Tonight started out looking like it would be cloudy, but it cleared up early. I decided to go out and chase my new friends from last night, namely asteroids 11 Parthenope and 16 Psyche.
According to my TheSky software program, both asteroids should have moved a couple of arcminutes since I imaged them about 18 hours ago, and sure enough there was definitely a noticeable movement.
I spent a while taking some pictures with the CCD then came inside to work on making a blink-style animated gif. But instead of the exciting result I expected, my animation shows the two objects moving closer to perpendicular to each other than parallel! My understanding was the two would be travelling roughly parallel, gradually slipping closer to each other over the next few days.
So I checked the images from last night...and it looks like I may have misidentified 16 Psyche. I'm pretty sure 11 Parthenope was correct, but the object labelled 16 Psyche on my post last night is now a mystery object. And the fact that it appears to have moved makes it even more confusing...
So I'll post my animated "blink comparator" image anyway. At least I got some experience making an animated gif in Photoshop - not an easy process. If it doesn't work to post an animation here, maybe I'll put it up on the Xanadu Observatory website.
If I was an expert I'd probably think I discovered a new one but in fact I think I've probably made a big blunder. But it's all in fun and actually this has been a good learning experience and observing challenge. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow night...or maybe I'll get some sleep.
I also did do a little playing around with taking some stellar spectra tonight. I still have to process the data though.
One thing I have noticed is that going out in the cold night air always invigorates me. Something about the crisp air and the sounds of the night seems to clear away the exhaustion of the day.
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