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" <
jscotti@jupiter.lpl.Arizona.EDU>
To: <
listserv@azgeocaching.com>
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/
>
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