroids, those small rocky planets that orbit the
sun—most of them between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter. You will be able to measure the parallax and the
orbital motion of asteroids quite easily, and the techniques you learn here are applicable both to asteroid
work and to the study of the positions and motions of the stars.

The Notion of an Astronomical Coordinate System

Figure 1
Coordinate Systems

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Student Manual

How do astronomers know where a star is in the sky? They use the same method we use here on earth to
specify the position of a city on the globe or a street on a map of the city: they give two numbers, called the
coordinates of the star, which enable us to pinpoint the object. Imagine the sky covered with a grid of
imaginary lines, labeled with numbers. To say that a star is at (X,Y) in the sky, is just like saying a city is at
longitude 77 west, latitude 40 north, or that a street is at L, 5 on a map. To find the city, you just look to see
where the longitude line labeled “77 west” intersects with the latitude line labeled “40 north ,” and there it
is. To find the street, you just look to see where line L intersects line 5 on the map. Two coordinates are all
that is needed since the surface of the earth, the city map, and the sky, all appear two dimensional to the
observer.

The Equatorial Coordinate System: Declination and Right Ascension

Positions are always measured with respect to something. For instance, latitude and longitude are measured
with respect to the earth’s equator and the Greenwich meridian. Coordinates on a piece of graph paper are
measured with respect to the corner or to the origin of the graph. The coordinates that are commonly used
to specify star positions in astronomy indicate the star’s position with respect to the celestial equator, an
imaginary line in the sky that runs above the earth’s equator, and this system is therefore called the
equatorial coordinate system. The two coordinates in the equatorial system are called Declination and Right
Ascension.

The lines of declination are like lines of latitude on the earth, and are designated by their angular distance
north or south of the celestial equator, measured in degrees (°), arcminutes ('), and arcseconds ("). There are
360 degrees in a circle, 60 minutes in a degree, and 60 seconds in a minute. A star with a declination of
+45° 30' lies 45 degrees, 30 minutes north of the celestial equator; negative declinations are used for an
object south of the equator.

Right ascension lines are like lines of longitude on the earth, running through the north and south celestial
poles perpendicular to the lines of declination. They designate angular distance east of a line through the
vernal equinox, the position of the sun when it crosses the celestial equator on the first day of spring. Right
ascension is measured in hours ( H ),
minutes ( m ) and seconds ( s ). This
may sound strange, but an hour of
right ascension is defined as 1/24 of
a circle, so an hour of right
ascension is equal to 15 degrees.
There are 60 minutes in an hour,
and 60 seconds in a minute of right
ascension. A star with a right
ascension of 5 hours would be 5
hours, or 75 degrees, east of the
line of right ascension (0 H ) that
runs through the vernal equinox.
There are many catalogs of objects
in the heavens which list their right
ascensions and declinations. It’s
impossible to list all the stars in the
sky, so a catalog usually contains
Figure 2 stars that are selected by
The Equatorial Coordinates astronomers for a particular
purpose. One of the most important
catalogs is called the FK5 Catalog, because it is one of the fundamental catalogs used as a reference for
measuring the positions to other stars in the sky (see the next section of this manual). The FK5 Catalog
contains only 3522 stars, all of them rather bright. The right ascension and declination of the stars in the
FK5 Catalog have been especially carefully measured and re-measured so that they can be relied upon as
standard reference points for the measurement of the positions of other objects in the sky.

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Another useful catalog which we shall use in this exercise is the Hubble Space Telescope Guide Star
Catalog, (GSC). The GSC lists almost all the stars in the sky that are brighter than apparent magnitude 16,
which is almost ten thousand times fainter than the faintest star you can see with your naked eye. There are
coordinates of almost 20 million stars in the GSC, so many that the full catalog requires two CD-ROMs to
hold it. The GSC has been one of the most useful catalogs for astronomers in recent years. There are so
many stars in it, scattered all over the sky, that you can practically count on having several GSC stars with
known coordinates anywhere you look in the sky. On the other hand, there are so few stars in the
FK5Catalog, that it’s rare that a FK5 star will be in the same direction as an object of interest.
In this exercise, you’ll only be looking at a few specific spots in the sky. To save room on your computer,
we’ve extracted only part of the GSC and stored it on the computer for use in this exercise.

The Technique of Astrometry: Finding the Coordinates of Unknown Objects

The lines of right ascension and declination are imaginary lines of course. If there’s an object in the sky
whose right ascension and declination aren’t known (because it isn’t in a catalog, or because it’s moving
from night to night, as a planet or asteroid does), how do we find its coordinates? The answer is that we
take a picture of the unknown object, U, and surrounding stars, and then interpolate its position from that of
other nearby stars whose equatorial coordinates are known. The stars of known position are called
reference stars or standard stars.

Suppose, for instance, that our unknown object lay exactly halfway between star A and star B. Star A is
listed in the catalog at right ascension 5 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds, declination 10 degrees 0 minutes 0
seconds. Star B is listed in the catalog at right ascension 6 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds, declination 25
degrees 0 minutes 0 seconds. We measure the pixel positions of stars A and star B and U on the screen and
find that U is exactly halfway between A and B in both right ascension (the x direction) and declination
(the y direction). (See Figure 3 below).
We can then conclude that the right ascension of
the unknown object is halfway between that of A
and B, or 5 hours 30 minutes 0 seconds; and the
declination of the unknown object is halfway
between that of A and B, or 17 degrees 30
minutes 0 seconds. This is outlined in the table
below. If the unknown object isn’t exactly half-
way between the two known stars, the
interpolation is a bit more complicated. In fact, in
practice it’s a bit more involved largely because
the image of the sky appears flat and, in actuality,
the real sky is curved. But it is not difficult to
write easy to use software that will do the
mathematics for you, and the program we supply
does just that. To measure a unknown object’s
position from an image, the software will instruct
you to choose at least three stars of known
coordinates (for best results choose more). Then
indicate the location of the unknown object by
clicking on it. The computer performs what is
Figure 3 called a coordinate transformation from the
Determining the Coordinates images on the screen to the equatorial
of an Unknown Object coordinates, and prints out a solution showing
you the coordinates of your unknown object.
The software we provide can, in principle, calculate coordinates with a precision of about 0.1 seconds of
arc. That’s approximately the angular diameter of a dime seem at distance of about 20 miles, a very small
angle indeed.

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Student Manual

Star Right Ascension Declination X Position Y Position

on Image on Image

Star A 5h 0m 0s 10o 0’ 0” 20 20

Star B 6h 0m 0s 25o 0’ 0” 10 30

Unknown Star U ? ? 15 25

The Problem of Finding Asteroids

In this exercise you will be using images of the sky to find asteroids and measure their positions. Asteroids
are small rocky objects that orbit the sun just like planets. They are located predominately between the
orbit of Mars and Jupiter, about 2.8 Astronomical Units from the sun. Asteroids do orbit closer to the sun,
even crossing the earth’s orbit. Occasionally an earth-crossing orbit may even collide with the earth.
Hollywood movie producers have frequently used an asteroid collision as a plot for a disaster movie. The
danger is real, but dangerous collisions are very infrequent.

Most asteroids are only a few kilometers in size, often even less. Like the planets, they reflect sunlight, but
because they are so small, they appear only as points of light on images of the sky. How then can we tell
which point of light on an image is an asteroid, and which points are stars?

The key to recognizing asteroids is to note that asteroids move noticeably against the background of the
stars because an asteroid is orbiting the sun. If you take two pictures of the sky a few minutes apart, the
stars will not have moved with respect to one another, but an asteroid will have moved. (See figure 4). It’s
hard to see the forest for the trees, however. Often there are so many stars on a picture that you can’t easily
remember the pattern when you look at another image, and therefore you can’t easily tell which dot of light
has moved. Computers come to the rescue again! You can load and display simultaneously two images of
the sky that were previously taken with a telescope. You then instruct the computer to switch the display
quickly back and forth from one image to another, a technique called blinking. If you are careful to line up
the stars on the first image with the stars on the second image before you blink the two images, the only
object that will to change will be the asteroid, which will appear to jump, making it easy to spot. Our
computer program enables you to easily align the stars on two images and then blink back and forth,
making asteroids jump to your attention.
Sometimes the asteroids will be faint;
other times there will be spots or defects
that appear on one image and not on
another. These spots can mislead you
into thinking that something has moved
into the second image that was not there
in the first. So even with the ease of
blinking, you should carefully inspect
the images, in order to pick out the
object (or objects) that really move
from a position on the first image to a
new position on the second. Seeing the
Figure 4 asteroid continue its trend of motion in
Finding the Asteroid a third image can confirm your
identification.

Figure 4
Finding the Asteroid

Once you’ve identified an asteroid on a picture, you can then get the computer to calculate its coordinates
by measuring its position with respect to reference stars (stars of known coordinates) on the screen.

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Comparing an asteroid’s position at particular time with its position at some other time enables you to
calculate the velocity of the asteroid, as we will see later in this exercise.

The Principles of Parallax

Measurement of precise positions makes possible one of the most powerful methods astronomers have of
measuring the distances to objects in the sky, a method known as parallax. Parallax is the most direct way
astronomers have of measuring the distances to stars.

The parallax of an object is its apparent shift in position when you view the object from two different
vantage points. It’s commonly used on the earth to measure the distance across a wide river (see Figure 5
below). You view a tree from two vantage points on the opposite shore. You carefully measure the distance
between the two vantage points, called the baseline, B, and the angle between the two lines of sight to the
tree, parallax angle designated as Θ. Using trigonometry, you can find the perpendicular distance across the
river. Since the distance, D, is one side of a right triangle, the opposite angle of which is Θ/2, and the
adjacent side of which is B/2, the distance across the river can be represented as

D = B/2 _
tan (Θ/2)

In general, if you can measure the parallax, Θ, of an object as measured from two points separated by a
baseline, B, you can measure its distance.

Figure 5
Parallax of an Object

In astronomy, a commonly used baseline is the diameter of the earth’s orbit and the parallax we measure is
due to the shift in vantage point as the earth orbits the sun. If we view a nearby star from opposite sides of
the earth’s orbit, and measure its position against a background of distant stars, we will see that it appears
to move. For example, its equatorial coordinates measured in June, when the earth is at one side of the sun,
will be different from its position in January when the earth is at the other side of the sun (see Figure 5): the
further the star, the smaller the parallax. Even the nearest stars have parallax shifts of less than a second of
an arc, hard to see and hard to measure. However, astronomers have been able to measure the parallaxes of
over a hundred thousand stars using sophisticated techniques and a special satellite called Hipparchos.

It is also possible to measure the distance to asteroids using parallax too. Because asteroids are closer, their
parallax is larger, and we can even use a short baseline - like the diameter of the earth. Viewed from two
points on the earth, asteroids show a very noticeable parallax, as you will see in Part IV of this exercise.

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Student Manual

Measuring the parallax of asteroids using astrometry is a useful exercise for showing us how the much
smaller parallax of stars is measured in practice.

Overall Software Strategy

1. Login and enter student information.

2. Access and browse through the Help Screens.

3. Become familiar with the procedure of loading and displaying CCD images, and learn how to
blink images in order to identify which object is the asteroid.

4. Using the GSC and the technique of blinking the image, measure the equatorial
coordinates of the asteroid.

5. Determine how fast the asteroid is moving and its distance from earth by using the data you
have collected on the asteroid’s position in conjunction with simple trigonometric formulae.

Starting the program

Under a typical installation, you will find Astrometry of Asteroids under CLEA Exercises in the Programs
section of the Windows Start menu. If this is not the case, consult the lab help desk. When the program
starts, the CLEA logo should appear in a window on your screen. Select Login > under the File menu. Fill
in the form that appears. When you have completed the form and clicked OK, the opening screen of the
Astrometry of Asteroids lab will appear.

Accessing the HELP Files

You may, at any time, select Help from the menu. Within Help…Topics, there are five options that you
can select: Login, Files, Images, Reports, and Close the Program. LogIn informs you of the initial steps
required to begin the program. Files provides information on the types of files used in this exercise and
how to load these images. Images explains how to retrieve and modify images, print images, blink images,
and measure images. Using the Help…Topic…Reports menu choice will show you how you can review
your observational data and also how to compute projected baselines. Close the Program gives the
procedure on how to exit the program as well as a reminder for any unsaved data. There is no user help for
this program; therefore the User option is disabled. About This Exercise displays the title and version
number of the program as well as the copyright information.

Part I Finding Asteroids by Blinking Images

This software includes a series of images of a region of the sky, about 4 arcminutes square, in which
astronomers were searching for a faint earth-approaching asteroid designated 1992JB. The problem is to
recognize the asteroid, which as the name suggests (aster-oid = “starlike”), looks just like a star.

In the first part of this exercise you will examine the images to find a moving object, the asteroid 1992JB.
The technique you will use is called blinking. Using 2 stars on each image as reference points, you can
align the images electronically in the computer. After alignment, whenever you turn on the blink feature,
the computer will quickly switch its display from one image to another. Stationary objects like stars will
not appear to change position, but objects that have moved from one image to the next will appear to jump,
drawing your attention to them. You can thus identify which starlike object is, in fact, the asteroid.
Below, the formal lab discussion is followed. At the end of this document, is the portion that should
be turned in for credit, the Worksheet. DO NOT turn in this entire document. Write all answers to
the embedded questions into the appropriate places of the worksheet.

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Procedure for Part I

1. Let’s look at one of the images. From the menu bar, choose File… Load Image Files… Image 1. A
directory listing showing you a list of files appears. From this list, select 92jb05.fts, and click Open to load
it.

• The computer will show you the progress of the loading and creating a screen for display and then
write the name of the file on the screen to let you know it has successfully loaded Image 1.
• The image has been loaded, but is not yet displayed. To display it, select Images on the menu bar,
then choose View/Adjust… Image 1 from the pull-down menu. A window showing the image
92JB05 will appear on your screen.

Main Window

Figure 6
Image Display Window

• The image is oriented with west to the right and north to the top. All of the dots you see on the
image are distant stars except one, which is the asteroid. We’ll make a chart of the image and mark
the asteroid when we discover it. In the blank space located on the worksheet at the end of this
document, Figure W1, make a freehand sketch of the image 92JB05. Try to pay attention to the
details—draw it to scale and try to make it fit in the space.

2. Now let’s find the asteroid. Load as before, but this time choose File…Load Image Files …Image 2
from the main program window (which appears blue not black as in the Image 1 window). From the list of
images, select 92jb07.fts, and click Open to load it.
• NOTE: The program can load up to four image files for blinking purposes, but for first-time
users we recommend blinking only two at a time. Thus you will be loading images only in
the Image 1 and Image 2 slots. If at some point you wish to blink more than two images, try
File > Load Image Files > Multiple Load. Then use the CTRL key to select multiple images.
You can display this image in its own window by using the Images. ..View/Adjust…Image 2 selection on
the menu bar. Since 92JB07 was taken 10 minutes after 92JB05, the asteroid will have moved. But it may

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Student Manual

not be immediately obvious which star-like object is out of place, even when you compare the images side
by side.

So we blink the images, first aligning them so they coincide, and then using the computer to flip from one
image to the other. Here are the steps we use to blink the images.

• We must first align the images. From the main menu bar located on the blue window, choose
Images…Blink. You will see one window now, displaying just Image 1.

• At the bottom right, a small instruction box asks you to click on an alignment star, which the
computer can use to align the two images. If possible, you should try to choose two stars that are
on opposite sides of the picture to achieve best results. (The best combination is a pair of
diagonally opposite stars.) Choose one of the brightest ones, click on it, and note it for your own
reference by writing the number 1 next to it on your freehand drawn chart.

• Click on Continue in the instruction box, and it will ask you for a second alignment star. (Two
stars are needed to account for possible rotation of the images.) Click on this star, record it on the
chart above as 2, and click again on Continue.

• Now you will see Image 2, and you will be asked to identify star number 1 on Image 2. Check
your chart, then click on the same star 1 that you chose in Image 1. If you are satisfied, click
Continue in the instruction box. You are now asked to identify star 2 and again you click on the
same star 2 that you chose in Image 1. Actually, based on your choice of stars in Image 1, the
computer will make a good guess as to where the star should be on Image 2. It will draw a box
around where it thinks it should be, and if, in fact, it comes close, you need merely click Continue
to accept its choice. You’ll find that the computer does this guesswork in many parts of the
program, making it easier for you to make measurements quickly.

• The computer now has all the information it needs to align the images and blink them. All you
need to do is click on Blink from the menu bar at the top of the blinking window, and you will see
the computer flip back and forth between Image 1 and Image 2 about once a second. The stars will
not move, but you should easily be able to pick out the asteroid as the one object that does jump.
Be careful when choosing! For example, occasionally a white spot will appear on one image, and
not the other. It is not an asteroid, however, but a defect in the picture itself. This is usually caused
by radiation—a cosmic ray most often—that exposes a single pixel in the camera during one
exposure. You may also notice all the stars brighten and dim, since one image is a longer exposure
and therefore brighter. Similarly, the background shade may be lighter in one image than in
another. But the asteroid should appear clearly as a smudge of light that changes position from
one image to the other.

• To stop the blinking select Stop from the menu bar. To adjust the rate of blinking slower or faster
at your convenience, select Adjust…Blink Rate. The Blink Rate Interval dialog box appears. The
blink rate can be adjusted using the slide bar to increase or decrease the rate per msec that the
images blink. The range is from 10 to 1000 msec with the default set at 500 msec.

• To start over, select the Adjust…Field Alignment menu option to choose the alignment stars
again.

• When you have identified the asteroid on Image 1 (92JB05) and Image 2 (92JB07) mark the
position of the asteroid with a dot on your chart (Figure W1 on the Worksheet). On the freehand
drawing of Figure W1, neatly label the asteroid’s position on Image 92JB05 with a small 05 and
its position on Image 92JB07 with an 07.
3. Now continue to find the asteroid on images 92JB08, 92JB09, 92JB10, 92JB12, and 92JB14 by blinking
them. You will continue to use Image 92JB05 as Image 1.

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To do this, simply select the Load…Image2 menu item, and then Image…Blink to blink the images. You
will be prompted to identify the alignment stars on the new image. Continue with images 09-14.

The procedure will then be the same as you followed with image 92JB07 as Image 2. Again, mark the
successive positions of asteroid 1992JB by dots labeled 08, 09, 10, 12, and 14 on the chart you made in
step 1 (Figure W1).

Part II

Measuring the Equatorial Coordinates of an Asteroid by Comparing It to Positions

of Known Stars in the Hubble Guide Star Catalog

Now that you have identified which object on the images is the asteroid, the next step is to determine the
location of the object in the sky by measuring its equatorial coordinates, i.e. the object’s Right Ascension
and Declination. The computer can do this by a type of interpolation or “fitting” process, which compares
the position of the asteroid on an image with the positions of stars whose coordinates have been previously
tabulated in a catalog. The most widely used catalog today is an electronic file called the Hubble Guide
Star Catalog (GSC), which was originally created to aid in pointing the Hubble Space Telescope. The GSC,
as it is called, was created by measuring star positions on photographs of the sky. It contains coordinates
and magnitudes of about 20 million stars brighter than apparent magnitude 16. The GSC is available on two
CD-ROMs, but to make it unnecessary for you to insert a CD into your computer, we have selected part of
the GSC and stored it on your computer’s hard drive, where the Astrometry program can access it easily.

For each image of 1992JB, you will determine the coordinates of the asteroid by
• Telling the GSC the approximate coordinates of the center of the image, so that it can draw a map
of the stars with known coordinates in the vicinity.

• Identifying at least three GSC stars that are also on the image, as reference stars for calculating
coordinates on the image.

• Pointing and clicking on each star on your image that is a reference star, so that the computer
knows which star on your image corresponds to a particular reference star in the catalog.

• Pointing and clicking on a target object with unknown coordinates: the asteroid. The computer
then calculates its coordinates with reference to the GSC reference stars you have chosen.

• Writing the coordinates of the asteroid in the table on the Worksheet.

Procedure for Part II

1. Let’s measure the position of the asteroid in Image 92JB05. If it is not already loaded into Image 1, use
the File…Load Image Files…Image1 menu choice from the main window to load the file. Then choose
the Images…Measure…Image1 menu choice. A window will open asking you to confirm the Observation
Date and Time. Click OK. A second window will open asking you to confirm the coordinates for the
center of the field with those in Table 1 on page 14. Set the Field Size at 8 arcminutes. The default value
for the magnitude limit is 20. When you have entered the field center information, click OK. This second
window will only open the first time through this measurement. If you should need to change the
information, you will need to cancel the reference parameters by going to File….Clear Images/Ref
Fields…Reference Fields Only.

2. The computer will now search for stars in this region in the GSC, and will draw a star chart, based on the
GSC coordinates in a window on the left-hand side of the screen. It will display the Image 1, 92JB05, in a
window on the right-hand side of the screen. (See Figure 7). The Image will show more stars than the GSC
map, partly because one of the “stars” is the asteroid, and also because the GSC only includes stars brighter

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Student Manual

than 16th magnitude, and some of the stars in your images are fainter than that. However, you should see a
distinctive pattern of at least three stars in the GSC chart that you can match to the brighter stars on your
image. Note that the scale of the chart will not match the scale of the image.

3. When you see the match, you will want to identify it. First sketch all the reference stars from the
reference star window on the left in Figure W3, then label the three stars you will use 1, 2, and 3 on Figure
W3.

4. Now you will tell the computer which ones you’ve chosen. Using the mouse, click on reference star
number one in the left window (the GSC map). A dialog box will open at the bottom of the page,
identifying the GSC data on that star; simultaneously the computer will draw a colored box around the
reference star on the chart (Figure 7).

Figure 7
Selecting Reference Stars

Record the ID#, RA, and DEC of each reference star in Table W1 in the Worksheet.

Click select in the dialog box at the bottom of the page to set your first reference star. Repeat the process
for reference star 2, etc. until you have marked as many reference stars as you can see on both the GSC
chart and image 92JB05. (You need to identify and mark at least 3, well spaced over as wide an area of the
image as possible, for best results.).

5. When you have selected at least 3 reference stars and marked them, go to the Select Reference Stars
dialog box that is in the bottom center of the screen and click OK to tell the computer you’re finished
selecting stars. If you’ve only chosen 3, the computer will warn you that more reference stars would give
you better results, but if 3 is all you could choose, assure the computer by clicking NO, you don’t want to
choose any more.

6. You will now be asked to point to reference star 1, then star 2, etc. in the right window—Image 92JB05.
Click on each star in turn, making sure to match it with the reference star you’ve selected on the GSC chart,
and click OK on each to signal you’ve picked the right star. The computer will start to second-guess you—
after 2 stars have been identified, it will be able to tell approximately where star 3 is, and if the computer

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has done a good job (Star 3 is anywhere inside the colored box the computer draws on the screen), you
need only click OK to accept its choice.

Figure 8
Identification Window

7. When all the reference stars have been identified on your image, the computer will then ask you to point
and click on the “unknown” or “target” star—the asteroid. If you click OK after choosing this star, the
computer will have enough information to calculate the coordinates of the target star with respect to the
reference stars. A small text window will open on the left side of the screen displaying the right ascension
and declination coordinates of your target object. Write these down in Table W2 in the worksheet. We’ve
already written down the measured right ascension of the asteroid 92JB05 to get you started.

8. After you’ve written down the data, click on OK in the center box at the bottom to accept the solution.

Then when the computer asks if you want to record the data, click Yes.

Finally click OK to record your measurement on a data file. You can view this report form from the Report
menu item on the main window at any time for your own reference, and you may want to print it out later
when you have added all the other measurements to it.

9. Now use the File…Load Image Files…Image1 menu choice on the main window, along with the
Image…Measure..Image1 menu choice, to measure the asteroid position in images 92JB07, 92JB08,
92JB09, 92JB10, 92JB12, and 92JB14. You will proceed just as you did above, recording your data both on
the worksheet Table W2 and on the computer. You will note that the computer quickly learns the setup you
are using—it will know what reference stars you chose the first time, and outline them on the GSC window
the next time through. You will still have to match the stars on your image with reference stars on the GSC,
and you will, of course, have to show the computer where the asteroid is, since it moves from one image to
the next.

The measuring process should be rapid. If you need to change any of the field settings, you can change
them by using the File…Clear Images/Ref. Fields menu choice, which clears all the images from
computer memory and starts over.

10. When you have recorded the positions of the asteroid on all the images, you are ready to proceed to the
Part III.
The asteroid is moving in a straight line (over the small field of this image—it’s actually going in an orbit
around the sun, of course). Therefore you should note a smooth change in the numbers from beginning to
end—a regular increase in right ascension (if it’s moving eastward) or decrease (if its moving westward)
and a regular increase or decrease in declination (depending on whether it’s moving northward or
southward). Re-measure any images that seem to be in error.

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Student Manual

Table 1
Information on Images

Note: Some of the above data may differ from the data that appears in the computer window when the file
is loaded. You do not need to correct the information stored in the software and you may just click OK.

Part III

The Angular Velocity of Asteroid 1992JB

How fast is 1992JB moving? We can calculate its angular velocity in arcseconds per second of time using
data taken in Part II of this exercise. The procedure we follow is to subtract the asteroid’s starting position
on image 92JB05 from its ending position on image 92JB14, and divide by the number of seconds between
the starting image and the ending image. We express this mathematically as
µ = Δθ
Δt
where µ is the angular velocity of the asteroid, Δ θ is the angular distance it moved, and Δt is the time that
elapsed.

Follow the calculations step by step in the worksheet.

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 Part IV

Measuring the Distance of

Asteroid 1992JB by Parallax:
In this section we’ll use our new-found
skill in measuring coordinates to determine
the parallax of asteroid 1992JB. For this
purpose, we took two images of 1992JB
simultaneously from observatories at
opposite sides of the United States. One
image, you have already seen: Image
92JB12, which we have also stored under
the name ASTWEST. It was taken by
Dr. Laurence Marschall using a 0.8m
diameter telescope at the National
Undergraduate Research Observatory in
Flagstaff, Arizona. The other image
ASTEAST was taken by Dr. Thomas
Balonek using an 0.4 m telescope at the
Foggy Bottom Observatory of Colgate
University in Hamilton, New York.

Figure 9
Parallax Observations
1992JB

Because the asteroid is much closer than the stars, it appears in a different position on the two images with
respect to the background stars. This is called its parallax. By measuring the position with respect to
reference stars on both pictures, we can determine the parallax, which is just the angular difference Δθ, in
arc seconds, between its position on the image taken from the eastern site and from the western site. Using
simple trigonometry (see Figure 5 as the example), if B, the baseline, is the distance between the two
telescope sites in kilometers, then :

Dist. To the Asteroid = 206,265(B / Δθ)

Using our program, then, the measurements can be done rather quickly.

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Student Manual

Procedure for Part IV

1. Loading the Images

Load ASTEAST as Image 1. Load ASTWEST as Image 2. Display the two images side by side
for comparison. Note that the two cameras had different sensitivities (the east-coast telescope was
smaller), and had CCD chips of different dimensions, so the images don’t look quite the same. But
the same reference stars are visible on both images. Find asteroid 1992JB again on each image
(you can refer to your chart in part 1—remember ASTWEST is 92JB12)

Use the images to answer the questions on the worksheet.

2. Measuring the coordinates of the asteroid in ASTEAST and ASTWEST

Now using the methods you learned in part 2, measure the coordinates of the asteroid in
ASTEAST and ASTWEST. You can use the Images…Measure…Image 1, and
Images…Measure…Image2 menu options on the main window. Tabulate your results on the
worksheet.

3. Calculating the parallax of 1992JB

The parallax of 1992JB is just the difference between the two positions. We can follow the
methods of calculating the angular difference between two positions that we used Part 3. We
separately calculate the difference in the declinations and the difference in the right ascensions in
arcseconds ( " ) and then find the total angular difference as the square root of the sum of the
squares of the declination and right ascension differences. Show all your work in the worksheet.

Part V: The Tangential Velocity of Asteroid 1992 JB:

The tangential velocity, V t , of an asteroid is the component of its velocity perpendicular to our line of
sight. Again, a simple trigonometric formula lets you calculate its velocity in kilometers/second if you
know its angular velocity (µ, in "/sec) and its distance (km). Use the worksheet to calculate the velocity of
asteroid 1992 JB.

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 WORKSHEET: Name:

Part I.

1. Sketch image 92JB05 in the box below.

NORTH

EAST

Figure W1
Your Freehand Sketch of the Image

2. Choose one of the brightest stars from the images, click on it, and note it for your own reference
by writing the number 1 next to it on your freehand drawn chart. Then, choose the second star
form location reference and write a number 2 next to it.
3. When you have identified the asteroid on Image 1 (92JB05) and Image 2 (92JB07) mark the
position of the asteroid with a dot on your chart. On the freehand drawing in Figure W1, neatly
label the asteroid’s position on Image 92JB05 with a small 05 and its position on Image 92JB07
with an 07.
4. After blinking through 92JB08, 92JB09, 92JB10, 92JB12, and 92JB14, mark the successive
positions of asteroid 1992JB by dots labeled 08, 09, 10, 12, and 14 on Figure W1.
5. Draw an arrow in the space below (Figure W2) to show the direction of motion. Don’t forget the
orientation of the image is different from what would be found on a traditional land map; see
Figure W1.
6. What direction is this? (North, Northeast, Southeast, etc.)?

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Student Manual

Figure W2
Direction of Motion of the Asteroid

Part II.

1. After you match the GSC stars on the field, sketch all the reference stars from the reference star
window on the left in the space below, then label the three stars you will use with 1, 2, and 3.

Figure W3
Sketch of Reference Stars

2. Following the instructions, fill in Tables W1 and W2.

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 Table W1
Table of Reference Star Coordinates

Reference Star ID # RA DEC

#1

#2

#3

Table W2
Measured Equatorial Coordinates

Note: All the values for RA should be approximately the same.

Part III

The Angular Velocity of Asteroid 1992JB

How fast is 1992JB moving? We can calculate its angular velocity in arcseconds per second of time using
data taken in Part II of this exercise (See Table W2). The procedure we follow is to subtract the asteroid’s
starting position on image 92JB05 from its ending position on image 92JB14, and divide by the number of
seconds between the starting image and the ending image. We express this mathematically as
µ = Δθ
Δt

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Student Manual

where µ is the angular velocity of the asteroid, Δ θ is the angular distance it moved, and Δt is the time that
elapsed.

For your guidance in these calculations, approximate values appear in parenthesis beside some key
answers. These are ballpark figures given to help reduce calculator errors. You should record your
calculated values even if they are not near the given values.

Procedure for Part III

SHOW ALL YOUR WORK

1. Measuring the elapsed time

a. Record the time when image 92JB14 and 92JB05 were taken. (These values are recorded in Table
W2, Measured Equatorial Coordinates, in Column 2 Time (UT).)

Time of image 92JB14: ____hours ____minutes ______seconds

Time of image 92JB05: ____hours ____minutes ______seconds

b. Convert the hours to seconds to make subtraction easier. (Note: Multiply minutes by 60 and hours
by 3600 and add all the values together.)

Time of image 92JB14: _____________seconds

Time of image 92JB05: _____________seconds

c. Subtract the time when image 92JB05 was taken from the time image when image 92JB14 was
taken.

Time elapsed between 92JB14 and 92JB05 Δ t = ______________seconds (8500)

2. Measuring the angular distance traveled by 1992JB

In order to calculate the angular distance traveled, we use the Pythagorean theorem, which states that:

a2 + b2
As illustrated in Figure W4, because right ascension and declination are perpendicular coordinates, we can
find the total angle moved using this mathematical relationship derived from the Pythagorean theorem.

20
 Figure W4
The Mathematical Illustration of the Motion of an asteroid
Asteroid
Using Figure W4 as a guide, if we let ΔRA represent the change in the number of arcseconds in right
ascension, and ΔDec represent the change in the number of seconds moved in declination, then using the
relationship expressed by the Pythagorean theorem, we can construct the following equation to determine
the total angle moved.

Δθ = (ΔRA)2 + (ΔDec)2

d. Record the values for the declination of images 92JB14 and 92JB05 below. (These values are
recorded in Table W2, Measured Equatorial Coordinates.)

Declination of asteroid on 92JB14 _____ ° ________' _______"

Declination of asteroid on 92JB05 _____ ° ________' _______"

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Student Manual

e. Convert to arcseconds just as you converted to seconds in 1-b above. (That is multiply ' by 60 and
° by 3600 and add all the values together.)

Declination of asteroid on 92JB14 _______________"

Declination of asteroid on 92JB05 _______________"

f. Subtract to find the change in declination

ΔDec_______________" (100)

g. We will need ΔDec in degrees in step k later, so we will convert the result from f in arcseconds
to degrees now, by dividing by 3600.

ΔDec_______________° (0.03)

h. Record right ascension values for each image below from Table W2, Measured Equatorial
Coordinates.

Right Ascension of asteroid on 92JB14 _____ h ________min _______sec

Right Ascension of asteroid on 92JB05 _____ h ________min _______sec

i. Convert to seconds:

Right Ascension of asteroid on 92JB14 ____________seconds

Right Ascension of asteroid on 92JB05 ____________seconds

j. Subtract to find the change in right ascension:

ΔRA_______________ seconds

BUT WAIT! We’re not done yet—1 second of RA is 15 arcseconds times the cosine of the declination.
(Remember the RA lines come together at the poles, and so there are smaller angles between them at
high declination. Multiplying by the cosine of the declination adjusts for this physical change). Use
Declination for the image center, any of the values on Table W2 will do, and you can round them
to the nearest degree for simplicity! Note: Make sure your calculator is in Degrees Mode.

k. ΔRA(“) = ΔRA(sec) x 15 x cosine(Declination( °)) = _______________ "

l. Using the Angular Distance Traveled Formula, calculate Δθ, using ΔRA in arcseconds from
step k and ΔDec in arcseconds from step f .

Δθ = (ΔRA(“))2 + (ΔDec(“))2
= _________" (100)

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 4. Calculating the angular velocity of Asteroid 1992JB on May 23, 1992:

µ = Δθ
Δt

m. Calculate µ by using Δθ from step l and Δt from step c.

µ = ___________________ "/second. (0.01)

Note: We’ve only calculated the angular (apparent) velocity of the asteroid. We need to know its
distance to calculate how fast it’s actually traveling in km/second. We will calculate the distance of
1992JB in the next section, using the method of parallax.

Part IV

1. Using the images, address the following questions:

Look at image ASTWEST. Compared to its position on ASTEAST, does 1992 JB look
further to the east or further to the west with respect to the background stars? _______

Using words and/or a diagram, try to explain why the position appears to shift, and explain
the definition of parallax.

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Student Manual

2. Measuring the coordinates of the asteroid in ASTEAST and ASTWEST

Now using the methods you learned in part 2, measure the coordinates of the asteroid in
ASTEAST and ASTWEST. You can use the Images…Measure…Image 1, and
Images…Measure…Image2 menu options on the main window. Tabulate your results below.

3. Calculating the parallax of 1992JB

SHOW ALL YOUR WORK.

a. Express the coordinates of 1992JB on both images in seconds to make subtraction easier:

b. Express the difference ΔDec in arcseconds: __________________ " (5)

c. The ΔDec will again need to be converted to degrees for use in step e by dividing the ΔDec
in arcsecond by 3600.

ΔDec_______________°

d. Express the difference ΔRA in seconds: ________________seconds

e. Convert to arcseconds by using the equation below. The Declination is the total Dec not the
difference. It is simply the standard declination of the asteroid. You can use the value from
any measurement—e.g. table W2— as it need only be to the nearest degree.

ΔRA(“) = ΔRA(sec) x 15 x cosine(Declination°) =___________________"

f. Calculate the total parallax in arcseconds:

24
 (ΔRA(“))2 + (ΔDec(“))2
Parallax =

using ΔRA in arcseconds from step e and Δ Dec in arcseconds from step b.

Parallax = ___________________" (15)

4. Calculating the distance of Asteroid 1992JB:

Knowing the parallax of Asteroid 1992JB when seen from the Flagstaff, AZ as compared to
Hamilton, NY, and knowing baseline, i.e. the separation of the two telescopes (3172 kilometers),
we can use a simple trigonometric formula to calculate the distance of the asteroid

Distance to the Asteroid = 206,265(Baseline/Parallax)

where the baseline and the distance are both expressed in kilometers and the parallax in
arcseconds.

g. Using this formula, calculate the distance of 1992JB on May 23, 1992 at 06 57 UT.

i. Distance of 1992JB = _______________km.

ii. Distance of 1992JB = _________________Astronomical Units. (0.3)

h. Compare these distances with the distance of the Moon, Mars, Asteroid Belt, and Jupiter from
Earth. These values can be found on the web.

i. Earth to Moon ________________km, _________________ AU

ii. Earth to Mars ________________km, _________________ AU

iii. Earth to Asteroid Belt ________________km, _________________ AU

iv. Earth to Jupiter ________________km, _________________ AU

i. How many times further or closer is the asteroid than the moon? _______________________.

j. Asteroids are classified by their average distance from the sun. Belt Asteroids orbit in the
asteroid belt; Trojan Asteroids orbit at the same distance as Jupiter. Near-Earth or Earth
Approaching asteroids have orbits that bring them near the earth. Based on the above, what
kind of an asteroid do you think this is? Why?

Part V:

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Student Manual

The tangential velocity, V t , of an asteroid is the component of its velocity perpendicular to our line of
sight. Again, a simple trigonometric formula lets you calculate its velocity in kilometers/second if you
know its angular velocity (µ, in "/sec) and its distance (km). We determined the angular velocity in Part 3
step p and the distance in Part 4 step h,i of this exercise. Then it follows that the tangential velocity is
represented as:
Vt = (µ x dist.)/206,265

So using our results, calculate the tangential component of velocity of the asteroid.

Vt = _________________________ km/sec (3)

QUESTIONS

1. There are two perpendicular components of the velocity of the asteroid. One is the tangential
component calculated above. What is the second component? Draw the velocity vectors and label both
components.

2. What is the orbital radius of the Earth? What is another name for this distance? Express this distance in
both AU and km. Draw a picture of the Earth orbiting the Sun to help you answer this question.

3. What is the orbital period of the Earth? Express this answer in both years and seconds.

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4. Using the information from questions 2 and 3, we can calculate the orbital velocity of the Earth for
comparison with the orbital velocity of the asteroid. Velocity can be calculated by using this equation:
velocity = distance / time. Using the orbital radius of the Earth, divide the circumference of the Earth’s
orbit (2 π ROE ) with its orbital period ( T ) in seconds to determine the earth’s orbital velocity.

VO = 2 π ROE / T

5. Would you expect an asteroid to have a lower or higher orbital velocity than the earth? Why? Look at
the orbital velocities of planets in our Solar System in an appendix in your text for a pattern on which to
base your answer.

6. How does this asteroid’s tangential component of velocity compare to the orbital velocity of the earth?
Does it follow the pattern of orbital velocities of other objects in the Solar System?

The tangential velocity, V t , of an asteroid is the component of its velocity perpendicular to our line of
sight. Again, a simple trigonometric formula lets you calculate its velocity in kilometers/second if you
know its angular velocity (µ, in "/sec) and its distance (km). Use the worksheet to caluculate the velocity of
asteroid 1992 JB. We determined the angular velocity in Part 3 step p and the distance in Part 4 step h,i of
this exercise. Then it follows that the tangential velocity is represented as:
Vt = (µ x dist.)/206,265

So using our results, calculate the tangential component of velocity of the asteroid.

Vt = _________________________ km/sec (3)

FINALLY,

What does this exercise tell us about the difficulty in finding asteroids and the length of time needed
to make an accurate estimate of their location?

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