Yes I did :) and if I could have remembered the name......... like I said thinking was not necessary all good The XF11 was the one you did most of your talking about as it was a NEO they also mentioned Shoemaker-Levy 9 but that was a comet, and after I took my nap I woke and with a clear mind said oh yeah IS it when you discover a COMET, those are the ones that are named after the finder :) then can I put a request for the name of FRED for an object? Are there other way out objects such as say a planet, that have the same system for identification? so when watching do you sometime find yourself doing something that comes in real handy when geocaching? looking for something that looks just a little out of place? infact are you planning any trips to the East Valley anytime soon? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Scotti" To: Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 1:35 AM Subject: Re: [Az-Geocaching] Mega Magnets > I've been on just enough different programs that show up on the History > Channel or Discover Channel that I can't keep track of which one it was.... > Anyway, I'm at the telescope right now looking for more of the little > beasties that might hit Earth someday, which might explain why I'm responding > to your message at 1:21 in the morning on a weeknight.... > There's actually a madness to our method in naming objects. They are named > in order of their receipt by the Minor Planet Center where we send all our > observations and new discoveries. One of the objects I'm "famous for" > discovering is 1997 XF11 which was erroniously predicted to have a high > chance of impact in 2028 a few months after I discovered it. 1997 is the > year I found it in and I found it in early December of that year(on the 6th > to be exact), in the "Xth" half month (skipping "I" and not getting to "Z" in > the 24 half months of the year). The first asteroid of 2003 was called 2003 > AA, the 2nd 2003 AB, and the 27th 2003 AA1. So 1997 XF11 was the 292nd > asteroid designated from the first half of December 1997. BTW, after an > object is observed well enough that its orbit is really secure, the object > will be numbered and at that point we can name the asteroid. For example, > 1997 XF11 was recently number (35396) but I haven't named it yet. (3594) is > named Scotti after me which one of my colleagues named for me about 15 years > ago.... > Well, you did sort of ask.... :-P > > Jim. > > On Fri, 31 Jan 2003, Regan Smith wrote: > > > I saw you on the History Channel the other day, they were talking about > > these weird space born objects that at time crash into the Earth, and that > > YOU spotted one that is still out in space then they gave a little story, > > now I was thinking, which can be dangerous, but I thought you should have > > called it Jim's or something but then again your middle name could be Alpha > > numeric.. :) > > Jim Scotti > Lunar & Planetary Laboratory > University of Arizona > Tucson, AZ 85721 USA http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/ > > ____________________________________________________________ > Az-Geocaching mailing list listserv@azgeocaching.com > To edit your setting, subscribe or unsubscribe visit: > http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching > > Arizona's Geocaching Resource > http://www.azgeocaching.com