Asteroid 2013 LR6 as seen from the SSO at astronomical twilight this evening.

NEO asteroid 2013 LR6 zips by Earth inside the Moons orbit on 8 June at 4:42 UT. This is a southern hemisphere object, and unfortunately by the time of astronomical twilight at the SSO scopes, it is below the telescope travel limits and sets shortly after, so we don't get to see  the close approach from any iTelescope.

Last Quarter Moon is 1 June, New Moon is 9 June,  First Quarter is 18 May and Full Moon 25 May.

Comet C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS as seen from Mayhill, New Mexico at 3:30 am, on June 2. (click to embiggen)

Once again, there are several bright (ie > magnitude 12) comets in the sky at the moment, but many are in unfavourable positions.

2011 L4 PANSTARSS is still the star of the moment, although it has faded to magnitude 8 it still has beautiful detailed tail. It can now be imaged from the Mayhill and Nerpio telescopes all night, circling the north celestial pole.

Earth passed through PanSTARRS orbital plane in late may, and we can enjoy some continuosly changing perspectives of its tail. Unfortunately PanSTARRS has no interesting encounters this month, but its tail more than makes up for it.

C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS as seen at 11:30 pm from Mayhill New Mexico as it passes through Ursa Minor. The small rectangle is the field of view of T5, the medium rectangle T20 and the large rectangle T14. Click to embiggen.

C/2012 F6 Lemmon as seen at astronomical twilight from Mayhill New Mexico. The small rectangle is the field of view of T5, the medium rectangle T20 and the large rectangle T14. Click to embiggen.

Comet C/2012 F6 Lemmon is now observable from the  northern iTelescopes. It comes within travel range at around 3 am.

While the comet is reasonably bright (around magnitude 9), and is not far from some interesting objects (like the Andromeda galaxy), you will nee to make mosaics with T14 for most of them. 

Lemmons only close encounter is with comet 2009 MS9, at magnitude 20, this will be difficult to capture.

C/2012 L2 is too close to the Sun to be visible in the iTelescopes

Comet C/2012 R1 has faded to around magnitude 14, but is still visible in northern and southern hemisphere scopes in Coma Bernices.

C/2013 E2 Iwamoto is visible in the SSO iTelescopes before astronomical twilight, and the northern hemisphere scopes just before astronomical twilight in the morning. It is currently almost magnitude 14.

C/2006 S3 LONEOS is close to the bright star Spica, coming within 27' on 19 June. As the comet is magnitude 13, this will be difficult to image.

Location of Nova Sco 2013, click to embiggen

A bright nova, Nova Sco 2013 = PNV J17335943-3606216, has been confirmed at CCD magnitude 11.3 (see here for images). Latest reports run from magnitude 13 to magnitude 10.

The nova is located at R.A. = 17 33 59.44, Dec.= -36 06 20.7 (2000.0)

Asteroid 20 Massalia (magnitude 11.5) is close to the galaxy NGC 502 and NGC 489 (mag 13). This would make a nice little animation. On the 18th it is close to NGC 524 (magnitude 10.4). In fact during this time is is in a rich field of dim galaxies, could be worth a shot.

Location of Nova Sco 2013, click to embiggen

A bright nova, Nova Sco 2013 = PNV J17335943-3606216, has been confirmed at CCD magnitude 11.3 (see here for images). Latest reports run from magnitude 13 to magnitude 10.

The nova is located at R.A. = 17 33 59.44, Dec.= -36 06 20.7 (2000.0)

A brightening supernova, 2013cg in NGC 2891 is a bright Type Ia on the rise. Last reported at magnitude 13.3, it is located at at R.A. = 09h26m56s.77, Dec. = -24°46'59".6

Near Earth Object 285263 1998 QE2 will be of interest for the NEO hunters amongst us. This is a bright,  relatively slow mover, visible from all iTelescopes and you don't have to do much fancy foot work to catch it as it passes through Libra.

285263 1998 QE2 is a whopping 2.1 Km diameter rock that will be 15.2 Earth-Moon distances from us at closest approach. 

It is closest on May 31 at 20:59 UT. Unfortunately, from Mayhill NM and it is below the horizon then, but it is still bright and easy to catch from astronomical twilight on. It will be visible at closest approach from Nerpio Spain (22:59 local time) and the SSO (at 4:59 June 1 local time for the SSO).

Close up view of NEO 285263 1998 QE2 as seen from Mayhill New Mexico on May 31 at 9:45 pm local time. The small rectangle is the field of view of T5, the large rectangle is the FOV of T14, ticks are 15 minute intervals. Click to embiggen.

Unlike the recent fast moving NEOs this asteroid is far enough away that a planetarium program will not have too great a parallax error from the topocentric coordinates.

Also, it is moving slow enough that the tracking systems will keep up with it (it will take an hour to cross the FOV of T5), and bright enough to do relatively short exposures (say 30 second exposures).

It also passes a number of smallish dim galaxies (eg NGC 5810 m 13 and NGC 5892 m12), which may be of interest to capture along with it.

Despite being closest on the 31st of May, the asteroid continues to get brighter (okay, magnitude 10.7 from magnitude 10.8) on June 1 and 2, so you can follow this asteroid for quite some time. The SSO scopes have a more limited follow up time, as the asteroid heads towards the horizon from their point of view.

While standard planetarium plotting will work well, you may still like to work from topocentric coordinates. For topocentric ephemerides go to

http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html

Nth America MPC Code - H06, Spain MPC Code - I89,  SSO - Q62

Always use the latest possible orbital elements and ephemeris, as the orbit is still being refined. The planning guides to viewing YU55 here and here will help organising topocentric ephemerides  for these events.

NEO asteroid 2013 KB will come within 3.2 Earth-Moon distances of us, with the closest approach of the 16 meter dimaeter asteroid on May 22 06:05 UT.

This is a Southern Scope asteroid, as it passes through Centaurus and Cricinus. It will be a difficult object to follow, not getting brighter than magnitude 18.5.

While at 3.2 LD away, paralax is not too big an issue, but it is still moving relatively fast, and the asteroid tracking may not work.

Close up chart of 2013 KB for 22-23 May, tick marks are every 1 hour. The large rectangle is the field of view of  T12  and small rectangle is the field of view of  T9. Note the parallax difference between the calculated position and the orbit. Click to embiggen.

To catch it, it's best to choose a star not far from where the asteroid would be (best use on a topocentric ephemeris, as there is still significant parallax), and set that as the target, then wait for the asteroid to zoom by.

Remember that it can take up to 5 minutes for the telescopes to slew to the imaging position, so you have to allow for this in your timing.

Up to date orbital information from the MPEC ephemeris generator is best.  If you enter the observatory code for SSO - Q62 it will create a topocentric ephemeris for Siding Spring.

1 line MPC elements are

0063P         2013 04 10.7816  1.950488  0.650684  169.0050  358.0109   19.7817  20130418  10.5  6.0    63P/Wild

RA 01:12:54.92 Dec +00:58:45.7 PSN J01125492+0058457

Comet C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS as seen from Mayhill, New Mexico at 2:30 am, on May 4. (click to embiggen)

Once again, there are several bright (ie > magnitude 12) comets in the sky at the moment, but many are in unfavourable positions.

2011 L4 PANSTARSS is the star at the moment, still bright with a beautiful detailed tail. It can now be imaged from the Mayhill telescopes in the early morning form about 2 am to Astronomical twilight (depending on the telescope T5: 15-25 degrees, T11: 15-20 degrees, T20: 15-25 degrees, T14: 20-25 degrees).

As the month goes by the comet continues to  rise and will be easier to image. Unfortunately PanSTARRS has only on reasonable encounter remaining this month.

C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS as seen at 3:30 am from Mayhill New Mexico as it passes through Cephus. The small rectangle is the field of view of T5, the medium rectangle T20 and the large rectangle T14. Click to embiggen.

On May 5 and  6 PanSTARRS is close to the open cluster NGC 110.  On May 7 it is close to the the Planetary Nebula NGC 40 (mag. 11).

C/2012 F6 Lemmon as seen at nautical twilight. The small rectangle is the field of view of T9, the medium rectangle T30 and the large rectangle T12. Click to embiggen.

Comet C/2012 F6 Lemmon is still well below the travel of the northern iTelescopes. In the southern morning sky it is just observable in the morning twilight (only 20-22 degrees at nautical twilight, with the SSO scopes going down to 20 degrees).

However there are a few encounters that make the effort worth it, on May 11 the comet is near galaxy  NGC 57 (mag.12.8). Then on the 18th is is close to the galaxies  NGC 80  and  NGC 83 galaxy (12.7 and 12.6) respectively. The on the 22nd it is close to galaxy  PGC 1467 (mag 11.5)

C/2012 L2 is too low to the horizon to be visible in the iTelescopes

Comet 2012 R1 is a nice comet at around magnitude 13, and easily visible in northern and southern hemisphere scopes in Virgo.

After all of last months action, it has no significant encounters this month.

2011 F1 (LINEAR) should have been moderately bright at magnitude 11 this month. However, it is reported that it is around magnitude 14. It is visible in the constellation Phoenix low above the horizon before morning twilight in the SSO iTelescopes.

C/2013 E2 Iwamoto as seen at astronomical twilight in the morning. The small rectangle is the field of  T30 and the large rectangle T12. Click to embiggen.

2013 E2 Iwamoto is visible in the SSO iTelescopes shortly before astronomical twilight. It is currently magnitude 13, a bit brighter than predicted.

On May 7 it is close to the galaxies NGC 7611 (mag 12.6) NGC 7619 (mag 11.1) NGC 7623 ( mag. 12.4) and  NGC 7626 (mag 11.2). On May 9 it is close to  galaxy NGC 7743 (11.2).

Asteroid 40 Harmonia crosses the face of the bright galaxy M61 (mag 9.3). This would make a nice little animation of the bright asteroid passing in front of this galaxy.

It is too faint to follow at the moment, but, at about 3.6 billion light-years away this GRB is relatively close, and there is a good chance that an underlying supernova will be observed.

Astronomers estimate that the supernova should become apparent by mid month, if one develops. Thus the supernova observers in the iTelescope members may be interested in extended follow-up to catch the supernova on the rise.

The location of GRB 130427A is RA(J2000) = 11h 32' 32.84", Dec(J2000) = +27d 41' 56.2" with an uncertainty of 1" (Elenin et al', GCN 14450)

The first is SN 2013bu (PSN J22370217+3424052), a type II supernova in NGC 7331 (called the twin of the Milky way). Currently magnitude 15.5, it has the potential to become as bright as magnitude 11. Location RA: 22 37 02.17 Dec: +34 24 05.2 (Hat tip to Leonid Elenin)

The second is SN 2013bj (PSN J14041963-0703069),a type II supernova in PGC 50171. Currently magnitude 18.8, it was confirmed by its discoverer Simone Leonini using iTelescope T21. RA: 14 04 19.63 Dec: -07 03 06.9 (Hat tip to Peter Lake on iTelescope.net Club on Facebook)