NEKAAL Member Gary Hug sends this from his Sandlot Observatory:
I recently turned in my 3,000th NEO observation to the MPC. This puts Sandlot Observatory less than 1800 observations behind Farpoint’s total. I hope to surpass Farpoint’s total within the next couple of years..
Every January the Minor Planet Center starts designating the current year’s asteroid discoveries. In the past there has been a very non-official but fun competition to see who gets the year’s very 1st asteroid designation (this year it would be 2011 AA or K11A00A).
Well this year is no different as I missed the first slot, but it was close as I received a designation for the 2nd and 3rd asteroids of the year 2011 AB and 2011 AC.
Maybe next year…