Asteroids and small bodies

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 02/09/2017 - 16:20

Hi there,

The AAVSO is an association primarily intended for doing variable star observations, as it's name indicates. But any photometric measurement of stellar point sources can also be applied to non-stellar point sources, like asteroids. Thus, asteroid light curves is also a topic that can easily be covered by AAVSO members. How large is the fraction of the AAVSO community involved in this and are there also members doing photometry on KBOs?

Best and CS,

Lou

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
White dot "explosion in the night sky"

Hello from Slovenia

 

Yesteday (23 March 2017) at approx 21:40 local time I spoted a bright flash in the sky.. It looked like a white dot would appear in the sky and the about half second later dissaper.. I saw it with my naked eye.. Dot was completly white and did not move...

 

Do you have any information what that might have been?..

 

Thank you for your response.

 

Žiga

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Space junk

These brief, bright flashes in the sky are not variable stars, asteroids, etc. but likely reflections of the sun off of shiny panels on satellites or other space debris. There is such a huge quantity of this stuff in orbits up there, you see them constantly.

One other, much less likely thing is a head-on, "point" meteor.