Some Wikipedia info on 55636 (source link here)
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Discovery
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| Discovered by | NEAT |
| Discovery date | October 15, 2002 |
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Designations
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| MPC designation | (55636) 2002 TX300 |
| Alternate name | none |
| Minor planet category |
Trans-Neptunian object (TNO) cubewano |
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Orbital characteristics
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| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 7252.615 Gm (48.481 AU) |
| Perihelion | 5654.528 Gm (37.798 AU) |
| Semi-major axis | 6453.572 (43.139 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.124 |
| Orbital period | 103492.895 d (283.35 a |
| Average orbital?speed | 4.52 km/s |
| Mean anomaly | 62.175? |
| Inclination | 25.856? |
| Longitude?of ascending?node | 324.575? |
| Argument of perihelion | 338.907? |
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Physical characteristics
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| Dimensions | 435??709 km |
| Mass | 1.6?3.7??1020? kg |
| Mean density | 2.0? g/cm? |
| Equatorial surface?gravity | 0.15?0.20? m/s? |
| Escape velocity | 0.28?0.37? km/s |
| Sidereal rotation period |
0.504 d (12.101 h) |
| Albedo | 0.19?0.38? |
| Temperature | <41K |
| Spectral type | (neutral) B-V=0.63; V-R=0.36 |
| Apparent magnitude | 19.4 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 3.1 |
Photograph – Dick Steinberg (Drexel U)
22 minute exposure started on 2009-10-01T04:25:52
Predicted magnitude was 19.6.
Distance from Earth 40.622 AU
Distance from Sun 41.529 AU)
Blink AVI movie with the Digital Sky Survey is available at
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ybr93ch
This is the fifth TNO that Steinberg’s team have imaged to date. Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Orcus are the others. Images are available at
http://www.physics.drexel.edu/~steinberg/astro/solar_system/tno/
October 4th, 2009 - 14:05
There is a KBO ( or TNO – Trans Neptunian Object) 55636 that was discovered seven years ago by NEAT but very little is known about it. The orbit is still being refined. Its shadow is expected to sweep across the earth on the night of Oct. 8th. The original track was predicted to pass through Nebraska. ?It is now expected to cross NE Australia after Sunset on the 9th, then across the Pacific to just south of Hawaii, then past Baja and Mexico, ending at Sunrise in Costa Rico. It may have sheparding moons or an ice cloud around it.
Dr. Jim Elliott of MIT Planetary Sciences Dept. (and co-discoverer of Uranus’ Rings) gave a talk to ATMoB last May and asked for experienced observers as volunteers to record the event. The idea is that we bring a new CCD system called PICO, for Portable Instrument for Capturing Occultations.
Of the ATMoB volunteers, John Briggs is assigned to AU. He has borrowed a 10-inch LX200 as there are very few amateurs around Cairns or Townsville. Bruce Berger is going to San Pedro Martir Observatory with 1.5 M scope. He will be escorted by observatory staff on a 5-7 hour trip up to 9,700′ high facility.
Gary Jacobsen was originally going to CA but is instead joining Bernie Volz in Acapulco. They will also carry 10-inch LS200 by rental car to a beautiful resort just north of the city. Here they will set up on the deck next to their private swimming pool. ?They also had to take the scope apart in separate containers to meet new stringent baggage requirements.
I will be going to the Behlin Observatory of Neb Univ. near Lincoln. They have a 30-inch B&C but another experiment will be going on earlier in the evening so I will have to beg for earlier time for testing. ?
We got the cameras last Wed. ( triple Peltier coolers -70C below ambient), virtually zero dark current and have been clouded out since then. I leave for Lincoln via ORD on Tues. AM. Be back Sat. night. The LCross impact will be about 1 hour after the occultation so I will hang on. The KBO is mag. 19.3 and the star 13.1. ?
Fun, Huh?
Paul
October 4th, 2009 - 16:23
What does absolute magnitude of 3.1 (vs apparent magnitude of 19.4) mean?
October 4th, 2009 - 18:30
Absolute magnitude is the celestial objects’ intrinsic brightness as if we were viewing it from 1 AU (the mean distance from the earth to the sun , or 93,000,000 miles) in the absence of atmospheric influence.
Apparent magnitude takes the distance the object is from the viewer along with the light-diminishing aspect of our atmosphere.
Hope this helps!