Sharp Jet in Arp 192 Identified as Main-Belt Asteroid
Abstract
Arp 192 (NGC 3303) is a LINER-type active galaxy that is described in both the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies (1966) and the Uppsala Galaxy Catalogue (1973), respectively, as having "a spike” or a "sharp jet.” Recent images of Arp 192 made by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, however, do not show this feature. For over forty years, the spike, seen so conspicuously in the Arp Atlas image, has presumed to be an intrinsic feature of that peculiar galaxy. However, at the distance to the galaxy ( 90 Mpc), it would have to be many kiloparsecs in length, and it is highly unlikely that such a structure could dissipate in less than five decades. This paper presents findings that point to the "spike” as being the superposed track of minor planet (84447) 2002 TU 240, which was discovered by the Near Earth Asteroid Telescope on Haleakala on 6 October 2002. Prediscovery observations of this minor planet have been recognized in 2000 (Catalina and LINEAR), as well as a single ESO image of 1 March 1992. Digital archives of the observing logbooks kept at the Carnegie Observatories Headquarters in Pasadena, California, indicate the Atlas image was taken on 19 February 1964, making it the earliest known prediscovery image of this object. These results suggest that older photographic images and plates of almost any astronomical object might be "mined” for anomalous features, emulsion flaws, and artifacts that might be attributed to real phenomena.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #215
- Pub Date:
- January 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010AAS...21543213K