1.
Hermes
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Hermes is an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology, the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia, and the second youngest of the Olympian gods. Hermes is considered a god of transitions and boundaries and he is described as quick and cunning, moving freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine. He is also portrayed as an emissary and messenger of the gods and he has been viewed as the protector and patron of herdsmen, thieves, oratory and wit, literature and poetry, athletics and sports, invention and trade, roads, boundaries and travelers. In some myths, he is a trickster and outwits other gods for his own satisfaction or for the sake of humankind and his attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, winged sandals, and winged cap. His main symbol is the Greek kerykeion or Latin caduceus, which appears in a form of two snakes wrapped around a staff with carvings of the other gods. The earliest form of the name Hermes is the Mycenaean Greek *hermāhās, most scholars derive Hermes from Greek ἕρμα herma, prop, heap of stones, boundary marker, from which the word hermai also derives. The etymology of ἕρμα itself is unknown, R. S. P. Beekes rejects the connection with herma and suggests a Pre-Greek origin. Scholarly speculation that Hermes derives from a primitive form meaning one cairn is disputed. In Greek, a find is a hermaion. It is also suggested that Hermes is a cognate of the Vedic Sarama, homer and Hesiod portrayed Hermes as the author of skilled or deceptive acts and also as a benefactor of mortals. In the Iliad, he is called the bringer of luck, guide and guardian. He was an ally of the Greeks against the Trojans. However, he did protect Priam when he went to the Greek camp to retrieve the body of his son Hector and he also rescued Ares from a brazen vessel where he had been imprisoned by Otus and Ephialtes. In the Odyssey, Hermes helps his son, the protagonist Odysseus, by informing him about the fate of his companions. Hermes instructed Odysseus to protect himself by chewing a magic herb, when Odysseus killed the suitors of his wife, Hermes led their souls to Hades. Hermes was then instructed to take her as wife to Epimetheus, aesop featured him in several of his fables, as ruler of the gate of prophetic dreams, as the god of athletes, of edible roots, and of hospitality. He also said that Hermes had assigned each person his share of intelligence, Hermes, as an inventor of fire, is a parallel of the Titan Prometheus. In addition to the lyre, Hermes was believed to have invented many types of racing and the sports of wrestling and boxing, in 1820 Shelley translated this hymn
2.
Minor planet
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A minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is neither a planet nor exclusively classified as a comet. Minor planets can be dwarf planets, asteroids, trojans, centaurs, Kuiper belt objects, as of 2016, the orbits of 709,706 minor planets were archived at the Minor Planet Center,469,275 of which had received permanent numbers. The first minor planet to be discovered was Ceres in 1801, the term minor planet has been used since the 19th century to describe these objects. The term planetoid has also used, especially for larger objects such as those the International Astronomical Union has called dwarf planets since 2006. Historically, the asteroid, minor planet, and planetoid have been more or less synonymous. This terminology has become complicated by the discovery of numerous minor planets beyond the orbit of Jupiter. A Minor planet seen releasing gas may be classified as a comet. Before 2006, the IAU had officially used the term minor planet, during its 2006 meeting, the IAU reclassified minor planets and comets into dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies. Objects are called dwarf planets if their self-gravity is sufficient to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium, all other minor planets and comets are called small Solar System bodies. The IAU stated that the minor planet may still be used. However, for purposes of numbering and naming, the distinction between minor planet and comet is still used. Hundreds of thousands of planets have been discovered within the Solar System. The Minor Planet Center has documented over 167 million observations and 729,626 minor planets, of these,20,570 have official names. As of March 2017, the lowest-numbered unnamed minor planet is 1974 FV1, as of March 2017, the highest-numbered named minor planet is 458063 Gustavomuler. There are various broad minor-planet populations, Asteroids, traditionally, most have been bodies in the inner Solar System. Near-Earth asteroids, those whose orbits take them inside the orbit of Mars. Further subclassification of these, based on distance, is used, Apohele asteroids orbit inside of Earths perihelion distance. Aten asteroids, those that have semi-major axes of less than Earths, Apollo asteroids are those asteroids with a semimajor axis greater than Earths, while having a perihelion distance of 1.017 AU or less. Like Aten asteroids, Apollo asteroids are Earth-crossers, amor asteroids are those near-Earth asteroids that approach the orbit of Earth from beyond, but do not cross it
3.
Near-Earth object
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A near-Earth object is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By definition, a solar system body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun is less than 1.3 astronomical unit and it is now widely accepted that collisions in the past have had a significant role in shaping the geological and biological history of the Earth. NEOs have become of increased interest since the 1980s because of increased awareness of the potential danger some of the asteroids or comets pose, and mitigations are being researched. In January 2016, NASA announced the Planetary Defense Coordination Office to track NEOs larger than 30 to 50 meters in diameter and coordinate an effective threat response, NEAs have orbits that lie partly between 0.983 and 1.3 AU away from the Sun. When a NEA is detected it is submitted to the IAUs Minor Planet Center for cataloging, some NEAs orbits intersect that of Earths so they pose a collision danger. The United States, European Union, and other nations are currently scanning for NEOs in an effort called Spaceguard. In the United States and since 1998, NASA has a mandate to catalogue all NEOs that are at least 1 kilometer wide. In 2006, it was estimated that 20% of the objects had not yet been found. In 2011, largely as a result of NEOWISE, it was estimated that 93% of the NEAs larger than 1 km had been found, as of 5 February 2017, there have been 875 NEAs larger than 1 km discovered, of which 157 are potentially hazardous. The inventory is much less complete for smaller objects, which still have potential for scale, though not global. Potentially hazardous objects are defined based on parameters that measure the objects potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth. Mostly objects with an Earth minimum orbit intersection distance of 0.05 AU or less, objects that cannot approach closer to the Earth than 0.05 AU, or are smaller than about 150 m in diameter, are not considered PHOs. This makes them a target for exploration. As of 2016, three near-Earth objects have been visited by spacecraft, more recently, a typical frame of reference for looking at NEOs has been through the scientific concept of risk. In this frame, the risk that any near-Earth object poses is typically seen through a lens that is a function of both the culture and the technology of human society, NEOs have been understood differently throughout history. Each time an NEO is observed, a different risk was posed and it is not just a matter of scientific knowledge. Such perception of risk is thus a product of religious belief, philosophic principles, scientific understanding, technological capabilities, and even economical resourcefulness.03 E −0.4 megatonnes. For instance, it gives the rate for bolides of 10 megatonnes or more as 1 per thousand years, however, the authors give a rather large uncertainty, due in part to uncertainties in determining the energies of the atmospheric impacts that they used in their determination
4.
Potentially hazardous object
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A potentially hazardous object can be known not to be a threat to Earth for the next 100 years or more, if its orbit is reasonably well determined. Potentially hazardous asteroids with some threat of impacting Earth in the next 100 years are listed on the Sentry Risk Table, as of March 2017 there are 1,786 known potentially hazardous asteroids and only 205 have an observation arc shorter than 30 days. Of the known PHAs,157 are believed to be larger than one kilometer in diameter, a calculated diameter is only a rough estimate, as it is inferred from the objects varying brightness—observed and measured at various times—and the assumed, yet unknown reflectivity of its surface. Most of the discovered PHAs are Apollo asteroids and fewer belong to the group of Aten asteroids, after several astronomical surveys, the number of known PHAs has increased tenfold since the end of the 1990s. These surveys have led to a number of 15,802 discovered near-Earth objects. Most of them are asteroids, with just some 106 near-Earth comets, the Minor Planet Centers website Unusual Minor Planets also publishes detailed statistics for these objects. This is big enough to cause devastation to human settlements unprecedented in human history in the case of a land impact. Such impact events occur on average once per 10,000 years. NEOWISE data estimates that there are 4,700 ±1,500 potentially hazardous asteroids with a greater than 100 meters. As of 2012, an estimated 20 to 30 percent of these objects have been found, Asteroids larger than 35 meters across can pose a threat to a town or city. The diameter of most small asteroids is not well determined and can only be estimated based on their brightness, for this reason NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory use the more practical measure of absolute magnitude. Any asteroid with a magnitude of 22. The NASA near-Earth object program uses an assumed albedo of 0.13 for this purpose, in May 2016, the asteroid size estimates arising from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and NEOWISE missions have been questioned, but the criticism has yet to undergo peer review. Several astronomical survey projects such as Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research and Catalina Sky Survey continue to search for more PHOs, both professional and amateur astronomers participate in such monitoring. This is a reflection of the character of the Solar System. The two main scales used to categorize the impact hazards of asteroids are the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale, the lowest numbered PHA is 1566 Icarus. The largest known Potentially hazardous asteroid is 1999 JM8 with a diameter of ~7 km, below is listed the largest PHA discovered in a given year. Historical data of the number of discovered PHA since 1999 are displayed in the bar charts—one for the total number
5.
Apollo asteroid
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The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s. They are Earth crossing asteroids that have an orbital semi-major axis greater than that of the Earth, as of November 2016, the steadily growing number of known Apollo asteroids has reached a total of 8,180 members. It is by far the largest group of objects, compared to the Aten, Amor. Currently, there are 1,133 numbered Apollos, asteroids are not numbered until they have been observed at two or more oppositions. There are also 1,472 Apollo asteroids that are enough. The closer their semi-major axis is to Earths, the eccentricity is needed for the orbits to cross. The largest known Apollo asteroid is 1866 Sisyphus, with a diameter of about 8.5 km, examples of known Apollo asteroids include, Apollo asteroids Apollo asteroid records List of Apollo minor planets
6.
Mars-crosser asteroid
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A Mars-crosser is an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars. The known numbered Mars-crossers are listed here and they include the two numbered Mars trojans 5261 Eureka and 1998 VF31. Many databases, for instance the JPL Small-Body Database, only list asteroids with a greater than 1.3 AU as Mars-crossers. An asteroid with a less than this is classed as a near-Earth object even though it is crossing the orbit of Mars as well as crossing that of Earth. Nevertheless, these objects are listed on this page, a grazer is an object with a perihelion below the aphelion of Mars but above the Martian perihelion. The JPL SBDB lists 13,500 Mars-crossing asteroids, only 18 MCAs are brighter than absolute magnitude 12.5, which typically makes these asteroids with H<12.5 more than 13 km in diameter depending on the albedo. The smallest known MCAs have a magnitude of around 24 and are typically less than 100 meters in diameter. Instead, they are categorized as Near Earth Objects
7.
Perihelion and aphelion
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The perihelion is the point in the orbit of a celestial body where it is nearest to its orbital focus, generally a star. It is the opposite of aphelion, which is the point in the orbit where the body is farthest from its focus. The word perihelion stems from the Ancient Greek words peri, meaning around or surrounding, aphelion derives from the preposition apo, meaning away, off, apart. According to Keplers first law of motion, all planets, comets. Hence, a body has a closest and a farthest point from its parent object, that is, a perihelion. Each extreme is known as an apsis, orbital eccentricity measures the flatness of the orbit. Because of the distance at aphelion, only 93. 55% of the solar radiation from the Sun falls on a given area of land as does at perihelion. However, this fluctuation does not account for the seasons, as it is summer in the northern hemisphere when it is winter in the southern hemisphere and vice versa. Instead, seasons result from the tilt of Earths axis, which is 23.4 degrees away from perpendicular to the plane of Earths orbit around the sun. Winter falls on the hemisphere where sunlight strikes least directly, and summer falls where sunlight strikes most directly, in the northern hemisphere, summer occurs at the same time as aphelion. Despite this, there are larger land masses in the northern hemisphere, consequently, summers are 2.3 °C warmer in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere under similar conditions. Apsis Ellipse Solstice Dates and times of Earths perihelion and aphelion, 2000–2025 from the United States Naval Observatory
8.
Astronomical unit
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The astronomical unit is a unit of length, roughly the distance from Earth to the Sun. However, that varies as Earth orbits the Sun, from a maximum to a minimum. Originally conceived as the average of Earths aphelion and perihelion, it is now defined as exactly 149597870700 metres, the astronomical unit is used primarily as a convenient yardstick for measuring distances within the Solar System or around other stars. However, it is also a component in the definition of another unit of astronomical length. A variety of symbols and abbreviations have been in use for the astronomical unit. In a 1976 resolution, the International Astronomical Union used the symbol A for the astronomical unit, in 2006, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures recommended ua as the symbol for the unit. In 2012, the IAU, noting that various symbols are presently in use for the astronomical unit, in the 2014 revision of the SI Brochure, the BIPM used the unit symbol au. In ISO 80000-3, the symbol of the unit is ua. Earths orbit around the Sun is an ellipse, the semi-major axis of this ellipse is defined to be half of the straight line segment that joins the aphelion and perihelion. The centre of the sun lies on this line segment. In addition, it mapped out exactly the largest straight-line distance that Earth traverses over the course of a year, knowing Earths shift and a stars shift enabled the stars distance to be calculated. But all measurements are subject to some degree of error or uncertainty, improvements in precision have always been a key to improving astronomical understanding. Improving measurements were continually checked and cross-checked by means of our understanding of the laws of celestial mechanics, the expected positions and distances of objects at an established time are calculated from these laws, and assembled into a collection of data called an ephemeris. NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory provides one of several ephemeris computation services, in 1976, in order to establish a yet more precise measure for the astronomical unit, the IAU formally adopted a new definition. Equivalently, by definition, one AU is the radius of an unperturbed circular Newtonian orbit about the sun of a particle having infinitesimal mass. As with all measurements, these rely on measuring the time taken for photons to be reflected from an object. However, for precision the calculations require adjustment for such as the motions of the probe. In addition, the measurement of the time itself must be translated to a scale that accounts for relativistic time dilation
9.
Semi-major and semi-minor axes
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In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter, a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the widest points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis is one half of the axis, and thus runs from the centre, through a focus. Essentially, it is the radius of an orbit at the two most distant points. For the special case of a circle, the axis is the radius. One can think of the axis as an ellipses long radius. The semi-major axis of a hyperbola is, depending on the convention, thus it is the distance from the center to either vertex of the hyperbola. A parabola can be obtained as the limit of a sequence of ellipses where one focus is fixed as the other is allowed to move arbitrarily far away in one direction. Thus a and b tend to infinity, a faster than b, the semi-minor axis is a line segment associated with most conic sections that is at right angles with the semi-major axis and has one end at the center of the conic section. It is one of the axes of symmetry for the curve, in an ellipse, the one, in a hyperbola. The semi-major axis is the value of the maximum and minimum distances r max and r min of the ellipse from a focus — that is. In astronomy these extreme points are called apsis, the semi-minor axis of an ellipse is the geometric mean of these distances, b = r max r min. The eccentricity of an ellipse is defined as e =1 − b 2 a 2 so r min = a, r max = a. Now consider the equation in polar coordinates, with one focus at the origin, the mean value of r = ℓ / and r = ℓ /, for θ = π and θ =0 is a = ℓ1 − e 2. In an ellipse, the axis is the geometric mean of the distance from the center to either focus. The semi-minor axis of an ellipse runs from the center of the ellipse to the edge of the ellipse, the semi-minor axis is half of the minor axis. The minor axis is the longest line segment perpendicular to the axis that connects two points on the ellipses edge. The semi-minor axis b is related to the axis a through the eccentricity e. A parabola can be obtained as the limit of a sequence of ellipses where one focus is fixed as the other is allowed to move arbitrarily far away in one direction
10.
Orbital eccentricity
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The orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is an orbit, values between 0 and 1 form an elliptical orbit,1 is a parabolic escape orbit. The term derives its name from the parameters of conic sections and it is normally used for the isolated two-body problem, but extensions exist for objects following a rosette orbit through the galaxy. In a two-body problem with inverse-square-law force, every orbit is a Kepler orbit, the eccentricity of this Kepler orbit is a non-negative number that defines its shape. The limit case between an ellipse and a hyperbola, when e equals 1, is parabola, radial trajectories are classified as elliptic, parabolic, or hyperbolic based on the energy of the orbit, not the eccentricity. Radial orbits have zero angular momentum and hence eccentricity equal to one, keeping the energy constant and reducing the angular momentum, elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic orbits each tend to the corresponding type of radial trajectory while e tends to 1. For a repulsive force only the trajectory, including the radial version, is applicable. For elliptical orbits, a simple proof shows that arcsin yields the projection angle of a circle to an ellipse of eccentricity e. For example, to view the eccentricity of the planet Mercury, next, tilt any circular object by that angle and the apparent ellipse projected to your eye will be of that same eccentricity. From Medieval Latin eccentricus, derived from Greek ἔκκεντρος ekkentros out of the center, from ἐκ- ek-, eccentric first appeared in English in 1551, with the definition a circle in which the earth, sun. Five years later, in 1556, a form of the word was added. The eccentricity of an orbit can be calculated from the state vectors as the magnitude of the eccentricity vector, e = | e | where. For elliptical orbits it can also be calculated from the periapsis and apoapsis since rp = a and ra = a, where a is the semimajor axis. E = r a − r p r a + r p =1 −2 r a r p +1 where, rp is the radius at periapsis. For Earths annual orbit path, ra/rp ratio = longest_radius / shortest_radius ≈1.034 relative to center point of path, the eccentricity of the Earths orbit is currently about 0.0167, the Earths orbit is nearly circular. Venus and Neptune have even lower eccentricity, over hundreds of thousands of years, the eccentricity of the Earths orbit varies from nearly 0.0034 to almost 0.058 as a result of gravitational attractions among the planets. The table lists the values for all planets and dwarf planets, Mercury has the greatest orbital eccentricity of any planet in the Solar System. Such eccentricity is sufficient for Mercury to receive twice as much solar irradiation at perihelion compared to aphelion, before its demotion from planet status in 2006, Pluto was considered to be the planet with the most eccentric orbit
11.
Second
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The second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units. It is qualitatively defined as the division of the hour by sixty. SI definition of second is the duration of 9192631770 periods of the corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom. Seconds may be measured using a mechanical, electrical or an atomic clock, SI prefixes are combined with the word second to denote subdivisions of the second, e. g. the millisecond, the microsecond, and the nanosecond. Though SI prefixes may also be used to form multiples of the such as kilosecond. The second is also the unit of time in other systems of measurement, the centimetre–gram–second, metre–kilogram–second, metre–tonne–second. Absolute zero implies no movement, and therefore zero external radiation effects, the second thus defined is consistent with the ephemeris second, which was based on astronomical measurements. The realization of the second is described briefly in a special publication from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. 1 international second is equal to, 1⁄60 minute 1⁄3,600 hour 1⁄86,400 day 1⁄31,557,600 Julian year 1⁄, more generally, = 1⁄, the Hellenistic astronomers Hipparchus and Ptolemy subdivided the day into sixty parts. They also used an hour, simple fractions of an hour. No sexagesimal unit of the day was used as an independent unit of time. The modern second is subdivided using decimals - although the third remains in some languages. The earliest clocks to display seconds appeared during the last half of the 16th century, the second became accurately measurable with the development of mechanical clocks keeping mean time, as opposed to the apparent time displayed by sundials. The earliest spring-driven timepiece with a hand which marked seconds is an unsigned clock depicting Orpheus in the Fremersdorf collection. During the 3rd quarter of the 16th century, Taqi al-Din built a clock with marks every 1/5 minute, in 1579, Jost Bürgi built a clock for William of Hesse that marked seconds. In 1581, Tycho Brahe redesigned clocks that displayed minutes at his observatory so they also displayed seconds, however, they were not yet accurate enough for seconds. In 1587, Tycho complained that his four clocks disagreed by plus or minus four seconds, in 1670, London clockmaker William Clement added this seconds pendulum to the original pendulum clock of Christiaan Huygens. From 1670 to 1680, Clement made many improvements to his clock and this clock used an anchor escapement mechanism with a seconds pendulum to display seconds in a small subdial
12.
Mean anomaly
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In celestial mechanics, the mean anomaly is an angle used in calculating the position of a body in an elliptical orbit in the classical two-body problem. Define T as the time required for a body to complete one orbit. In time T, the radius vector sweeps out 2π radians or 360°. The average rate of sweep, n, is then n =2 π T or n =360 ∘ T, define τ as the time at which the body is at the pericenter. From the above definitions, a new quantity, M, the mean anomaly can be defined M = n, because the rate of increase, n, is a constant average, the mean anomaly increases uniformly from 0 to 2π radians or 0° to 360° during each orbit. It is equal to 0 when the body is at the pericenter, π radians at the apocenter, if the mean anomaly is known at any given instant, it can be calculated at any later instant by simply adding n δt where δt represents the time difference. Mean anomaly does not measure an angle between any physical objects and it is simply a convenient uniform measure of how far around its orbit a body has progressed since pericenter. The mean anomaly is one of three parameters that define a position along an orbit, the other two being the eccentric anomaly and the true anomaly. Define l as the longitude, the angular distance of the body from the same reference direction. Thus mean anomaly is also M = l − ϖ, mean angular motion can also be expressed, n = μ a 3, where μ is a gravitational parameter which varies with the masses of the objects, and a is the semi-major axis of the orbit. Mean anomaly can then be expanded, M = μ a 3, and here mean anomaly represents uniform angular motion on a circle of radius a
13.
Degree (angle)
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A degree, usually denoted by °, is a measurement of a plane angle, defined so that a full rotation is 360 degrees. It is not an SI unit, as the SI unit of measure is the radian. Because a full rotation equals 2π radians, one degree is equivalent to π/180 radians, the original motivation for choosing the degree as a unit of rotations and angles is unknown. One theory states that it is related to the fact that 360 is approximately the number of days in a year. Ancient astronomers noticed that the sun, which follows through the path over the course of the year. Some ancient calendars, such as the Persian calendar, used 360 days for a year, the use of a calendar with 360 days may be related to the use of sexagesimal numbers. The earliest trigonometry, used by the Babylonian astronomers and their Greek successors, was based on chords of a circle, a chord of length equal to the radius made a natural base quantity. One sixtieth of this, using their standard sexagesimal divisions, was a degree, Aristarchus of Samos and Hipparchus seem to have been among the first Greek scientists to exploit Babylonian astronomical knowledge and techniques systematically. Timocharis, Aristarchus, Aristillus, Archimedes, and Hipparchus were the first Greeks known to divide the circle in 360 degrees of 60 arc minutes, eratosthenes used a simpler sexagesimal system dividing a circle into 60 parts. Furthermore, it is divisible by every number from 1 to 10 except 7 and this property has many useful applications, such as dividing the world into 24 time zones, each of which is nominally 15° of longitude, to correlate with the established 24-hour day convention. Finally, it may be the case more than one of these factors has come into play. For many practical purposes, a degree is a small enough angle that whole degrees provide sufficient precision. When this is not the case, as in astronomy or for geographic coordinates, degree measurements may be written using decimal degrees, with the symbol behind the decimals. Alternatively, the sexagesimal unit subdivisions can be used. One degree is divided into 60 minutes, and one minute into 60 seconds, use of degrees-minutes-seconds is also called DMS notation. These subdivisions, also called the arcminute and arcsecond, are represented by a single and double prime. For example,40. 1875° = 40° 11′ 15″, or, using quotation mark characters, additional precision can be provided using decimals for the arcseconds component. The older system of thirds, fourths, etc. which continues the sexagesimal unit subdivision, was used by al-Kashi and other ancient astronomers, but is rarely used today
14.
Orbital inclination
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Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an objects orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Earth directly above the equator, the plane of the orbit is the same as the Earths equatorial plane. The general case is that the orbit is tilted, it spends half an orbit over the northern hemisphere. If the orbit swung between 20° north latitude and 20° south latitude, then its orbital inclination would be 20°, the inclination is one of the six orbital elements describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit. It is the angle between the plane and the plane of reference, normally stated in degrees. For a satellite orbiting a planet, the plane of reference is usually the plane containing the planets equator, for planets in the Solar System, the plane of reference is usually the ecliptic, the plane in which the Earth orbits the Sun. This reference plane is most practical for Earth-based observers, therefore, Earths inclination is, by definition, zero. Inclination could instead be measured with respect to another plane, such as the Suns equator or the invariable plane, the inclination of orbits of natural or artificial satellites is measured relative to the equatorial plane of the body they orbit, if they orbit sufficiently closely. The equatorial plane is the perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the central body. An inclination of 30° could also be described using an angle of 150°, the convention is that the normal orbit is prograde, an orbit in the same direction as the planet rotates. Inclinations greater than 90° describe retrograde orbits, thus, An inclination of 0° means the orbiting body has a prograde orbit in the planets equatorial plane. An inclination greater than 0° and less than 90° also describe prograde orbits, an inclination of 63. 4° is often called a critical inclination, when describing artificial satellites orbiting the Earth, because they have zero apogee drift. An inclination of exactly 90° is an orbit, in which the spacecraft passes over the north and south poles of the planet. An inclination greater than 90° and less than 180° is a retrograde orbit, an inclination of exactly 180° is a retrograde equatorial orbit. For gas giants, the orbits of moons tend to be aligned with the giant planets equator, the inclination of exoplanets or members of multiple stars is the angle of the plane of the orbit relative to the plane perpendicular to the line-of-sight from Earth to the object. An inclination of 0° is an orbit, meaning the plane of its orbit is parallel to the sky. An inclination of 90° is an orbit, meaning the plane of its orbit is perpendicular to the sky
15.
Longitude of the ascending node
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The longitude of the ascending node is one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in space. It is the angle from a direction, called the origin of longitude, to the direction of the ascending node. The ascending node is the point where the orbit of the passes through the plane of reference. Commonly used reference planes and origins of longitude include, For a geocentric orbit, Earths equatorial plane as the plane. In this case, the longitude is called the right ascension of the ascending node. The angle is measured eastwards from the First Point of Aries to the node, for a heliocentric orbit, the ecliptic as the reference plane, and the First Point of Aries as the origin of longitude. The angle is measured counterclockwise from the First Point of Aries to the node, the angle is measured eastwards from north to the node. pp.40,72,137, chap. In the case of a star known only from visual observations, it is not possible to tell which node is ascending. In this case the orbital parameter which is recorded is the longitude of the node, Ω, here, n=<nx, ny, nz> is a vector pointing towards the ascending node. The reference plane is assumed to be the xy-plane, and the origin of longitude is taken to be the positive x-axis, K is the unit vector, which is the normal vector to the xy reference plane. For non-inclined orbits, Ω is undefined, for computation it is then, by convention, set equal to zero, that is, the ascending node is placed in the reference direction, which is equivalent to letting n point towards the positive x-axis. Kepler orbits Equinox Orbital node perturbation of the plane can cause revolution of the ascending node
16.
Argument of periapsis
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The argument of periapsis, symbolized as ω, is one of the orbital elements of an orbiting body. Parametrically, ω is the angle from the ascending node to its periapsis. For specific types of orbits, words such as perihelion, perigee, periastron, an argument of periapsis of 0° means that the orbiting body will be at its closest approach to the central body at the same moment that it crosses the plane of reference from South to North. An argument of periapsis of 90° means that the body will reach periapsis at its northmost distance from the plane of reference. Adding the argument of periapsis to the longitude of the ascending node gives the longitude of the periapsis, however, especially in discussions of binary stars and exoplanets, the terms longitude of periapsis or longitude of periastron are often used synonymously with argument of periapsis. In the case of equatorial orbits, the argument is strictly undefined, where, ex and ey are the x- and y-components of the eccentricity vector e. In the case of circular orbits it is assumed that the periapsis is placed at the ascending node. Kepler orbit Orbital mechanics Orbital node
17.
Natural satellite
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A natural satellite or moon is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet or minor planet. In the Solar System there are six planetary satellite systems containing 178 known natural satellites, four IAU-listed dwarf planets are also known to have natural satellites, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. As of January 2012, over 200 minor-planet moons have been discovered, the Earth–Moon system is unique in that the ratio of the mass of the Moon to the mass of Earth is much greater than that of any other natural-satellite–planet ratio in the Solar System. At 3,474 km across, Earths Moon is 0.27 times the diameter of Earth, the first known natural satellite was the Moon, but it was considered a planet until Copernicus introduction of heliocentrism in 1543. Until the discovery of the Galilean satellites in 1610, however, galileo chose to refer to his discoveries as Planetæ, but later discoverers chose other terms to distinguish them from the objects they orbited. The first to use of the satellite to describe orbiting bodies was the German astronomer Johannes Kepler in his pamphlet Narratio de Observatis a se quatuor Iouis satellitibus erronibus in 1610. He derived the term from the Latin word satelles, meaning guard, attendant, or companion, the term satellite thus became the normal one for referring to an object orbiting a planet, as it avoided the ambiguity of moon. In 1957, however, the launching of the artificial object Sputnik created a need for new terminology, to further avoid ambiguity, the convention is to capitalize the word Moon when referring to Earths natural satellite, but not when referring to other natural satellites. A few recent authors define moon as a satellite of a planet or minor planet, there is no established lower limit on what is considered a moon. Small asteroid moons, such as Dactyl, have also been called moonlets, the upper limit is also vague. Two orbiting bodies are described as a double body rather than primary. Asteroids such as 90 Antiope are considered double asteroids, but they have not forced a clear definition of what constitutes a moon, some authors consider the Pluto–Charon system to be a double planet. In contrast, irregular satellites are thought to be captured asteroids possibly further fragmented by collisions, most of the major natural satellites of the Solar System have regular orbits, while most of the small natural satellites have irregular orbits. The Moon and possibly Charon are exceptions among large bodies in that they are thought to have originated by the collision of two large proto-planetary objects. The material that would have placed in orbit around the central body is predicted to have reaccreted to form one or more orbiting natural satellites. As opposed to planetary-sized bodies, asteroid moons are thought to form by this process. Triton is another exception, although large and in a close, circular orbit, its motion is retrograde, most regular moons in the Solar System are tidally locked to their respective primaries, meaning that the same side of the natural satellite always faces its planet. The only known exception is Saturns natural satellite Hyperion, which rotates chaotically because of the influence of Titan
18.
Diameter
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In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle, both definitions are also valid for the diameter of a sphere. In more modern usage, the length of a diameter is called the diameter. In this sense one speaks of the rather than a diameter, because all diameters of a circle or sphere have the same length. Both quantities can be calculated efficiently using rotating calipers, for a curve of constant width such as the Reuleaux triangle, the width and diameter are the same because all such pairs of parallel tangent lines have the same distance. For an ellipse, the terminology is different. A diameter of an ellipse is any chord passing through the midpoint of the ellipse, for example, conjugate diameters have the property that a tangent line to the ellipse at the endpoint of one of them is parallel to the other one. The longest diameter is called the major axis, the word diameter is derived from Greek διάμετρος, diameter of a circle, from διά, across, through and μέτρον, measure. It is often abbreviated DIA, dia, d, or ⌀, the definitions given above are only valid for circles, spheres and convex shapes. However, they are cases of a more general definition that is valid for any kind of n-dimensional convex or non-convex object. The diameter of a subset of a space is the least upper bound of the set of all distances between pairs of points in the subset. So, if A is the subset, the diameter is sup, if the distance function d is viewed here as having codomain R, this implies that the diameter of the empty set equals −∞. Some authors prefer to treat the empty set as a case, assigning it a diameter equal to 0. For any solid object or set of scattered points in n-dimensional Euclidean space, in medical parlance concerning a lesion or in geology concerning a rock, the diameter of an object is the supremum of the set of all distances between pairs of points in the object. In differential geometry, the diameter is an important global Riemannian invariant, the symbol or variable for diameter, ⌀, is similar in size and design to ø, the Latin small letter o with stroke. In Unicode it is defined as U+2300 ⌀ Diameter sign, on an Apple Macintosh, the diameter symbol can be entered via the character palette, where it can be found in the Technical Symbols category. The character will not display correctly, however, since many fonts do not include it. In many situations the letter ø is a substitute, which in Unicode is U+00F8 ø
19.
Minimum orbit intersection distance
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Minimum orbit intersection distance is a measure used in astronomy to assess potential close approaches and collision risks between astronomical objects. It is defined as the distance between the closest points of the orbits of two bodies. Of greatest interest is the risk of a collision with Earth, Earth MOID is often listed on comet and asteroid databases such as the JPL Small-Body Database. MOID values are defined with respect to other bodies as well, Jupiter MOID, Venus MOID. An object is classified as a hazardous object – that is, posing a possible risk to Earth – if, among other conditions. A low MOID does not mean that a collision is inevitable as the planets frequently perturb the orbit of small bodies. It is also necessary that the two bodies reach that point in their orbits at the time before the smaller body is perturbed into a different orbit with a different MOID value. Two Objects gravitationally locked in orbital resonance may never approach one another, numerical integrations become increasingly divergent as trajectories are projected further forward in time, especially beyond times where the smaller body is repeatedly perturbed by other planets. MOID has the convenience that it is obtained directly from the elements of the body. The only object that has ever been rated at 4 on the Torino Scale and this is not the smallest Earth MOID in the catalogues, many bodies with a small Earth MOID are not classed as PHOs because the objects are less than roughly 140 meters in diameter. Earth MOID values are more practical for asteroids less than 140 meters in diameter as those asteroids are very dim. It is even smaller at the more precise JPL Small Body Database
20.
Lunar distance (astronomy)
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Lunar distance is as a unit of measure in astronomy. It is the distance from the center of Earth to the center of the Moon. More technically, it is the mean semi-major axis of the lunar orbit. It may also refer to the distance between the centers of the Earth and the Moon, or less commonly, the instantaneous Earth-Moon distance. The lunar distance is approximately a quarter of a million miles, Lunar distance is also called Earth-Moon distance, Earth–Moon characteristic distance, or distance to the Moon, and commonly indicated with LD or Δ ⊕ L. The mean semi-major axis has a value of 384,402 km, the time-averaged distance between Earth and Moon centers is 385,000.6 km. The actual distance varies over the course of the orbit of the Moon, from 356,500 km at the perigee to 406,700 km at apogee, Lunar distance is commonly used to express the distance to near-Earth object encounters. The measurement is useful in characterizing the lunar radius, the mass of the Sun. Millimeter-precision measurements of the distance are made by measuring the time taken for light to travel between LIDAR stations on the Earth and retroreflectors placed on the Moon. The Moon is spiraling away from the Earth at a rate of 3.8 cm per year. By coincidence, the diameter of corner cubes in retroreflectors on the Moon is also 3.8 cm, the instantaneous lunar distance is constantly changing. In fact the distance between the Moon and Earth can change by as much as 75 m/s, or more than 1,000 kilometers in just 6 hours. There are other effects that influence the lunar distance. Some factors are described in this section, the distance to the Moon can be measured to an accuracy of 2 mm over a 1-hour sampling period, which results in an overall uncertainty of 2–3 cm for the average distance. However, due to its orbit with varying eccentricity, the instantaneous distance varies with monthly periodicity. Furthermore, the distance is perturbed by the effects of various astronomical bodies - most significantly the Sun. Other forces responsible for minuscule perturbations are other planets in the system, asteroids, tidal forces. The effect of pressure from the sun contributes an amount of ±3.6 mm to the lunar distance
21.
Density
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The density, or more precisely, the volumetric mass density, of a substance is its mass per unit volume. The symbol most often used for density is ρ, although the Latin letter D can also be used. Mathematically, density is defined as mass divided by volume, ρ = m V, where ρ is the density, m is the mass, and V is the volume. In some cases, density is defined as its weight per unit volume. For a pure substance the density has the numerical value as its mass concentration. Different materials usually have different densities, and density may be relevant to buoyancy, purity, osmium and iridium are the densest known elements at standard conditions for temperature and pressure but certain chemical compounds may be denser. Thus a relative density less than one means that the floats in water. The density of a material varies with temperature and pressure and this variation is typically small for solids and liquids but much greater for gases. Increasing the pressure on an object decreases the volume of the object, increasing the temperature of a substance decreases its density by increasing its volume. In most materials, heating the bottom of a results in convection of the heat from the bottom to the top. This causes it to rise relative to more dense unheated material, the reciprocal of the density of a substance is occasionally called its specific volume, a term sometimes used in thermodynamics. Density is a property in that increasing the amount of a substance does not increase its density. Archimedes knew that the irregularly shaped wreath could be crushed into a cube whose volume could be calculated easily and compared with the mass, upon this discovery, he leapt from his bath and ran naked through the streets shouting, Eureka. As a result, the term eureka entered common parlance and is used today to indicate a moment of enlightenment, the story first appeared in written form in Vitruvius books of architecture, two centuries after it supposedly took place. Some scholars have doubted the accuracy of this tale, saying among other things that the method would have required precise measurements that would have been difficult to make at the time, from the equation for density, mass density has units of mass divided by volume. As there are units of mass and volume covering many different magnitudes there are a large number of units for mass density in use. The SI unit of kilogram per metre and the cgs unit of gram per cubic centimetre are probably the most commonly used units for density.1,000 kg/m3 equals 1 g/cm3. In industry, other larger or smaller units of mass and or volume are often more practical, see below for a list of some of the most common units of density
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Hour
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An hour is a unit of time conventionally reckoned as 1⁄24 of a day and scientifically reckoned as 3, 599–3,601 seconds, depending on conditions. The seasonal, temporal, or unequal hour was established in the ancient Near East as 1⁄12 of the night or daytime, such hours varied by season, latitude, and weather. It was subsequently divided into 60 minutes, each of 60 seconds, the modern English word hour is a development of the Anglo-Norman houre and Middle English ure, first attested in the 13th century. It displaced the Old English tide and stound, the Anglo-Norman term was a borrowing of Old French ure, a variant of ore, which derived from Latin hōra and Greek hṓrā. Like Old English tīd and stund, hṓrā was originally a word for any span of time, including seasons. Its Proto-Indo-European root has been reconstructed as *yeh₁-, making hour distantly cognate with year, the time of day is typically expressed in English in terms of hours. Whole hours on a 12-hour clock are expressed using the contracted phrase oclock, Hours on a 24-hour clock are expressed as hundred or hundred hours. Fifteen and thirty minutes past the hour is expressed as a quarter past or after and half past, respectively, fifteen minutes before the hour may be expressed as a quarter to, of, till, or before the hour. Sumerian and Babylonian hours divided the day and night into 24 equal hours, the ancient Egyptians began dividing the night into wnwt at some time before the compilation of the Dynasty V Pyramid Texts in the 24th century BC. By 2150 BC, diagrams of stars inside Egyptian coffin lids—variously known as diagonal calendars or star clocks—attest that there were exactly 12 of these. The coffin diagrams show that the Egyptians took note of the risings of 36 stars or constellations. Each night, the rising of eleven of these decans were noted, the original decans used by the Egyptians would have fallen noticeably out of their proper places over a span of several centuries. By the time of Amenhotep III, the priests at Karnak were using water clocks to determine the hours and these were filled to the brim at sunset and the hour determined by comparing the water level against one of its twelve gauges, one for each month of the year. During the New Kingdom, another system of decans was used, the later division of the day into 12 hours was accomplished by sundials marked with ten equal divisions. The morning and evening periods when the failed to note time were observed as the first and last hours. The Egyptian hours were closely connected both with the priesthood of the gods and with their divine services, by the New Kingdom, each hour was conceived as a specific region of the sky or underworld through which Ras solar bark travelled. Protective deities were assigned to each and were used as the names of the hours, as the protectors and resurrectors of the sun, the goddesses of the night hours were considered to hold power over all lifespans and thus became part of Egyptian funerary rituals. The Egyptian for astronomer, used as a synonym for priest, was wnwty, the earliest forms of wnwt include one or three stars, with the later solar hours including the determinative hieroglyph for sun
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S-type asteroid
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S-type asteroids, or silicaceous asteroids, are of a stony composition, hence the name. Approximately 17% of asteroids are of type, making it the second most common after the C-type. S-types are moderately bright and consist mainly of iron- and magnesium-silicates and they are dominant in the inner asteroid belt within 2.2 AU, common in the central belt within about 3 AU, but become rare farther out. The largest is 15 Eunomia, with the next largest members by diameter being 3 Juno,29 Amphitrite,532 Herculina and 7 Iris. Their spectrum has a steep slope at wavelengths shorter than 0.7 µm. The 1 µm absorption is indicative of the presence of silicates, often there is also a broad but shallow absorption feature centered near 0.63 µm. The composition of asteroids is similar to a variety of stony meteorites which share similar spectral characteristics. This whole S assemblage of asteroids is spectrally quite distinct from the carbonaceous C-group, Asteroid spectral types L-type asteroid K-type asteroid X-type asteroid Bus, S. J. Binzel, R. P. Phase II of the Small Main-belt Asteroid Spectroscopy Survey, A feature-based taxonomy
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Asteroid
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Asteroids are minor planets, especially those of the inner Solar System. The larger ones have also been called planetoids and these terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not show the disc of a planet and was not observed to have the characteristics of an active comet. As minor planets in the outer Solar System were discovered and found to have volatile-based surfaces that resemble those of comets, in this article, the term asteroid refers to the minor planets of the inner Solar System including those co-orbital with Jupiter. There are millions of asteroids, many thought to be the remnants of planetesimals. The large majority of known asteroids orbit in the belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, or are co-orbital with Jupiter. However, other orbital families exist with significant populations, including the near-Earth objects, individual asteroids are classified by their characteristic spectra, with the majority falling into three main groups, C-type, M-type, and S-type. These were named after and are identified with carbon-rich, metallic. The size of asteroids varies greatly, some reaching as much as 1000 km across, asteroids are differentiated from comets and meteoroids. In the case of comets, the difference is one of composition, while asteroids are composed of mineral and rock, comets are composed of dust. In addition, asteroids formed closer to the sun, preventing the development of the aforementioned cometary ice, the difference between asteroids and meteoroids is mainly one of size, meteoroids have a diameter of less than one meter, whereas asteroids have a diameter of greater than one meter. Finally, meteoroids can be composed of either cometary or asteroidal materials, only one asteroid,4 Vesta, which has a relatively reflective surface, is normally visible to the naked eye, and this only in very dark skies when it is favorably positioned. Rarely, small asteroids passing close to Earth may be visible to the eye for a short time. As of March 2016, the Minor Planet Center had data on more than 1.3 million objects in the inner and outer Solar System, the United Nations declared June 30 as International Asteroid Day to educate the public about asteroids. The date of International Asteroid Day commemorates the anniversary of the Tunguska asteroid impact over Siberia, the first asteroid to be discovered, Ceres, was found in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi, and was originally considered to be a new planet. In the early half of the nineteenth century, the terms asteroid. Asteroid discovery methods have improved over the past two centuries. This task required that hand-drawn sky charts be prepared for all stars in the band down to an agreed-upon limit of faintness. On subsequent nights, the sky would be charted again and any moving object would, hopefully, the expected motion of the missing planet was about 30 seconds of arc per hour, readily discernible by observers
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Binary asteroid
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A binary asteroid is a system of two asteroids orbiting their common barycenter. The binary nature of 243 Ida was discovered when the Galileo spacecraft flew by the asteroid in 1993, since then numerous binary asteroids and several triple asteroids have been detected. The mass ratio of the two components of a system is an important characteristic. Most binary asteroids have a mass ratio, i. e. a relatively small satellite in orbit around the main component. Systems with a satellite, or moon, include 22 Kalliope,45 Eugenia,87 Sylvia,107 Camilla,121 Hermione,130 Elektra,243 Ida,283 Emma. Some binary systems have a ratio near unity, i. e. two components of similar mass. They include 90 Antiope and Hermes, several theories have been posited to explain the formation of binary-asteroid systems. The satellites orbiting large main-belt asteroids such as 22 Kalliope,45 Eugenia or 87 Sylvia may have formed by disruption of a parent body after impact or fission after an oblique impact. Trans-Neptunian binaries may have formed during the formation of the Solar System by mutual capture or three-body interaction, near-Earth asteroids, which orbit in the inner part of the Solar System, most likely form by spin-up and mass shedding, likely as a result of the YORP effect. Numerical simulations confirm that when solar energy spins a “rubble pile” asteroid to a sufficiently fast rate by the YORP effect and this process also exposes fresh material at the poles of the asteroid. 2001 SN263 and 1994 CC Minor-planet moon Yarkovsky–OKeefe–Radzievskii–Paddack effect
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Lost minor planet
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Lost minor planets are minor planets that observers lose track of due to too short an observation arc to accurately predict the future location of the minor planet. Many of the asteroids that were discovered early were lost and rediscovered in the 1980s and 1990s, some minor planets and comets discovered in previous decades were lost because the observational data obtained was insufficient to determine a reliable orbit. Without this information, astronomers would not know where to look for the object at future dates, occasionally, a newly discovered object turns out to be a rediscovery of a previously lost object. This can be determined by calculating the new objects orbit backwards and this may greatly extend the observation arc, thus fixing the orbit much more precisely. For lost comets the back orbit calculations are especially tricky because of forces that can affect their orbits. However, Brian G. Marsden has specialized in calculating such nongravitational forces, notably, he successfully predicted the 1992 return of the once-lost periodic comet Swift–Tuttle. This is a selection of some early lost or notable asteroids with their discovery and rediscovery dates. The true number of lost asteroids may be over 150,000, there are also about 30,000 unnumbered bodies with a condition code of U = 9, indicating the highest possible uncertainty of their orbit determination. Many of these bodies have been observed if not decades ago. There are also more than a thousand objects with an observation arc of one or two days only. There are earlier examples also, such as 132 Aethra, which was lost between 1873 and 1922, leif Kahl Kristensen at the University of Aarhus rediscovered 452 Hamiltonia and 1537 Transylvania, along with numerous other small objects, in 1981. He named it China, or 中華 Zhōnghuá, however, this asteroid was not observed beyond its initial appearance and a precise orbit could not be calculated. However, in 1986, the newly discovered object 1986 QK1 was confirmed to be a rediscovery of the original 1928 UF, and this object was named 3789 Zhongguo, the near-Earth asteroid 1950 DA was discovered on 23 February 1950 by Carl Wirtanen at Lick Observatory. It was observed for 17 days and then lost, since not enough observations were made to allow its orbit to be plotted and it was then rediscovered on 31 December 2000. The chance it will impact Earth on 16 March 2880 is about 1 in 4,000,7796 Járacimrman was discovered at the Czech Kleť Observatory on 16 January 1996 by Zdeněk Moravec and was designated 1996 BG. It was observed until April 1996 and then in June and July 1997, recently lost minor planets 2007 WD5 is a 50 m Apollo-class NEO and a Mars-crosser discovered on 20 November 2007, by Andrea Boattini of the Catalina Sky Survey. Early observations of 2007 WD5 caused excitement amongst the community when it was estimated as having as high as a 1 in 25 chance of colliding with Mars on 30 January 2008. However, by 9 January 2008 additional observations allowed NASAs Near Earth Object Program to reduce the uncertainty region resulting in only a 1-in-10,000 chance of impact,2007 WD5 most likely passed Mars at a distance of 6.5 Mars radii
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Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search
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Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search was a project designed to discover asteroids and comets that orbit near the Earth. The project, funded by NASA, was directed by Dr. Ted Bowell of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, the LONEOS project began in 1993 and ran until the end of February 2008. LONEOS, in its configuration, used a 0. 6-meter f/1.8 Schmidt telescope, acquired from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1990. This combination of instruments provided a field of view of 2.88 by 2.88 degrees and it had a maximum nightly scan area of about 1,000 square degrees. The instrument could cover the entire accessible dark sky in about a month, the CCD has detected asteroids as faint as visual magnitude 19.8 but its typical limiting visual magnitude was 19.3. The instrument is located at Lowell Observatorys dark sky site, Anderson Mesa Station, near Flagstaff, Arizona, two were used for frame reductions, one for telescope pointing control and one for camera control. The camera control software had scripting capability and could control all the other computers, asteroids were found by obtaining four pictures of the same region of sky, each frame temporally separated by 15 to 30 minutes. The set of four frames were then submitted to reduction software which located all star-like sources on the frame, the observer visually examined all asteroid detections that had motion different from a typical main-belt asteroid. Human examination was required because most putative NEO detections were not real, all asteroid positions were converted to equatorial coordinates. Various USNO star catalogs were used for this conversion until 2007, then the Sloan Digital Sky Survey catalog was used, along with supplemental information from the Carlsberg Catalog and the 2MASS catalog. Asteroid brightness was converted to standard visual magnitude and these data, along with the time of the observations, were sent to the Minor Planet Center from which they were distributed to the scientific community. Potential near-Earth objects were handled expeditiously so that other observers could locate the asteroid on the same night, telescope operation was automated to the extent that the survey could be run all night without observer intervention. However, the telescope was operated in the automatic mode because an observer was required to reduce data promptly. During the period of LONEOS operation, several other NASA funded NEO searches were underway and these projects include LINEAR, CSS, Spacewatch, and NEAT. Amateur observers made a significant contribution during this time with independent NEO discoveries, the table below lists the number of discoveries made by LONEOS each year of operation. Asteroids thought to be larger than one kilometer in diameter were used as benchmarks in assessing survey completeness, hence, some table elements have two numbers separated by a slash. The second number represents the number of larger than one kilometer. The column labeled Asteroid Observations is the number of sent to the MPC
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Timothy B. Spahr
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Timothy Bruce Spahr is an American astronomer and prolific discoverer of minor planets. From 2000–2014 he worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Minor Planet Center, from September 2006 to December 2014 he was the director of Minor Planet Center. He is a co-discoverer of Callirrhoe, a moon of Jupiter, and of Albiorix and he also discovered two periodic comets, 171P/Spahr and P/1998 U4. He is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 58 minor planets, the Florian asteroid 2975 Spahr was named after him. An interview to Timothy Spahr Old equipment finds big asteroid nearby
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Ecliptic
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The ecliptic is the apparent path of the Sun on the celestial sphere, and is the basis for the ecliptic coordinate system. It also refers to the plane of this path, which is coplanar with the orbit of Earth around the Sun, the motions as described above are simplifications. Due to the movement of Earth around the Earth–Moon center of mass, due to further perturbations by the other planets of the Solar System, the Earth–Moon barycenter wobbles slightly around a mean position in a complex fashion. The ecliptic is actually the apparent path of the Sun throughout the course of a year, because Earth takes one year to orbit the Sun, the apparent position of the Sun also takes the same length of time to make a complete circuit of the ecliptic. With slightly more than 365 days in one year, the Sun moves a little less than 1° eastward every day, again, this is a simplification, based on a hypothetical Earth that orbits at uniform speed around the Sun. The actual speed with which Earth orbits the Sun varies slightly during the year, for example, the Sun is north of the celestial equator for about 185 days of each year, and south of it for about 180 days. The variation of orbital speed accounts for part of the equation of time, if the equator is projected outward to the celestial sphere, forming the celestial equator, it crosses the ecliptic at two points known as the equinoxes. The Sun, in its apparent motion along the ecliptic, crosses the equator at these points, one from south to north. The crossing from south to north is known as the equinox, also known as the first point of Aries. The crossing from north to south is the equinox or descending node. Likewise, the ecliptic itself is not fixed, the gravitational perturbations of the other bodies of the Solar System cause a much smaller motion of the plane of Earths orbit, and hence of the ecliptic, known as planetary precession. The combined action of two motions is called general precession, and changes the position of the equinoxes by about 50 arc seconds per year. Once again, this is a simplification, periodic motions of the Moon and apparent periodic motions of the Sun cause short-term small-amplitude periodic oscillations of Earths axis, and hence the celestial equator, known as nutation. Obliquity of the ecliptic is the used by astronomers for the inclination of Earths equator with respect to the ecliptic. It is about 23. 4° and is currently decreasing 0.013 degrees per hundred years due to planetary perturbations, the angular value of the obliquity is found by observation of the motions of Earth and other planets over many years. From 1984, the Jet Propulsion Laboratorys DE series of computer-generated ephemerides took over as the ephemeris of the Astronomical Almanac. Obliquity based on DE200, which analyzed observations from 1911 to 1979, was calculated, jPLs fundamental ephemerides have been continually updated. J. Laskar computed an expression to order T10 good to 0″. 04/1000 years over 10,000 years, all of these expressions are for the mean obliquity, that is, without the nutation of the equator included
. Bibcode:2012Icar..221.1130M. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2012.09.013. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
