Discovery image of Elko #1
Elko is the tiny dot located immediately to the right of the bright star in the upper left corner.
 

Discovery image of Elko #2
Taken a few minutes after image 1, note that Elko has moved slightly to the lower right
(not to be confused with the brighter moving object nearer the center which is
a previously discovered asteroid).
 

* * *

My then wife, Dr. Holly Phaneuf, and I made the discovery in my home observatory the night of 2 November 1999
(we gave it the temporary name of UOFU03, for University of Utah object #3).

The discovery was onfirmed by the IAU's Minor Planet Center on 4 November 1999.
It was then assigned the provisional designation J99V00S.

The process for getting an asteroid named is a long one that can take years so we did
not spend a lot of time thinking about names.  However, we jokingly discussed
following the lead of a fellow amateur astronomer who named an asteroid for his
cat (Spoc) and naming it for one of Dr. Holly's cats, Comet.

In 2006 J99V00S was given the number 80,180 making it the 80,180th numbered asteroid.
Shortly thereafter I submitted Holly's name but the IAU declined the name noting
that asteroids can not be named for their discoverers.

I next submitted Elko (my hometown in Nevada) and that name was
officially accepted by the IAU in August 2006.

Elko's orbit remains outside the orbit of Mars, not getting any closer to
the Sun than 287,010,000 km or further from it than 391,575,000 km.
It never comes close to Earth.

Elko takes about 41 months to orbit the Sun and is estimated to be 1 to 3 km in diameter.

On 13 November 1999 I made a second find, this one by myself.
In 2006 it was numbered 75,072 and Holly named it for her new husband.
   
Discovery images of the second find (75072).  Can you find it?
 

Questions?  Please email Patrick Wiggins at paw@wirelessbeehive.com.

Please note:  Thousands of asteroids are discovered each year so two discoveries really do not
amount to much in the cosmic scheme of things.  But it is fun to discover and see
something that no other human has ever seen before.

Salt Lake Tribune story on the discovery and naming.

Deseret News story on the discovery and naming.

Questions or comments about this page? Patrick Wiggins
Patrick's Internet access provided by Wireless Beehive as a public service
to the Solar System Ambassador program.