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The image shows the motion of an asteroid, named Eunomia. Asteroids are rocky and much smaller than our planets. Most of them
can be found between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter, but some can get close to Earth.
This image was produced over two observing nights, 6 and 7 May 2008, with the 20 inch telescope using a green filter. All
of the images taken over three hours have been combined, and Eunomia can be seen as a bright trail, in the right and left
half of the image.
The asteroid created this trail as it was moving when compared to the background stars.
This image includes observations from the telescope over the two nights, a background picture that was taken from a catalogue
and a coordinate system, which can be used to determine where the asteroid is at different times.
Such data is useful in deriving the position of asteroids and their orbit in our solar system. This allows us to find them
again and even predict if we would get hit by them in the future.
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