Dwarf Planet candidate 2017 OF201 cruising through the sky from its earliest precovery images to today. Accurate GAIA stars included.
Uncompressed version: orbitsimulator.com/BA/2017_OF20...
Uncompressed version: orbitsimulator.com/BA/2017_OF20...
May 22, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Dwarf Planet candidate 2017 OF201 cruising through the sky from its earliest precovery images to today. Accurate GAIA stars included.
Uncompressed version: orbitsimulator.com/BA/2017_OF20...
Uncompressed version: orbitsimulator.com/BA/2017_OF20...
After a few more precovery observations, and follow-ups, it became clear this object is on a hyperbolic trajectory through the solar system. This means the eccentricity is > 1. Early data was suggesting it was as high as 10! This is by far the highest eccentricity of any object ever discovered.
July 2, 2025 at 3:27 PM
After a few more precovery observations, and follow-ups, it became clear this object is on a hyperbolic trajectory through the solar system. This means the eccentricity is > 1. Early data was suggesting it was as high as 10! This is by far the highest eccentricity of any object ever discovered.
Not long after discovery, a few follow-up observations were made, then a precovery from the ZTF survey came in that hinted at an interstellar object. "Precoveries" are observations dug out of archival images in which the object was not originally discovered, they do not count towards discovery.
July 2, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Not long after discovery, a few follow-up observations were made, then a precovery from the ZTF survey came in that hinted at an interstellar object. "Precoveries" are observations dug out of archival images in which the object was not originally discovered, they do not count towards discovery.
* unless they drop dramatically, which will likely be the sign of a successful precovery, where someone finds the asteroid in an old image and we can refine its orbit that way.
February 18, 2025 at 5:58 PM
* unless they drop dramatically, which will likely be the sign of a successful precovery, where someone finds the asteroid in an old image and we can refine its orbit that way.
#A11pl3Z is being actively observed by many different telescopes, as well as observers going back to older images for precovery: cgi.minorplanetcenter.net/cgi-bin/show....
It does look like this is interstellar object 3I.
cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/scout/#/obje...
It does look like this is interstellar object 3I.
cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/scout/#/obje...
cgi.minorplanetcenter.net
July 2, 2025 at 3:15 AM
#A11pl3Z is being actively observed by many different telescopes, as well as observers going back to older images for precovery: cgi.minorplanetcenter.net/cgi-bin/show....
It does look like this is interstellar object 3I.
cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/scout/#/obje...
It does look like this is interstellar object 3I.
cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/scout/#/obje...
So it validates the precovery? cool
March 6, 2026 at 5:58 AM
So it validates the precovery? cool
Million dollar idea: precovery hydration and nutrition
December 26, 2024 at 10:57 PM
Million dollar idea: precovery hydration and nutrition
Asteroid hunter Sam Deen reports precovery of the newly-discovered Jupiter-family comet P125uch in Nov 2024 DECam and Dec 2024 MLS images. The comet seemed inactive in those dates. It passed ~0.32 AU from Jupiter on 30 Oct 2022, which slightly lowered its perihelion from 3.66 to 3.45 AU. #CometWatch
January 9, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Asteroid hunter Sam Deen reports precovery of the newly-discovered Jupiter-family comet P125uch in Nov 2024 DECam and Dec 2024 MLS images. The comet seemed inactive in those dates. It passed ~0.32 AU from Jupiter on 30 Oct 2022, which slightly lowered its perihelion from 3.66 to 3.45 AU. #CometWatch
"Analysis based on 391 observations spanning 57.029 days
(2024-12-25 to 2025-02-20)"
No precovery; but new observations with MRO and other large telescopes with good astrometric accuracy.
(2024-12-25 to 2025-02-20)"
No precovery; but new observations with MRO and other large telescopes with good astrometric accuracy.
February 20, 2025 at 6:35 PM
"Analysis based on 391 observations spanning 57.029 days
(2024-12-25 to 2025-02-20)"
No precovery; but new observations with MRO and other large telescopes with good astrometric accuracy.
(2024-12-25 to 2025-02-20)"
No precovery; but new observations with MRO and other large telescopes with good astrometric accuracy.
Hi all! Besides making art, I also hunt for pre-discovery ("precovery") images of asteroids and comets in telescope data archives. Precovery images can reduce uncertainties in the orbits of asteroids, which helps astronomers locate and reobserve them in the future! (1/3)
December 18, 2024 at 7:03 AM
Hi all! Besides making art, I also hunt for pre-discovery ("precovery") images of asteroids and comets in telescope data archives. Precovery images can reduce uncertainties in the orbits of asteroids, which helps astronomers locate and reobserve them in the future! (1/3)
Buone notizie.
È venuta fuori un'immagine di precovery del telescopio Subaru che potrebbe portare la probabilità di impatto fino al 6%.
Fingers crossed, amici!
È venuta fuori un'immagine di precovery del telescopio Subaru che potrebbe portare la probabilità di impatto fino al 6%.
Fingers crossed, amici!
January 30, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Buone notizie.
È venuta fuori un'immagine di precovery del telescopio Subaru che potrebbe portare la probabilità di impatto fino al 6%.
Fingers crossed, amici!
È venuta fuori un'immagine di precovery del telescopio Subaru che potrebbe portare la probabilità di impatto fino al 6%.
Fingers crossed, amici!
2025 PN7, a tiny asteroid and Earth quasi-satellite, was discovered in 2025 after orbiting the Sun in step with Earth since the 1960s. Archival telescope images revealed it had been photographed years earlier without being recognized. ☄️
An asteroid spent roughly 60 years quietly shadowing Earth's journey around the Sun before astronomers noticed it in 2025. Orbital calculations show 2025 PN7 has been locked in step with our planet si...
2025 PN7 is a tiny Sun-orbiting quasi-satellite whose 60-year relationship with Earth comes from orbital modelling, while precovery images now trace its measured history to 2013.
spacedaily.com
August 22, 2026 at 6:58 PM
2025 PN7, a tiny asteroid and Earth quasi-satellite, was discovered in 2025 after orbiting the Sun in step with Earth since the 1960s. Archival telescope images revealed it had been photographed years earlier without being recognized. ☄️
First post. Moving from Twitter. Keeping active on LinkedIn and Instagram primarily. Exploring here on Bluesky. Seeking fellow #ocean, #water, #blue, #bluemind, #resilience and #precovery practitioners and change makers.
August 9, 2024 at 11:05 PM
First post. Moving from Twitter. Keeping active on LinkedIn and Instagram primarily. Exploring here on Bluesky. Seeking fellow #ocean, #water, #blue, #bluemind, #resilience and #precovery practitioners and change makers.
One minor critique, which is seen clearly in the NEOCP log. The first precovery observations that showed an interstellar orbit were submitted by Quanzhi Ye from the Zwicky Transient Facility (I41). Not S. Deen.
minorplanetcenter.net/cgi-bin/cgip...
minorplanetcenter.net/cgi-bin/cgip...
July 4, 2025 at 8:15 PM
One minor critique, which is seen clearly in the NEOCP log. The first precovery observations that showed an interstellar orbit were submitted by Quanzhi Ye from the Zwicky Transient Facility (I41). Not S. Deen.
minorplanetcenter.net/cgi-bin/cgip...
minorplanetcenter.net/cgi-bin/cgip...
Barring precovery observations people are actively searching for in their archives
February 4, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Barring precovery observations people are actively searching for in their archives
JWST confirms that #2024YR4 will miss the Moon in 2032.
And apparently also confirming that the potential precovery observation was indeed in the right spot.
science.nasa.gov/blogs/planet...
And apparently also confirming that the potential precovery observation was indeed in the right spot.
science.nasa.gov/blogs/planet...
New NASA Asteroid Observations Eliminate Chance of 2032 Lunar Impact - NASA Science
Using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observations collected on Feb. 18 and 26, experts from NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the
science.nasa.gov
March 5, 2026 at 5:12 PM
JWST confirms that #2024YR4 will miss the Moon in 2032.
And apparently also confirming that the potential precovery observation was indeed in the right spot.
science.nasa.gov/blogs/planet...
And apparently also confirming that the potential precovery observation was indeed in the right spot.
science.nasa.gov/blogs/planet...
4/
after a period of solar occultation.
ESA’s Planetary Defence Office, through the Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC), is monitoring 3I/ATLAS with telescopes in Hawaii, Chile & Australia.
Astronomers are also conducting precovery analyses to detect signs of the comet in earlier data.
after a period of solar occultation.
ESA’s Planetary Defence Office, through the Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC), is monitoring 3I/ATLAS with telescopes in Hawaii, Chile & Australia.
Astronomers are also conducting precovery analyses to detect signs of the comet in earlier data.
July 7, 2025 at 4:49 PM
4/
after a period of solar occultation.
ESA’s Planetary Defence Office, through the Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC), is monitoring 3I/ATLAS with telescopes in Hawaii, Chile & Australia.
Astronomers are also conducting precovery analyses to detect signs of the comet in earlier data.
after a period of solar occultation.
ESA’s Planetary Defence Office, through the Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC), is monitoring 3I/ATLAS with telescopes in Hawaii, Chile & Australia.
Astronomers are also conducting precovery analyses to detect signs of the comet in earlier data.
🧵(2/2) As always, here is are a starless version of the reprocessed data to enjoy the sheer beauty of the object.
#Astrophotography #Space #DeepSpace #Comet #Astronomy
#Astrophotography #Space #DeepSpace #Comet #Astronomy
![C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) was discovered as an asteroidal object with an apparent magnitude of about 21.5 by the Mount Lemmon Survey in images obtained on 3 January 2025 when it was 4.5 AU from the Sun. Consequently, precovery images by PanSTARRS dating from 12 November 2024 were found.[2] The object was found to have a very condensed coma, 2.2 arcseconds across. A short tail, two arcseconds long was found in images from 21 February 2025.[7] When first discovered the comet was expected to only brighten to apparent magnitude 10, but is now expected to brighten to apparent magnitude of about 3.5, which would make it about 400 times brighter than original expectations.[8]
After being hidden in the Sun's glare during June and July as it came to solar conjunction on 2 July 2025,[9] the comet was spotted again in the morning sky, significantly brighter than predicted. On 12 August the comet had a coma about one arcminute across and an apparent magnitude of 13.9. By August 19, when the comet was 1.7 AU from the Sun, its total magnitude (nucleus+coma) was estimated to be 11, but the comet did not show an obvious tail.[10] A short spiky tail was visible in images from 25 August.[11] The future brightness of the comet is unknown, but the comet is not expected to have been in an outburst when it exited solar conjunction.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:dksfsl7lygnhrmfxsxcznf3u/bafkreidg3sovgyyyi4hmx2xgbnh6dn6i7nibxzhfadm425k2ebcoxazuka)
October 24, 2025 at 12:46 AM
🧵(2/2) As always, here is are a starless version of the reprocessed data to enjoy the sheer beauty of the object.
#Astrophotography #Space #DeepSpace #Comet #Astronomy
#Astrophotography #Space #DeepSpace #Comet #Astronomy
Big news from our #AsteroidInstitute 🚀 The ADAM Platform is now online with a user portal to save history, work within your org and connect via API. Discover asteroids. Assess impact risk. Design deep space missions.
Try it now 👉 b612.ai/adam-platform/
Try it now 👉 b612.ai/adam-platform/
ADAM — Asteroid Discovery, Analysis & Mapping
Run precovery searches, compute impact probabilities, and plan transfer trajectories on ADAM’s cloud-native astrodynamics platform.
b612.ai
October 15, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Big news from our #AsteroidInstitute 🚀 The ADAM Platform is now online with a user portal to save history, work within your org and connect via API. Discover asteroids. Assess impact risk. Design deep space missions.
Try it now 👉 b612.ai/adam-platform/
Try it now 👉 b612.ai/adam-platform/
If the nominal trajectory is the correct trajectory (it probably isn't), then yes, the phase of Earth accurate. Maybe not "anyplace". The uncertainty region usually follows a "line of variations (LOV)". It's too early to speculate as to when and where. 2016 offers some good precovery opportunities.
January 28, 2025 at 3:20 AM
If the nominal trajectory is the correct trajectory (it probably isn't), then yes, the phase of Earth accurate. Maybe not "anyplace". The uncertainty region usually follows a "line of variations (LOV)". It's too early to speculate as to when and where. 2016 offers some good precovery opportunities.
La cometa interstellare 3I/Atlas aveva un'attività sostenuta già a grande distanza dal Sole: lo conferma l'analisi di quasi cento immagini realizzate dal Vera Rubin Observatory a partire da dieci giorni prima della scoperta vera e propria del piccolo corpo celeste.
3I/Atlas e la “precovery“ di Rubin
La cometa interstellare 3I/Atlas aveva un'attività sostenuta già a grande distanza dal Sole: lo conferma l'analisi di quasi cento immagini realizzate dal Vera Rubin Observatory a partire da dieci gior...
www.media.inaf.it
May 8, 2026 at 3:21 PM
La cometa interstellare 3I/Atlas aveva un'attività sostenuta già a grande distanza dal Sole: lo conferma l'analisi di quasi cento immagini realizzate dal Vera Rubin Observatory a partire da dieci giorni prima della scoperta vera e propria del piccolo corpo celeste.
Precovery observations of the new interstellar object A11pl3Z from I41 show that its eccentricity is a bit lower than originally thought, only 6 instead of 10. It's still by far the highest we have ever seen. @astrafoxen.bsky.social @asteroiddave.bsky.social
July 2, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Precovery observations of the new interstellar object A11pl3Z from I41 show that its eccentricity is a bit lower than originally thought, only 6 instead of 10. It's still by far the highest we have ever seen. @astrafoxen.bsky.social @asteroiddave.bsky.social
Measurements from here: b612.ai/platform/pre...
ADAM::Precovery Results
Results of a precovery run for a user-specified object
b612.ai
January 17, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Measurements from here: b612.ai/platform/pre...
Today on the #arXiv :
@afeinstein20.bsky.social et al. 2025, "Precovery Observations of #3I/ATLAS from TESS Suggests Possible Distant Activity" - arxiv.org/abs/2507.21967
Pushing the detection limit out to 6.4 au.
@afeinstein20.bsky.social et al. 2025, "Precovery Observations of #3I/ATLAS from TESS Suggests Possible Distant Activity" - arxiv.org/abs/2507.21967
Pushing the detection limit out to 6.4 au.
Precovery Observations of 3I/ATLAS from TESS Suggests Possible Distant Activity
3I/ATLAS is the third macroscopic interstellar object detected traversing the Solar System. Since its initial discovery on UT 01 July 2025, hundreds of hours on a range of observational facilities hav...
arxiv.org
July 30, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Today on the #arXiv :
@afeinstein20.bsky.social et al. 2025, "Precovery Observations of #3I/ATLAS from TESS Suggests Possible Distant Activity" - arxiv.org/abs/2507.21967
Pushing the detection limit out to 6.4 au.
@afeinstein20.bsky.social et al. 2025, "Precovery Observations of #3I/ATLAS from TESS Suggests Possible Distant Activity" - arxiv.org/abs/2507.21967
Pushing the detection limit out to 6.4 au.
The first precovery observations that indicated an interstellar origin came from Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), with data from June 28-29 that was reported very early on and got astronomers' attention. They deserve credit for that, too.
July 2, 2025 at 4:15 PM
The first precovery observations that indicated an interstellar origin came from Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), with data from June 28-29 that was reported very early on and got astronomers' attention. They deserve credit for that, too.