Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2012 QG42: the Virtual Telescope shows its amazing capabilities.
Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2012 QG42 (10 Sept. 2012)
These images, 600 seconds long exposure each, were taken remotely with the Planewave 17” (432/2939 mm) + Paramount ME robotic unit part of the Virtual Telescope Project. They show asteroid 2012 QG42 in two different ways: on the left, the telescope tracked the stars, so the fast moving asteroid left a trail; on the right, the telescope tracked the asteroid, so stars are trailing. The detector used is a SBIG STL-6303E, at 2×2 binning, providing a scale of 1.2″/pixel.
Be sure to click on the image to see it at full resolution!
These images show the amazing capability of the Virtual Telescope Paramount ME mount to track without guiding, even fast moving objects (2012 QG42 was moving at 22″/min).
Don’t miss our live observing session of this asteroid next 13 Sept.!
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