A Target Poor Environment

Observing runs are often planned around factors that extend beyond when targets are best observed.  In this case, work and teaching schedules were determined when we could use the 72-inch.  However, early May 2011 is not the optimum time for observing Jupiter Trojan asteroids.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Trojans are divided into to two camps that share an orbit with Jupiter.  The Greek camp proceeds Jupiter in its orbit by 60 degrees and is now on the western horizon at sunset.  The Trojan camp follows Jupiter in its orbit and rises after midnight.  These camps refer to how the asteroids are named; from either Greek or Trojan characters from Homer's the Iliad.  There is a Greek and Trojan 'spy' in the opposing camps.

In planning our observing list, we considered if we could observe any of the early evening Trojans.  However, complicating the mere two hour observing window was the issue of the Moon passing through the area early in the week.  No matter what we did, we could not obtain multiple nights on any of the asteroids from the Greek Camp.  Then the coup de grace; we got an email from one of the telescope operators saying that the asterisk beside our time on the telescope schedule meant that the early evening was blocked for some college students and that we would have access to the telescope at 9:30 PM. That settled that, a late dinner it is.

So we are now searching for targets to observe before the Trojan camp is high enough to observe - just after 1:00 AM.   I suggested a Hilda asteroid.  This dynamic family is in a 2:3 orbital residence with Jupiter.  Linda suggested a couple of Near Earth Objects, one of which is a known binary asteroid.  I suppose we will do paper-scissors-rock when we get there.