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Details:
I'm sure many people here watched the near-Earth asteroid pass safely by us at 5.2x the Moon's distance. I timed my viewing for 9pm MST when it passed by the spiral galaxy NGC 514 in Pisces. With a nearly Full Moon dominating the sky I couldn't see the fuzzy mag 11.6 galaxy in my 10" Dob at any power, but the starlike mag 10.4 asteroid was quickly spotted. As it formed asterisms with nearby stars one could watch them change shape within 10-20 seconds, but I had to wait another 10 minutes before it passed by a star (mag 9.0 HD 8310) close enough to directly detect its motion--*that* was particularly satisfying.
The photo shows the movement of the asteroid past the galaxy centered around 9pm MST. Each trail segment is 1 minute long followed by a 1 minute gap, and it is moving towards the upper right.
Photo data:
Panasonic G9, 4.25" Askar FRA600, iOptron GEM45G
26 frames x (f/5.6, 60 sec, ISO 800), one frame every other minute
N up W right, FOV ~ 1.5* x 1.2*
Date: Jan 18, 2022 around 9pm MST (= Jan 19, 2022 4am UT)
Photographer's website:
No URL provided.
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