Asteroid & Comet Object Position Determination

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Work In Progress!

Determining positions for objects in need of observing:

Once you have completed Step 1 and have your objects selected for your observation, you will need to find out exactly where they are.  This too, is an easy step and you will be using the Minor Planet Centers Web site once again.  In Step 1, the Near Earth Object (16834) 1997 WU22 was selected because observations had been requested by the Minor Planet Center for this object.  The following explanation will show how to do this step.

Step 1:  Write down or use your computer mouse to "highlight" the name or number of the object (s).

Step 2:  Go to the Minor Planet & Comet Ephemeris Service http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html

Step 3:  a. Type in or use the computer mouse to "paste" the name or number of the object (s) in the box.

             b. Ephemeris Date:  If left blank, it will use the current time and date.

             c. Number of Dates to Output:  If left blank, it will produce a default number of dates.

             d. Ephemeris Interval:  Usually left blank.

             e. Ephemeris Units: Adjust according to the user.

             f. Time UT:  Adjust to user - normally left at 0.

             g. Observatory Code:  If left blank, a geocentric position will be used - otherwise adjust by code number.

Without making any adjustments to the rest of the page, the information above will produce positions for the object (s).

Step 4:  Click Get ephemeredes/HTML page and the Minor Planet & Comet Ephemeris Service page will produce a set of positions for the object (s).  See the example below.

Minor Planet Ephemeris Service: Query Results

Below are the results of your request from the Minor Planet Center's Minor Planet Ephemeris Service. Ephemeredes are for the geocenter.

(16834) 1997 WU22

Display all designations for this object

Perturbed ephemeris below is based on 7-opp elements from MPO 38162. Last observed on 2007 Jan. 24.

Discovery date : 1997 11 30
Discovery site : Haleakala
Discoverer(s) : NEAT

Further observations? NEO : Not necessary at first ephemeris date

16834
Date       UT      R.A. (J2000) Decl.    Delta     r     El.    Ph.   V      Sky Motion       Uncertainty info
            h m s                                                            "/min    P.A.    3-sig/" P.A.
2007 02 26 000000 04 24 27.0 +13 43 45   1.339   1.661   89.7  36.6  18.9    0.58    095.4         0 021.1 / 
2007 02 27 000000 04 25 24.8 +13 42 29   1.345   1.656   88.9  36.7  18.9    0.60    094.9         0 021.5 / 
2007 02 28 000000 04 26 24.6 +13 41 19   1.352   1.650   88.2  36.9  18.9    0.62    094.4         0 021.8 / 
2007 03 01 000000 04 27 26.2 +13 40 14   1.358   1.645   87.4  37.0  18.9    0.63    093.9         0 022.3 / 
2007 03 02 000000 04 28 29.6 +13 39 14   1.365   1.640   86.7  37.1  19.0    0.65    093.5         0 022.7 / 
2007 03 03 000000 04 29 34.8 +13 38 18   1.371   1.634   85.9  37.2  19.0    0.67    093.2         0 023.1 / 
2007 03 04 000000 04 30 41.8 +13 37 27   1.377   1.629   85.2  37.3  19.0    0.69    092.8         0 023.6 / 
2007 03 05 000000 04 31 50.5 +13 36 40   1.383   1.623   84.5  37.5  19.0    0.70    092.5         0 024.0 / 
2007 03 06 000000 04 33 00.9 +13 35 58   1.390   1.618   83.8  37.6  19.0    0.72    092.3         0 024.6 / 
2007 03 07 000000 04 34 13.0 +13 35 18   1.395   1.612   83.1  37.7  19.0    0.74    092.0         0 025.2 / 
2007 03 08 000000 04 35 26.7 +13 34 42   1.401   1.606   82.4  37.8  19.0    0.76    091.8         0 025.7 /
2007 03 09 000000 04 36 42.1 +13 34 10   1.407   1.601   81.7  37.9  19.0    0.77    091.6         0 026.4 / 
2007 03 10 000000 04 37 59.1 +13 33 40   1.413   1.595   81.0  37.9  19.0    0.79    091.4         0 026.9 / 

The information above will give you nearly all information needed for the object (s).

More to come....