FMOS THAT MOVE TOO FAST

Some FMOs are simply moving too fast for Spacewatch to recover. Recovery is necessary as at least two nights of measurements are needed to produce a reliable orbit. Without a reliable orbit the object is useless for the purposes of asteroid tracking. For Spacewatch's equipment, the speed limit is 24 deg/day or 130 pixels of motion across the 0.9m's CCD. Below are examples of objects moving too fast to be reportable - the second image (the faster object) is most likely a satellite or earth-orbiting debris.

FMO barely too long for recovery

NON-REPORTABLE: Too long

CHARACTERISTICS:
At approximately 160 pixels long this trail is on the outside edge of what Spacewatch tries to recover. You may report these borderline cases. If the image is less than two hours old we might be able to get another position on the object that same night.

FMO too long for recovery

NON-REPORTABLE: Much too long

CHARACTERISTICS:
Don't bother - the vast majority of objects with this rate of motion are satellites.


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