This is an image of the asteroid 2012 DA14 which is a half-football-pitch sized rock which passed by Earth last night at a distance of 27000kms or so.

I captured it is passing through the constellation of Ursa Major, near the junction of the pan and the handle.

The first exposure is 15 seconds, so 75 odd miles worth of travel and the second 260seconds, so 1300 odd miles. The trails are faint but it is roughly the equivalent of viewing Ayers rock from the Moon, so not easy to see.

The asteroid's path is circled:





100% crop, the faint path is in the centre of the image approaching the pan handle between stars Alioth (left) and Megrez (right):





A longer exposure, the box is the area of the 100% crop, the trail to the left is a satellite:





100% crop, trail easier to identify in centre image:





I could have gone for a closer view and a clearer trail but I preferred to image it against a recognisable piece of sky for a bit of context as at the end of the day it's just a line and some blobs. Enjoy, if this sort of thing is of interest.

[Dr Orloff]

The asteroid is within the outline circle in #1. #2 is a 100% crop of #2 and you can make out the trail of the asteroid in the centre, a faint line travelling between one and two o'clock. It is more obvious in the crop of the longer exposure as the asteroid is moving in a different direction to the stars (or us).

[baro-nite]

Nice work, thanks for sharing this!

[GeoJerry]

That was very cool, thanks for posting this. What telescope did you use?

[Dr Orloff]

Hi GeoJerry, no telescope just K5 and FA43.

[Brian Mould]

great shots...nice capture with the 43