La Cañada Observatory, is an initiative by Juan Lacruz, the observatory started astrometric operations in the summer of 2002, it is registered as station J87 in the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union.

The Observatory also participates in the studies on minor bodies promoted by the Group on Meteorites, Minor Bodies, and Planetary Sciences of the Institute of Space Sciences (CSIC-IEEC).



Sunday, September 26, 2010

El Pueblo conquista el cosmos

La edición impresa de Público del domingo 26 sept publica un reportaje de Nuño Dominguez sobre el trabajo de los astrónomos aficionados

http://www.publico.es/ciencias/338554/pueblo/conquista/cosmos

Saturday, September 25, 2010

New asteroid names, 2010 Sept 25

The Committee for Small Body Nomenclature CSBN issued names for asteroids discovered at La Cañada :

(207547) Charito = 2006 LO

Rosario ("Charito") Lacruz Martín (b. 1961) completed her degree
in fine arts at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. A tireless observer
in the group of astronomers who meet at Monte del Pardo, Madrid, she has
complemented the observing sessions with her artistry.


(171396) Miguel = 2006 QH33
Miguel Lacruz Martín (b. 1963) received his doctorate in mathematics
at Kent State University. He has added his mathematical view of nature as an
extra dimension to the observational experience at Monte del Pardo, Madrid.

Links to extended data kept at the NASA's JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Pasadena :

Charito

Miguel

Monday, September 13, 2010

103P/Hartley 2010 Sept 13

The following picture is a set of 15 images of 2 min exposure each stacked on the comet's movement. The field size is about 27 arc min.

In this cropped and zoomed detail the coma is about 2 arc min wide, if we force the contrast the coma grows to double this size, see Hergenrother's post introducing comet Hartley 2

The coma profile above the background level (thin red line) is about 4 arc minutes wide.

A false colour rendition.

Comet Hartley 2 in its current (2010) return will pass at only 0.12 AU from Earth on October the 20th.

The Deep impact spacecraft will approach 103P Hartley at just 1000 Km on November the 4th.

References :
Gary Kronk's Cometography, Wiki, BAA