I Got A Candy Apple. I Got A Popcorn Ball. I Got A Rock.
Unlike Charlie Brown, students studying asteroids at the University of Hawai`i HI-STAR program weren't disappointed that they got a rock. They may have discovered a new asteroid using the Faulkes Telescope North. The students carefully examined several star filled images and found a tiny blip moving among the crowd. The tiny blip is an asteroid. No prior firm detection of this asteroid has been reported to the Minor Planet Center. The students gave the asteroid the temporary designation of SHHM01, but the Minor Planet Center gave it the official temporary designation of 2010 LX15.
The asteroid's orbit is still quite uncertain, and the students would appreciate other members of the LCOGT community to help constrain the orbit. Images should be taken with a "solar" filter and exposure time of 120 seconds. Two or preferably four images should be taken in each set one right after the other. The astrometric position obtained from the images can be reported to the Minor Planet Center, or observers may report images taken to Dr. J. D. Armstrong and he will send the image to the students for analysis.
Predicted positions for the next few weeks can be found at: