T6.4 Modern CCD Epoch of Moving Celestial Objects Observations: Algorithms and Software for Their Processing in Interactive Mode

Oleg P. Bykov (Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences)

CCD observations of the Small Solar System bodies are extremely progressing. Every month professional astronomers together with more and more extending amateurs in the World obtain several hundred thousand asteroid positions and send them to the Intrnational Minor Planet Center. The fact is that when one observes a celestial object his CCD matrix registrates as ``by product'' all moving celestial objects fixed during CCD exposition. Usually, a test of such observations and an identification of observed moving objects are not produced by observers themselves.

Now it is necessary to provide the astronomers, especially amateurs, by the package for express solution of the control and identification problems immediatly the observations were done. It is obvious that it would be better for the MPC to receive observations of asteroids with their identification. The algorytms and softwares were elaborated in Pulkovo observatory to solve the following problems:

• a test of any positional observations of celestial bodies, artificial and natural, by means of analysis of an orbital or approximational (O-C) residuals as for coordinates as for their first and second derivatives,
• a calculations of Apparent Motion Parameters (namely topocentric angular velocity and acceleration, positional angle and curvature of celestial body trajectory) by means of the spherical coordinate approximation,
• a preliminary orbit determination of a celestial body observed on a super short arc of its topocentric trajectory; we use the classical Laplace's Method and the new Apparent Motion Parameters Method created at Pulkovo observatory for the calculation of the circular and elliptic orbital elements,
• an identification of observed celestial body with the use of known orbital catalogues or with the help of own orbit determinations,
• an own ephemeris service for known and unknown celestial objects from the Artificial Earth Satellites up to the Kuiper Belt asteroids.

The algorithms, software and examples will be presented. Our large experience of their applications is succesful. The main results were published in Russian. The author hopes that these algorithms may be useful for near Earth space control and also for a search of the moving celestial objects with the help of the analysis of old and new CCD frames obtained by any telescope at amateur or professional astronomical observatories.