Lightcurve analysis for 5468 Hamatonbetsu: insights into merging collaborative data

The authors started work on 5468 Hamatonbetsu independently in early 2003 March. We formed a collaboration that eventually led to the determination of the synodic period and amplitude of the lightcurve for the asteroid, 42.02 ± 0.05h, 0.43 ± 0.03m. During the study we dealt with several issues commonly encountered during collaborations, such as merging data from multiple sessions (and observatories) for long (>24 hour) periods. These issues and how we resolved them are discussed.