Search for Asteroid 433 Eros

Thanks to an invitation from a friend, I got some news about an upcoming opposition of a near Earth asteroid called 433 Eros. Upon consulting my favorite desktop planetarium app called Cartes du Ciel, I was determined to try and capture the asteroid on the 30th of January 2012. After a few shots with my trusty CHDK powered Canon Powershot SX120IS on a motorized EQ-1 mount, I got this image.

I expected it to be somewhere near the red mark on the image, unfortunately, it's nowhere to be found. I suspected some inaccuracy in the software plot.

While imaging, I tried to scan the sky with my binoculars and I saw some new targets for my AP hunger. 2 clusters in constellation Puppis, one is marked by a red star at the middle and the other is just a blurry patch to my eye. Here's the image.

After processing the image, I checked my planetarium app and found their names: NGC2477 and NGC2451. NGC2477 being the smaller of the two.


The next day, after getting some advise from other people, I tried to recheck my images and locate the actual location. I managed to see it on my other shots.

Here is the Cartes du Ciel plot with square mark that I draw to indicate the actual position.

I wanted to capture it again to show its' relative motion, but the sky did not cooperate this time.

Result: Asteroid found!