Observational Data and Orbits of the Asteroids Discovered at the Molėtai Observatory in 2005–2007

Abstract

AbstractThe paper presents statistics of the asteroids observed and discovered at the Molėtai Observatory, Lithuania, in 2005–2007 within the project for astrometric observations of the near-Earth objects (NEOs), the main belt asteroids and comets. CCD observations of asteroids were obtained with the 35/51 cm Maksutov-type meniscus telescope and the 1.65 m Ritchey-Chretien reflector. In the Minor Planet Circulars and the Minor Planet Electronic Circulars (2005–2007) we published 17 003 astrometric positions of 2980 asteroids. Among them 112 were new normal asteroids and one NEO (2006 SF77) discovered at Molėtai; a few NEOs were found by our team independently. For the asteroids discovered at Molėtai their precise orbits were calculated. Because of short observational arc, a few asteroids have low-precision orbits and some asteroids have been lost. For three of them with low-precision orbital elements (NEO 2006 SF77 and two Mars crossers – 2006 SN368 and 2007 VM315), we present their ephemerides for 2016–2018.