Distribution of Asteroids in the Sky

• Whereas the Lookup Individual Asteroid Screen focuses on one specific asteroid, this screen portrays broad distribution information about many asteroids. It is invoked from the Main Menu Screen.

• By selecting a range of asteroids further limited by a magnitude range, the user can see, on the left lower, the distribution of those asteroids by equatorial coordinate, or horizon coordinate local to a site selected from the Location Screen. The resultant distribution output is useful to assess how many asteroids are visible in what sections of the sky on a given date/time.

• On the right of the screen, a user can specify a target area centered on an equatorial coordinate and radius in arc degrees and determine which of the asteroids in the range can be found within that area at the specified date/time. This is useful for determining the names of asteroids caught on photographs or CCD images. An example, once again based on 74 Galatea, is shown, for May 12 at 5hr UT for a 10 degree area of the sky. Out of the first 100 numbered asteroids, two additional asteroids were found near Galatea, namely, Fides and Urania, as shown on the SkyPlot accessible from the Distribution screen.

• Another function available on the Distribution of Asteroids in the Sky Screen is to select and mark asteroids that are above some specified local horizon altitude on a given date and then use that marked list in the Search for Occultations Screen. This restricts the Search process to those asteroids known to be visible from a site at a given date/time within the month range of the search.