Asteroids Solar System

Asteroid 145 Adeona 12-30-21

Russ

Asteroid 145 Adeona was visible from my backyard observing location just before midnight on the evening of December 29th.  It was west of the celestial meridian already, but still high in the sky at an elevation of 64° at the start of the session. The seeing was fair-good.

Some of the images I captured of this minor planet follow. All were captured using a Meade LXD-75 SN-8 (203mm f/4) telescope and ZWO ASI224MC camera with UV/IR cut filter.

The images in this post can be compared to a finder chart prepared by the Lowell Observatory’s online AstFinder tool for this date and time. Open the finder chart in a new window by clicking here.

Wide View

Asteroid 145 Adeona on December 30, 2021, showing the asteroid’s movement against background stars in the constellation Taurus between 04:45:47-05:43:29 UT. Field of view is 20×15 arcminutes. North is up. East is left.[1]
On this night, 145 Adeona was traveling through the constellation Taurus. This part of the constellation does not present an especially rich star field for my 20×15 arcminute field of view. There were enough stars, however, to serve as comparison stars for measuring 145 Adeona’s magnitude.  Both the Minor Planet Center and NASA’s JPL Horizons System predicted magnitude 12.1. My measured magnitude in the V band was 12.35.

Wide View Animation

Asteroid 145 Adeona in motion against a background of distant stars. Field of view is 20×15 arcminutes. North is up. East is left [2]
This wide view animation puts 145 Adeona in motion across the sky. The animation is a 20-image time-lapse sequence covering 58 minutes. On this night, Adeona was moving across the sky at the rate of 0.30 arcseconds per minute, or 18 arcseconds per hour. 

Zoomed In Animation

This cropped and slightly enlarged portion of the wide view animation above gives a closer look at 145 Adeona as it moves across a not-so-rich field of background stars. The field of view is 14.5×10.3 arcminutes. North is up. East is left.

Asteroid 145 Adeona is a main belt asteroid with a diameter estimated between 120-150 km (75-93 miles). As a main belt asteroid, 145 Adeona orbits the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Therefore, it never presents a threat to Earth. Its orbital period is 4.37 years. At the time these images were captured, 145 Adeona was 1.6 AU (239,356,593 km/148,729,292 miles) from Earth. This is about as close as it ever gets to us.

Notes:

1. December 30, 2021, 04:45:47 and 05:43:29 UT. Stack of two images, each a stack of 6 frames at 30 seconds each (total 180s). Telescope: Meade SN-8 (203mm f/4). Camera: ZWO ASI224MC with UV/IR cut filter. Mount: Celestron CGEM.

2. December 30, 2021,04:45:47-05:43:29 UT. 58-minute, 20-image, animation sequence. Each image a stack of 6 frames at 30 seconds each (total 180 seconds). Telescope: Meade SN-8 (203mm f/4). Camera: ZWO ASI224MC with UV/IR cut filter. Mount: Celestron CGEM.

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