Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Leo (Leo)  ·  Contains:  NGC 2903
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NGC 2903 Galaxy - with a photo bomb from a tumbling asteroid (2730 Barks), Jeff Culp
NGC 2903 Galaxy - with a photo bomb from a tumbling asteroid (2730 Barks)
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NGC 2903 Galaxy - with a photo bomb from a tumbling asteroid (2730 Barks)

Revision title: Updated to include asteroid annotation - 2730 Barks

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 2903 Galaxy - with a photo bomb from a tumbling asteroid (2730 Barks), Jeff Culp
NGC 2903 Galaxy - with a photo bomb from a tumbling asteroid (2730 Barks)
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 2903 Galaxy - with a photo bomb from a tumbling asteroid (2730 Barks)

Revision title: Updated to include asteroid annotation - 2730 Barks

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Description

At a relatively bright magnitude 9.0, this beautiful galaxy is estimated to be about 38.1 million LY distant, and is a member of the Virgo Cluster in the constellation of Leo.  It is classified as SBbc, a barred spiral galaxy, and is inclined at about 60 degrees to our perspective.  This is a full-frame view showing a few faint fuzzies around the FOV.  In the extreme lower left, there appears to be an asteroid wandering by and showing variable brightness as it may be tumbling in the sun's light - this, across 1.4 hours of total exposures.  Cool little serendipity!

Update: using PI's asteroid database, I was able to identify the asteroid as 2730 Barks.  -----   Great tutorial to add the asteroid databases can be found here by [url=yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string=https://www.youtube.com/@HogarthsAstrophotography]Hogarth's Astrophotography:  [/url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2zI3aX0iSA

Note:  So for my 1-hr 25 min total exposure, the asteroid rotated approximately 1/4 of its rotation, which may confirm it's variation of 0.26 magnitude (based on data below). 


From Wikipedia:
2730 Barks, provisional designation =nowrap1981 QH, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter.  Barks orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.4–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 6 months (1,640 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.  In August 2012, a rotational [url=mw-redirect=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightcurve]lightcurve[/url] of Barks was obtained from photometric observations by astronomers at the Oakley Southern Sky Observatory ([url=mw-redirect=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAU_code#E09]E09[/url]) in Australia. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined [url=mw-redirect=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotation_period]rotation period[/url] of 6.084 hours with a brightness variation of 0.26 magnitude ([url=mw-redirect=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCDB_quality_code]U=3[/url]).=reference[8] This concurs with observations taken at the Palomar Transient Factory in January 2011, which gave a period of 6.087 hours and an amplitude of 0.28 magnitude ([url=mw-redirect=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCDB_quality_code]U=2[/url]). According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent [url=mw-redirect=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEOWISE]NEOWISE[/url] mission, Barks measures between 9.87 and 15.830 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an [url=mw-redirect=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_albedo]albedo[/url] between 0.162 and 0.415.=reference[3]=reference[4]=reference[5]=reference[6]The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 24.30 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.8.=reference[7]

From Space Reference.org:  
Barks is a large asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Barks as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.  Barks orbits the sun every 1,640 days (4.49 years), coming as close as 2.36 AU and reaching as far as 3.08 AU from the sun. Barks is about 15.8 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Philadelphia. The rotation of Barks has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 6.08 hours.  Barks's spectral type None (Tholen) / C (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain water, iron, nickel, cobalt, nitrogen, and ammonia.

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  • NGC 2903 Galaxy - with a photo bomb from a tumbling asteroid (2730 Barks), Jeff Culp
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    NGC 2903 Galaxy - with a photo bomb from a tumbling asteroid (2730 Barks), Jeff Culp
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Title: Updated to include asteroid annotation - 2730 Barks

Description: Using PI's asteroid data, I was able to identify the asteroid in the lower left area as 2730 Barks.

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NGC 2903 Galaxy - with a photo bomb from a tumbling asteroid (2730 Barks), Jeff Culp