Asteroid 118 Peitho

This image was both an accident and a surprise. I had no intention of imaging this asteroid and quite frankly had no idea it was even in the field of view! When processing the data for the double galaxy shot of M65 and M66 I noticed a strange artifact in the lower center of the image. Upon examining the raw frames, I noticed that one of those "stars" was not a star at all but an asteroid. Here you can see the 8 frame animation of Peitho as it moves among the stars during the two hour imaging session.

Date:	4/25/2009
Location:	Gastonia, NC
Optics:	Meade 10" LX200R, 2800mm f/11
Exposure:	each frame 15 min
Camera:	SBIG STL-11000M
Mount:	Losmandy G11 w/Ovision worm upgrade