What's going on with NEA (66391) 1999 KW4?
Status Updates
Jun 27: new radar observation results
May 27: 1999 KW4 was observed from the Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT). The DCT obtained visible (preliminary reduction shown) and NIR spectra. IRTF also observed 1999 KW4 from 0.7-2.5 microns using the SpeX instrument.
Lance Benner reports radar echoes were received from 1999 KW4 using bi-static observations transmitting from the Goldstone 34 meter DSS-13 antenna and receiving at the 100 meter Green Bank Telescope.
May 26: A team from Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville observed 1999 KW4 from IRTF obtaining 0.7-2.5 micron reflectance spectra. Further rotation light curve observations, a 3hr span, were acquired from LCO's Australia site.
May 25: Observation updates indicate that ESO VTL successfully observed the 1999 KW4 system with the SPHERE-AO instrument, obtaining individual exposures through standard color filters. A team from Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) reports low-resolution spectroscopic observations with the FLOYDS instrument on LCO's 2-m Faulkes Telescope South (E10) on 2019-05-25 09:10 UTC, some 14 hours before close approach. Preliminary 400-1000nm spectra appears to confirm 1999 KW4 is S-type. Also, LCO obtained a first pre-approach light curve from it's 1-m at Siding Spring Observatory, Australia (Q64) covering 2019-05-25 08:20-09:15.
April 29-May 14: NEOSSat recovered and observed 1999 KW4, through solar elongation angles of 42-53 degrees. Observations are scheduled to continue through May 29.
May 09: Recovered! Hi Rob and all, as discussed today in the telecon, I'm attaching an animation of the two recovery frames we got for 1999 KW4, which to my knowledge is the first ground-based observation of the object during the current apparition. Observation details.
2019 Mar 04: Waiting for southern observers to recover.