Path of asteroid 28-Bellona over 11 days:

Path of asteroid 28-Bellona over 11 days: On 7 of the last 11 nights, I imaged half a dozen two minute mono images of asteroid 28-Bellona as it makes its way amongst the stars of Cancer in a parabolic path on its way to transit Praesepe M44 later this month. Each 12 minute exposure recorded the asteroid as a dim smudge of grey light amongst the brighter background of stars. The images were stacked into single mono images which were then collated into 7 separate mono images and compiled into a 7 pane mosaic, annotated to show the asteroids position for the 7 nights that data was acquired. Asteroid 28-Bellona is a 110Km diameter rocky asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter taking around 4.63 years to make one orbit and is around magnitude 11. Data was acquired with an ASI 533MM Pro camera attached to a Sky-Watcher 80mm Esprit triplet refractor, fitted with a focal reducer. The scope was mounted on an iOptron CEM26 mount guided by a 30mm guide scope and ASI 462MC camera.

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Chris Bowden