Bright Highly Variable Slowly Moving Object Detected by MASTER
ATel #5610; D. Denisenko, E. Gorbovskoy, V. Lipunov, P. Balanutsa, N. Tiurina, V. Kornilov, A. Belinski, N. Shatskiy, V. Chazov, A. Kuznetsov, A. Rufanov, V. Vladimirov, V. Yecheistov (Moscow State University, SAI), A. Parkhomenko, A. Tlatov, D. Dormidontov, V. Senik (Kislovodsk Solar Station of Pulkovo Observatory), V. Yurkov, Y. Sergienko, D. Varda, E. Sinyakov, A. Gabovich (Blagoveshchensk Educational University), K. Ivanov, S. Yazev, N. Budnev, E. Konstantinov, O. Chuvalaev, V. Poleshchuk, O. Gress (Irkutsk State University), V. Krushinsky, I. Zalozhnih, A. Popov, A. Bourdanov (Ural Federal University), P. Podvorotny, V. Shumkov, S. Shurpakov, (MASTER team members), H. Levato, C. Saffe (ICATE), C. Mallamaci, C. Lopez, F. Podest (OAFA)
on 29 Nov 2013; 09:13 UT
Credential Certification: Vladimir Lipunov (lipunov2007@gmail.com)
Subjects: Optical, A Comment, Asteroid, Comet
Referred to by ATel #: 5616
MASTER Moving Object - MASDB2
MASTER-Amur (D54) auto-detection system discovered OT source at (RA, Dec) =
07h 49m 13.45s -07d 03m 50.7s on 2013-11-28.74126 UT.
The OT unfiltered magnitude is 15.7m (limit 17.8m). Object is visible
on 6 images with 60-sec exposures starting from 17:45:37 to 17:54:28
UT.
50 minutes later the object was detected again 12" away, having moved
by 9"N, 8"E. MASTER-Amur auto-detection system discovered OT source at
(RA, Dec) = 07h 49m 12.83s -07d 03m 42.7s on 2013-11-28.77992 UT. The
OT unfiltered magnitude is 15.8m (limit 17.8m). Object is visible on 6
images with 60-sec exposures starting from 18:36:04 to 18:46:34 UT.
The object was checked using Minor Planet Checker and NEO Checker. The
only known object within 15' radius was 18.8m asteroid (74067) 1998
MH3 more than 7' away, yet moving to the south at 36" per hour.
The following astrometry was obtained using 7 images of 12:
MASDB2 * C2013 11 28.74037 07 49 13.45 -07 03 51.2 16.2 R D54
MASDB2 C2013 11 28.74288 07 49 13.41 -07 03 50.7 16.3 R D54
MASDB2 C2013 11 28.74530 07 49 13.37 -07 03 49.9 15.8 R D54
MASDB2 C2013 11 28.77625 07 49 12.91 -07 03 45.4 15.7 R D54
MASDB2 C2013 11 28.77749 07 49 12.89 -07 03 44.4 16.4 R D54
MASDB2 C2013 11 28.78028 07 49 12.83 -07 03 43.3 15.8 R D54
MASDB2 C2013 11 28.78269 07 49 12.73 -07 03 42.8 16.3 R D54
The object was reported to the Minor Planet Center as MASDB2 and was
posted at the NEO Confirmation Page with the NEO rating of 86. Using
the MPC ephemeris, we have attempted a follow up with
MASTER-Kislovodsk telescope. Two triplets of 60-sec unfiltered
exposures were obtained: one on 21:50:42-21:53:43 UT and the other on
22:20:44-22:23:47 UT. The limiting magnitudes were 18.5-18.7m. Object
was not detected neither near the ephemeris position, nor in the whole
2x2 deg FOV.
We note that the object is showing fast variability with a period of
about 5 minutes (or 10 minutes, supposing double-peaked light curve).
The amplitude of variations is about 0.8m, from 15.7 to 16.5
unfiltered magnitude, and did not change in 50 minutes between two
MASTER-Amur observations. This leads us to the conclusion that the
object could be a tumbling near-Earth asteroid or a man-made object.
We have checked the list of recent spacecraft launches but found no
matches.
There are 13 images of the object with next photometry:
Date time Exp.time Limit Filt. Tube. raw_id Mag
2013-11-28 17:45:37 60 17.3 W WEST 557232 16.2
2013-11-28 17:47:25 60 17.3 W WEST 557235 15.9
2013-11-28 17:49:15 60 17.3 W WEST 557236 16.4
2013-11-28 17:50:56 60 17.2 W WEST 557239 16.3
2013-11-28 17:52:44 60 17.3 W WEST 557241 15.9
2013-11-28 17:54:28 60 17.3 W WEST 557242 16.4
2013-11-28 18:36:04 60 17.3 W WEST 557288 16.0
2013-11-28 18:37:48 60 17.3 W WEST 557291 15.9
2013-11-28 18:39:35 60 17.3 W WEST 557293 16.3
2013-11-28 18:41:24 60 17.3 W WEST 557295 16.7
2013-11-28 18:43:05 60 17.3 W WEST 557296 15.9
2013-11-28 18:44:52 60 17.5 W WEST 557299 16.4
2013-11-28 18:46:34 60 17.5 W WEST 557300 16.3
The accuracy is about 0.1.
The video (13 images) is available at http://master.sai.msu.ru/static/asterod_lc.gif
We encourage the follow-up observations with the large field
instruments. We also request the possible identification with the
man-made objects.
The video (13 images) is available at http://master.sai.msu.ru/static/asterod_flash.gif
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