Goldstone Radar Observations Planning: Comet C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina)
2013 UQ4 was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on 2013 October 23 and it immediately generated considerable scientific interest due to its large size (absolute magnitude of 12.8) and very unusual retrograde, comet-like orbit (a = 60.4 AU, e = 0.98, i = 145.3 deg, q = 1.1 AU, Q = 119.7 AU, P = 469.0 years). This object did not show any cometary activity at the time of discovery, but images from May 7, 2014 from the iTelescope Observatory (station Q62) in Siding Spring, Australia, show a coma, and consequently 2013 UQ4 has been classified as a comet by the Minor Planet Center: C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina). Similar to other cometary nuclei, 2013 UQ4 appears to be optically dark (Binzel et al., 2013) with a ~4% optical albedo. Size estimates are all over the map from 7 - 23 km. Below we adopt D = 23.5 km from thermal modeling by A. K. Mainzer using WISE data obtained before this object showed cometary activity. The rotational period for 2013 UQ4 is not known at this time, but based on the current knowledge of the asteroids and comets in this size range, the period is likely longer than 6 hours. The closest approach to Earth will occur on July 10 at 0.314 AU (122 lunar distances), shortly after perihelion passage on July 5th. At this time, this comet will reach its peak brigntness at about 7th magnitude and will be visible in small binoculars in the constellation of Cepheus. Goldstone has seven tracks scheduled between July 6-15. Nine tracks are scheduled at Arecibo starting on June 25. 2013 UQ4 will be too far north for Arecibo to track between July 5 - 23. We expect that 2013 UQ4 will be a CW and perhaps ranging target at both Goldstone and Arecibo. In the best case scenario, Arecibo might be able to detect reflections from the cm-size particles in the coma in CW echo power spectra.
Orbital and Physical Characteristics Provisional Designation C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina) Discoverer Catalina Discovery date 2013 Oct 23 orbit type comet; originally classified as a near-Earth asteroid Close approach dist. 0.314 AU (122 lunar distances) Close approach date July 10 semimajor axis 60.37 AU eccentricity 0.982 inclination 145.3 deg perihelion distance 1.081 AU aphelion distance 119.960 AU Tisserand parameter Comet nuclear magnitude 15.5 diameter 23.5 km (A. K. Mainzer, pers. comm.) or 7-15 km (highly uncertain) optical albedo 4% (Binzel et al., 2013) rotation period unknown pole direction unknown lightcurve amplitude unknown spectral class unknown Last update: 2014 June 11
2013UQ4 http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K13/K13U54.html
Goldstone SNRs Assumptions: D = 23.5 km, P = 8 h, OC radar albedo = 0.05 w DOY start date window RA, dec dist runs SNR/day SNR/run 27 184 2014 Jul 3 07:10-18:51 359, +34 0.412 55 9 1 27 185 2014 Jul 4 06:46-18:46 356, +38 0.389 60 12 2 27 186 2014 Jul 5 06:17-18:40 353, +42 0.368 66 15 2 27 187 2014 Jul 6 05:43-18:31 348, +46 0.350 72 19 2 Scheduled 28 188 2014 Jul 7 05:03-18:19 343, +50 0.335 79 23 3 Scheduled 28 189 2014 Jul 8 04:14-18:02 335, +55 0.324 86 27 3 28 190 2014 Jul 9 03:16-17:37 325, +59 0.317 93 30 3 28 191 2014 Jul 10 02:07-16:59 313, +62 0.314 99 31 4 Scheduled 28 192 2014 Jul 11 00:53-16:07 299, +64 0.316 103 31 3 Scheduled 28 192-193 2014 Jul 11-12 23:43-15:02 284, +64 0.322 102 29 3 28 193-194 2014 Jul 12-13 22:47-13:55 270, +63 0.332 96 26 3 Scheduled 28 194-195 2014 Jul 13-14 22:06-12:53 258, +61 0.345 88 21 3 Scheduled 29 195-196 2014 Jul 14-15 21:39-11:59 249, +58 0.363 80 17 2 Scheduled 29 196-197 2014 Jul 15-16 21:20-11:15 242, +55 0.383 73 14 2 29 197-198 2014 Jul 16-17 21:06-10:39 237, +52 0.405 66 11 1 Goldstone SNRs assume Ptx = 430 kW Arecibo SNRs Assumptions: D = 23.5 km, P = 8 h, OC albedo = 0.05 (lower than for a near-Earth asteroid) Arecibo SNRs assume Ptx = 430 kW and Tsys = 25 K. w DOY start date window RA, dec dist runs SNR/day SNR/run 25 173 2014 Jun 22 09:58-12:29 12, +11 0.753 6 5 2 26 174 2014 Jun 23 09:50-12:25 12, +13 0.720 6 6 2 26 175 2014 Jun 24 09:42-12:20 11, +14 0.687 6 7 3 26 176 2014 Jun 25 09:34-12:15 10, +15 0.654 7 9 3 Scheduled 26 177 2014 Jun 26 09:26-12:09 9, +17 0.622 7 10 4 26 178 2014 Jun 27 09:18-12:02 9, +18 0.590 8 13 5 26 179 2014 Jun 28 09:10-11:55 8, +20 0.558 8 16 6 Scheduled 26 180 2014 Jun 29 09:02-11:45 6, +22 0.527 9 21 7 27 181 2014 Jun 30 08:55-11:34 5, +25 0.498 9 26 9 Scheduled 27 182 2014 Jul 1 08:48-11:19 4, +27 0.469 9 31 11 Scheduled 27 183 2014 Jul 2 08:44-11:00 2, +30 0.442 9 38 13 Scheduled 27 184 2014 Jul 3 08:44-10:34 359, +34 0.416 8 41 16 Scheduled 27 185 2014 Jul 4 08:58-09:50 357, +37 0.392 4 27 14 Scheduled ...too far north for Arecibo from July 5-22... 30 204 2014 Jul 23 22:25-23:37 220, +36 0.603 3 6 3 30 205 2014 Jul 24 22:04-23:41 219, +35 0.635 4 6 3 30 206 2014 Jul 25 21:48-23:41 218, +33 0.668 5 6 3 Scheduled 30 207 2014 Jul 26 21:35-23:39 217, +32 0.701 5 6 3 30 208 2014 Jul 27 21:24-23:36 216, +31 0.734 5 5 2
Track Assignments
DAY BOA BOT EOT EOA 187 0725 0855 1320 1350 DSS-14 GSSR AST 2013 UQ4 188 1155 1325 1530 1600 DSS-14 GSSR AST 2013 UQ4 191 1145 1315 1530 1600 DSS-14 GSSR AST 2013 UQ4 192 1115 1245 1530 1600 DSS-14 GSSR AST 2013 UQ4 193 2125 2255 0300 0330 DSS-14 GSSR AST 2013 UQ4 194 2250 0020 0200 0230 DSS-14 GSSR AST 2013 UQ4 196 0400 0530 0700 0730 DSS-14 GSSR AST 2013 UQ4 Goldstone tracks: UT UT PDT Duration Round-trip DOY Date TX Window TX Window hh:mm time (sec) 187 Jul 06 0755-1320 0055-0620 Jul 06 05:25 350 188 Jul 07 1255-1530 0555-0830 Jul 07 02:35 334 191 Jul 10 1215-1530 0515-0830 Jul 10 03:15 314 192 Jul 11 1145-1530 0445-0830 Jul 11 03:45 316 193 Jul 12/13 2155-0300 1455-2000 Jul 12 05:05 328 194 Jul 13/14 2320-0200 1620-1900 Jul 13 02:40 341 196 Jul 15 0430-0700 2130-0000 Jul 14 02:30 363 Arecibo tracks: UT UT AST PDT Duration Round-trip Date TX Window TX Window TX Window hh:mm time (sec) Jun 25 0934-1215 0534-0815 0234-0515 Jun 25 02:41 653 Jun 28 0910-1155 0510-0755 0210-0455 Jun 28 02:45 558 Jun 30 0855-1134 0455-0734 0155-0434 Jun 30 02:39 497 Jul 1 0848-1119 0448-0719 0148-0419 Jul 01 02:31 468 Jul 2 0844-1100 0444-0700 0144-0400 Jul 02 02:16 441 Jul 3 0844-1034 0444-0634 0144-0334 Jul 03 01:50 416 requested Jul 4 0858-0950 0458-0550 0158-0250 Jul 04 00:52 392 requested Jul 23 2225-2337 1825-1937 1525-1637 Jul 23 01:12 602 requested Jul 25 2148-2341 1748-1941 1448-1641 Jul 25 01:53 665 requested
Uncertainties
JPL/Horizons solution 43, #obs: 181 (2013-2014) Date__(UT)__HR:MN R.A._(a-appar)_DEC. delta OS_3sigma DOP_S_3sig DOP_X_3sig RT_delay_3sig 2014-Jun-24 00:00 11.19578 13.23213 0.70211721192575 4.031 2.36 8.57 0.034035 2014-Jun-25 00:00 10.54630 14.57456 0.66898987421860 4.531 2.99 10.86 0.034014 2014-Jun-26 00:00 9.81519 16.05211 0.63619423723231 5.110 4.49 16.31 0.033928 2014-Jun-27 00:00 8.98709 17.68427 0.60381925555121 5.783 6.67 24.25 0.033765 2014-Jun-28 00:00 8.04259 19.49354 0.57197110703631 6.567 9.53 34.62 0.033504 2014-Jun-29 00:00 6.95688 21.50572 0.54077730147573 7.482 13.14 47.76 0.033124 2014-Jun-30 00:00 5.69772 23.74991 0.51039174010361 8.551 17.68 64.26 0.032596 2014-Jul-01 00:00 4.22264 26.25806 0.48100080416703 9.800 23.35 84.86 0.031884 2014-Jul-02 00:00 2.47476 29.06367 0.45283039538910 11.254 30.39 110.46 0.030944 2014-Jul-03 00:00 0.37653 32.19894 0.42615351590780 12.933 39.07 142.00 0.029722 2014-Jul-04 00:00 357.82033 35.68922 0.40129734315068 14.847 49.60 180.29 0.028156 2014-Jul-05 00:00 354.65439 39.54337 0.37864770411723 16.983 62.08 225.63 0.026179 2014-Jul-06 00:00 350.66187 43.73781 0.35864737346727 19.288 76.30 277.32 0.023727 2014-Jul-07 00:00 345.53260 48.19260 0.34178308518892 21.657 91.61 332.94 0.020753 2014-Jul-08 00:00 338.83401 52.73863 0.32855571639570 23.921 106.72 387.86 0.017254 2014-Jul-09 00:00 330.01640 57.08084 0.31943081761388 25.860 119.80 435.41 0.013300 2014-Jul-10 00:00 318.56061 60.77740 0.31477426009801 27.250 128.85 468.31 0.009099 2014-Jul-11 00:00 304.44750 63.29108 0.31478863209112 27.922 132.36 481.05 0.005255 2014-Jul-12 00:00 288.81421 64.19105 0.31947297190657 27.827 129.91 472.14 0.004164 2014-Jul-13 00:00 273.77974 63.43329 0.32862304363875 27.042 122.32 444.57 0.007076 2014-Jul-14 00:00 261.04853 61.39991 0.34187203074774 25.740 111.25 404.33 0.010841 2014-Jul-15 00:00 251.06976 58.62653 0.35875428316342 24.126 98.50 358.00 0.014436 2014-Jul-16 00:00 243.47249 55.55386 0.37876955143220 22.380 85.57 310.99 0.017655 2014-Jul-17 00:00 237.68737 52.46257 0.40143220970772 20.641 73.42 266.83 0.020458 2014-Jul-18 00:00 233.22246 49.50532 0.42630082682669 18.995 62.55 227.32 0.022865 2014-Jul-19 00:00 229.71426 46.75318 0.45299097783940 17.488 53.11 193.04 0.024918 2014-Jul-20 00:00 226.90693 44.23036 0.48117684672706 16.137 45.08 163.83 0.026663 2014-Jul-21 00:00 224.62183 41.93605 0.51058671150043 14.941 38.30 139.18 0.028146 2014-Jul-22 00:00 222.73314 39.85709 0.54099586306447 13.891 32.60 118.47 0.029407 2014-Jul-23 00:00 221.15089 37.97506 0.57221903446084 12.973 27.80 101.05 0.030482 2014-Jul-24 00:00 219.80961 36.27013 0.60410337339978 12.171 23.76 86.37 0.031400 2014-Jul-25 00:00 218.66080 34.72299 0.63652236467087 11.471 20.34 73.94 0.032185 2014-Jul-26 00:00 217.66792 33.31573 0.66937077743038 10.859 17.43 63.35 0.032857 ********************************************************************************************** Apparent Magnitudes, Solar Elongations, Lunar Elongations, and Lunar Illumination: JPL/Horizons solution 43 Date__(UT)__HR:MN R.A._(a-appar)_DEC. T-mag N-mag delta S-O-T /r T-O-M/Illu% 2014-Jun-12 00:00 15.50213 3.35739 12.12 17.63 1.10638366602970 65.4379 /L 130.6/ 98.0 2014-Jun-13 00:00 15.29127 3.90486 12.04 17.58 1.07296005783813 66.3638 /L 116.1/ 99.8 2014-Jun-14 00:00 15.06260 4.48584 11.95 17.53 1.03941023403769 67.2958 /L 101.4/ 98.9 2014-Jun-15 00:00 14.81430 5.10385 11.86 17.47 1.00575186214992 68.2344 /L 86.6/ 95.0 2014-Jun-16 00:00 14.54425 5.76291 11.77 17.42 0.97200445242502 69.1799 /L 71.7/ 88.6 2014-Jun-17 00:00 14.25002 6.46759 11.67 17.36 0.93818970877158 70.1330 /L 56.9/ 80.0 2014-Jun-18 00:00 13.92874 7.22312 11.57 17.30 0.90433194377015 71.0942 /L 42.3/ 69.9 2014-Jun-19 00:00 13.57708 8.03547 11.48 17.24 0.87045856539681 72.0641 /L 28.0/ 58.9 2014-Jun-20 00:00 13.19111 8.91154 11.37 17.17 0.83660065247764 73.0435 /L 14.1/ 47.6 2014-Jun-21 00:00 12.76616 9.85929 11.27 17.10 0.80279364680354 74.0331 /L 3.085/ 36.8 2014-Jun-22 00:00 12.29667 10.88791 11.16 17.03 0.76907820030886 75.0340 /L 13.8/ 26.8 2014-Jun-23 00:00 11.77591 12.00805 11.05 16.95 0.73550122590384 76.0471 /L 26.9/ 18.0 2014-Jun-24 00:00 11.19578 13.23213 10.94 16.87 0.70211721192576 77.0736 /L 39.9/ 10.8 2014-Jun-25 00:00 10.54630 14.57456 10.82 16.78 0.66898987421860 78.1145 /L 52.7/ 5.4 2014-Jun-26 00:00 9.81519 16.05211 10.71 16.69 0.63619423723231 79.1712 /L 65.2/ 1.9 2014-Jun-27 00:00 8.98709 17.68427 10.58 16.59 0.60381925555121 80.2449 /L 77.6/ 0.3 2014-Jun-28 00:00 8.04259 19.49354 10.46 16.49 0.57197110703631 81.3367 /L 89.7/ 0.6 2014-Jun-29 00:00 6.95688 21.50572 10.33 16.39 0.54077730147573 82.4473 /L 101.5/ 2.8 2014-Jun-30 00:00 5.69772 23.74991 10.20 16.27 0.51039174010361 83.5769 /L 112.9/ 6.6 2014-Jul-01 00:00 4.22264 26.25806 10.06 16.16 0.48100080416703 84.7244 /L 123.7/ 12.1 2014-Jul-02 00:00 2.47476 29.06367 9.93 16.04 0.45283039538910 85.8871 /L 133.3/ 18.8 2014-Jul-03 00:00 0.37653 32.19894 9.79 15.91 0.42615351590780 87.0588 /L 140.7/ 26.8 2014-Jul-04 00:00 357.82033 35.68922 9.66 15.79 0.40129734315068 88.2290 /L 144.5/ 35.6 2014-Jul-05 00:00 354.65439 39.54337 9.53 15.66 0.37864770411723 89.3804 /L 143.3/ 45.2 2014-Jul-06 00:00 350.66187 43.73781 9.41 15.55 0.35864737346727 90.4866 /L 137.1/ 55.2 2014-Jul-07 00:00 345.53260 48.19260 9.31 15.44 0.34178308518892 91.5112 /L 127.8/ 65.2 2014-Jul-08 00:00 338.83401 52.73863 9.22 15.35 0.32855571639570 92.4076 /L 116.9/ 74.9 2014-Jul-09 00:00 330.01640 57.08084 9.16 15.29 0.31943081761388 93.1236 /L 105.7/ 83.8 2014-Jul-10 00:00 318.56061 60.77740 9.14 15.25 0.31477426009801 93.6105 /L 95.3/ 91.2 2014-Jul-11 00:00 304.44750 63.29108 9.14 15.25 0.31478863209112 93.8343 /L 87.1/ 96.6 2014-Jul-12 00:00 288.81421 64.19105 9.18 15.27 0.31947297190657 93.7847 /T 82.2/ 99.5 2014-Jul-13 00:00 273.77974 63.43329 9.25 15.33 0.32862304363875 93.4781 /T 81.5/ 99.4 2014-Jul-14 00:00 261.04853 61.39991 9.34 15.42 0.34187203074774 92.9507 /T 84.7/ 96.3 2014-Jul-15 00:00 251.06976 58.62653 9.45 15.52 0.35875428316342 92.2488 /T 90.8/ 90.5 2014-Jul-16 00:00 243.47249 55.55386 9.58 15.64 0.37876955143220 91.4187 /T 98.5/ 82.3 2014-Jul-17 00:00 237.68737 52.46257 9.72 15.76 0.40143220970772 90.5005 /T 106.4/ 72.6 2014-Jul-18 00:00 233.22246 49.50532 9.86 15.88 0.42630082682669 89.5257 /T 113.5/ 62.0 2014-Jul-19 00:00 229.71426 46.75318 10.00 16.01 0.45299097783940 88.5175 /T 118.9/ 51.1 2014-Jul-20 00:00 226.90693 44.23036 10.15 16.13 0.48117684672706 87.4920 /T 121.9/ 40.5 2014-Jul-21 00:00 224.62183 41.93605 10.29 16.25 0.51058671150043 86.4600 /T 122.1/ 30.5 2014-Jul-22 00:00 222.73314 39.85709 10.43 16.36 0.54099586306447 85.4286 /T 119.5/ 21.6 2014-Jul-23 00:00 221.15089 37.97506 10.57 16.47 0.57221903446084 84.4021 /T 114.7/ 14.1 2014-Jul-24 00:00 219.80961 36.27013 10.70 16.58 0.60410337339978 83.3830 /T 108.2/ 8.0 2014-Jul-25 00:00 218.66080 34.72299 10.83 16.68 0.63652236467087 82.3728 /T 100.6/ 3.6 2014-Jul-26 00:00 217.66792 33.31573 10.96 16.78 0.66937077743038 81.3722 /T 92.2/ 1.0 T-mag N-mag = Comet's approximate apparent visual total magnitude ("T-mag") and nuclear magnitude ("N-mag") by following standard IAU definitions: T-mag = M1 + 5*log10(delta) + k1*log10(r) N-mag = M2 + 5*log10(delta) + k2*log10(r) + phcof*beta Units: MAGNITUDES
Setups
CW setup: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TX polarization RCP RCV polarization LCP & RCP Frequency hops: no hopping Bandwidth: 8000 Hz TXoffset +500 Hz Sampling interval: 1250 x 0.1 usec FFT for PFS files: 4000 for 2 Hz resolution Ranging setups: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10-usec baud 10 usec code 127 PRP 1270 usec FFT 128 ncoh 1 bandwidth 787 Hz resolution 12.3 Hz TXOFF +100Hz (echo in bin 32 + 8 = 40) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11-usec baud 11 usec code 127 PRP 1397 usec FFT 64 ncoh 1 bandwidth 716 Hz resolution 11.2 Hz TXOFF +100 Hz (echo in bin 32 + 9= 41) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1-usec baud 1 usec code 255 FFT 512 ncoh 16 bandwidth 245 Hz resolution 0.48 Hz TXOFF +50 Hz ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Instructions
NOTE: Data should be moved to the appropriate subdirectories in aardvark:/export/data0/2013uq4/raw/
2013UQ4 POINTING:
OSOD and predicts will be on aardvark: ...not available yet... POINTING TX Offsets Date (UTC) DOY hhmmss RA Dec Macro LHA Dec RTT OSOD ... to be added ... Transmit offsets are given in millidegrees.
PRDX.OUT.14f-14-14.?? TRANSMITTER: STATION #14, RECEIVER: STATION #14 RECEIVER U.T. RANGE DOPPLER LHA DEC RA EL
2013UQ4 GOLDSTONE MASTERLOG
============================================================================== Receive TX Setup hops dwell code ncoh FFT runs start -stop OSOD offset Poln Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Lance A. M. Benner | PHONE: (818) 354-7412 Mail Stop 183-601 | FAX: (818) 393-4445 Jet Propulsion Laboratory | email: lance.benner@jpl.nasa.gov California Institute of Technology | Plan: To live long and prosper Pasadena, CA 91109-8099 http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/2014HQ124/2014HQ124_planning.html
Asteroid Radar Astronomy