Astrometric Summary
The table below shows the time spent observing minor planets for each month of the year. A night is counted as used when at least one triplet of images was acquired. In fact, no observations were taken in the months where rows are empty. Due to bad weather or other reasons. My house renovation was responsible for the big breaks in 2012/13 and 2014/2015.
Besides that I was trying to use every possible opportunity. I wasn't always successful at that. On some occasions, the full moon was used as an excuse. Or the sky was clearing up not until midnight and I was to lazy to leave the warm comfort of my bed. But these numbers show that it is possible to get 70+ nights a year for astronomical 'entertainment' even in our unfavorable central european location.
And it is evident that climate change is leading to warmer, sunnier and drier sommer months, especially in the years 2018,2019 and 2020.
A small software was used to read the fitsheader from every single image an write it to a database. SQL makes it possible to pull all kind of useful information from this archive. And because I still use my old SBIG ST8-XME in 2x2 binning mode a single FITS file is only 768 KB small. That makes the whole image archive only 200 GB in size for all 250.000 images taken from 2003 until now.
Year Month |
Session Duration [sec] |
Total exp. time [sec] |
Total No. of images taken [sec] |
Nights used |
Avg exp. time [s] |
Eff. [%] |
Positions sent to MPC |
2004-03 | 29033 | 18300 | 610 | 2 | 30.0 | 63.03 | 44 |
2004-04 | 48431 | 35130 | 1211 | 4 | 29.0 | 72,54 | 18 |
2003-09 | 29 | ||||||
2003-10 | 6 | ||||||
2003-12 | 34 | ||||||
2004-01 | 16 | ||||||
2004-02 | 11 | ||||||
2004-03 | 29033 | 18300 | 610 | 2 | 30,0 | 63,03 | 44 |
2004-04 | 48431 | 35130 | 1211 | 4 | 29,0 | 72,54 | 18 |
2004-05 | 30092 | 27000 | 220 | 7 | 122,7 | 89,72 | 2 |
2004-06 | |||||||
2004-07 | |||||||
2004-08 | |||||||
2004-09 | 46712 | 34500 | 1155 | 7 | 29,9 | 73,86 | 14 |
2004-10 | |||||||
2004-11 | |||||||
2004-12 | 19897 | 15560 | 72 | 2 | 216,1 | 78,20 | 27 |
2005-01 | 25397 | 19380 | 323 | 1 | 60,0 | 76,31 | 14 |
2005-02 | |||||||
2005-03 | |||||||
2005-04 | 44470 | 38467 | 620 | 7 | 62,0 | 86,50 | 27 |
2005-05 | 38435 | 25440 | 424 | 5 | 60,0 | 66,19 | 21 |
2005-06 | 22525 | 12140 | 202 | 4 | 60,1 | 53,90 | 14 |
2005-07 | 24168 | 15500 | 279 | 4 | 55,6 | 64,13 | 8 |
2005-08 | 11047 | 3810 | 231 | 3 | 16,5 | 34,49 | 8 |
2005-09 | |||||||
2005-10 | 79105 | 48224 | 1212 | 9 | 39,8 | 60,96 | 87 |
2005-11 | 29478 | 15730 | 354 | 2 | 44,4 | 53,36 | 19 |
2005-12 | 9907 | 4611 | 258 | 1 | 17,9 | 46,54 | 16 |
2006-01 | 59021 | 36122 | 1224 | 7 | 29,5 | 61,20 | 57 |
2006-02 | |||||||
2006-03 | |||||||
2006-04 | 16680 | 9840 | 306 | 3 | 32,2 | 58,99 | 10 |
2006-05 | 4588 | 1940 | 184 | 3 | 10,5 | 42,28 | 0 |
2006-06 | |||||||
2006-07 | 600 | 600 | 10 | 1 | 60,0 | 100,00 | 0 |
2006-08 | 18 | ||||||
2006-09 | 55 | ||||||
2006-10 | 71909 | 41457 | 1332 | 8 | 31,1 | 57,65 | 45 |
2006-11 | 19974 | 9180 | 291 | 2 | 31,5 | 45,96 | 15 |
2006-12 | 39554 | 21130 | 669 | 5 | 31,6 | 53,42 | 33 |
2007-01 | |||||||
2007-02 | 7164 | 3900 | 130 | 1 | 30,0 | 54,44 | 6 |
2007-03 | 23315 | 15200 | 660 | 4 | 23,0 | 65,19 | 25 |
2007-04 | 131057 | 82840 | 3195 | 15 | 25,9 | 63,21 | 186 |
2007-05 | 58001 | 37201 | 1722 | 7 | 21,6 | 64,14 | 57 |
2007-06 | 36275 | 16125 | 805 | 5 | 20,0 | 44,45 | 44 |
2007-07 | 54979 | 28530 | 1539 | 6 | 18,5 | 51,89 | 62 |
2007-08 | 49130 | 28540 | 1240 | 7 | 23,0 | 58,09 | 48 |
2007-09 | 62220 | 36685 | 1468 | 6 | 25,0 | 58,96 | 61 |
2007-10 | 58835 | 36937 | 2048 | 8 | 18,0 | 62,78 | 81 |
2007-11 | 61 | ||||||
2007-12 | 31 | ||||||
2008-01 | 29899 | 23820 | 811 | 4 | 29,4 | 79,67 | 28 |
2008-02 | 93589 | 61405 | 2775 | 8 | 22,1 | 65,61 | 100 |
2008-03 | 16896 | 12110 | 606 | 3 | 20,0 | 71,67 | 20 |
2008-04 | |||||||
2008-05 | 46147 | 51660 | 2343 | 9 | 22,0 | 111,95 | 45 |
2008-06 | 25631 | 17510 | 817 | 4 | 21,4 | 68,32 | 35 |
2008-07 | 41858 | 28680 | 1467 | 8 | 19,6 | 68,52 | 51 |
2008-08 | 38521 | 30330 | 1053 | 3 | 28,8 | 78,74 | 35 |
2008-09 | 18769 | 15300 | 510 | 3 | 30,0 | 81,52 | 16 |
2008-10 | 37836 | 28080 | 936 | 4 | 30,0 | 74,22 | 67 |
2008-11 | 30958 | 21575 | 855 | 4 | 25,2 | 69,69 | 18 |
2008-12 | 86978 | 52522 | 2004 | 6 | 26,2 | 60,39 | 99 |
2009-01 | 60099 | 43145 | 2048 | 7 | 21,1 | 71,79 | 80 |
2009-02 | 44364 | 30660 | 962 | 3 | 31,9 | 69,11 | 79 |
2009-03 | 72382 | 46720 | 2451 | 8 | 19,1 | 64,55 | 106 |
2009-04 | 60838 | 46490 | 1609 | 11 | 28,9 | 76,42 | 83 |
2009-05 | 20093 | 13065 | 538 | 3 | 24,3 | 65,02 | 15 |
2009-06 | 14695 | 8170 | 312 | 2 | 26,2 | 55,60 | 19 |
2009-07 | 13520 | 11520 | 384 | 4 | 30,0 | 85,21 | 19 |
2009-08 | 76441 | 54435 | 2017 | 6 | 27,0 | 71,21 | 142 |
2009-09 | 29569 | 23400 | 840 | 1 | 27,9 | 79,14 | 146 |
2009-10 | 63163 | 53020 | 1914 | 6 | 27,7 | 83,94 | 105 |
2009-11 | 26378 | 22120 | 792 | 3 | 27,9 | 83,86 | 30 |
2009-12 | 47440 | 39420 | 1314 | 5 | 30,0 | 83,09 | 9 |
2010-01 | |||||||
2010-02 | |||||||
2010-03 | 65149 | 49590 | 1761 | 6 | 28,2 | 76,12 | 77 |
2010-04 | 81596 | 60770 | 2191 | 7 | 27,7 | 74,48 | 99 |
2010-05 | 974 | 795 | 53 | 1 | 15,0 | 81,62 | 0 |
2010-06 | 20449 | 15300 | 600 | 4 | 25,5 | 74,82 | 12 |
2010-07 | 52474 | 40580 | 1386 | 8 | 29,3 | 77,33 | 51 |
2010-08 | 49280 | 37305 | 1362 | 4 | 27,4 | 75,70 | 53 |
2010-09 | 104308 | 71593 | 2749 | 7 | 26,0 | 68,64 | 96 |
2010-10 | 170443 | 135415 | 5352 | 10 | 25,3 | 79,45 | 177 |
2010-11 | 11144 | 16170 | 539 | 1 | 30,0 | 145,10 | 15 |
2010-12 | |||||||
2011-01 | 16485 | 14925 | 605 | 2 | 24,7 | 90,54 | 28 |
2011-02 | |||||||
2011-03 | 202490 | 159050 | 5753 | 12 | 27,6 | 78,55 | 203 |
2011-04 | 135358 | 103695 | 3577 | 7 | 29,0 | 76,61 | 130 |
2011-05 | 148248 | 122370 | 4230 | 9 | 28,9 | 82,54 | 138 |
2011-06 | 15447 | 11430 | 665 | 2 | 17,2 | 73,99 | 16 |
2011-07 | 47045 | 35730 | 1493 | 4 | 23,9 | 75,95 | 52 |
2011-08 | 43563 | 35880 | 824 | 3 | 43,5 | 82,36 | 34 |
2011-09 | 78551 | 68790 | 2778 | 5 | 24,8 | 87,57 | 121 |
2011-10 | 68966 | 33086 | 751 | 4 | 44,1 | 47,97 | 97 |
2011-11 | 22692 | 15300 | 510 | 2 | 30,0 | 67,42 | 87 |
2011-12 | 6913 | 4980 | 166 | 1 | 30,0 | 72,04 | 3 |
2012-01 | 14191 | 11700 | 390 | 1 | 30,0 | 82,45 | 15 |
2012-02 | 10842 | 9000 | 300 | 1 | 30,0 | 83,01 | 9 |
2012-03 | 150300 | 116789 | 4579 | 8 | 25,5 | 77,70 | 171 |
2012-04 | 47092 | 37710 | 1297 | 3 | 29,1 | 80,08 | 26 |
2012-05 | 59063 | 48600 | 1560 | 4 | 31,2 | 82,29 | 45 |
2012-06 | 29506 | 23670 | 870 | 2 | 27,2 | 80,22 | 33 |
2012-07 | 73660 | 59880 | 1996 | 6 | 30,0 | 81,29 | 72 |
2012-08 | 19306 | 15300 | 510 | 1 | 30,0 | 79,25 | 30 |
2012-09 2013-11 |
big break | ||||||
2013-12 | 39703 | 4310 | 251 | 3 | 17,2 | 10,86 | 3 |
2014-01 | 37244 | 34200 | 912 | 3 | 37,5 | 91,83 | 24 |
2014-02 | 9450 | 5400 | 270 | 1 | 20,0 | 57,14 | 6 |
2014-03 | 112777 | 81760 | 2923 | 6 | 28,0 | 72,50 | 107 |
2014-04 2015-08 |
big break | ||||||
2015-09 | 45141 | 33040 | 1180 | 6 | 28,0 | 73,19 | 30 |
2015-10 | 77565 | 52260 | 1640 | 7 | 31,9 | 67,38 | 51 |
2015-11 | 41216 | 24910 | 1085 | 3 | 23,0 | 60,44 | 22 |
2015-12 | 46642 | 37800 | 1260 | 3 | 30,0 | 81,04 | 63 |
2016-01 | |||||||
2016-02 | 22916 | 14100 | 630 | 2 | 22,4 | 61,53 | 3 |
2016-03 | 110738 | 85440 | 2848 | 6 | 30,0 | 77,16 | 126 |
2016-04 | 100580 | 77220 | 2724 | 5 | 28,3 | 76,77 | 78 |
2016-05 | 96764 | 75280 | 2618 | 7 | 28,8 | 77,80 | 108 |
2016-06 | |||||||
2016-07 | 19952 | 16200 | 540 | 1 | 30,0 | 81,19 | 12 |
2016-08 | 113016 | 88706 | 3099 | 7 | 28,6 | 78,49 | 117 |
2016-09 | 135876 | 89126 | 3681 | 9 | 24,2 | 65,59 | 154 |
2016-10 | |||||||
2016-11 | 17918 | 15300 | 510 | 1 | 30,0 | 85,39 | 15 |
2016-12 | 17720 | 12900 | 630 | 1 | 20,5 | 72,80 | 18 |
2017-01 | |||||||
2017-02 | |||||||
2017-03 | |||||||
2017-04 | 27172 | 22500 | 750 | 2 | 30,0 | 82,81 | 18 |
2017-05 | 39370 | 33840 | 1051 | 4 | 32,2 | 85,95 | 34 |
2017-06 | 72093 | 50230 | 2075 | 7 | 24,2 | 69,67 | 63 |
2017-07 | |||||||
2017-08 | 66188 | 50250 | 1920 | 3 | 26,2 | 75,92 | 53 |
2017-09 | 95535 | 85140 | 2983 | 6 | 28,5 | 89,12 | 121 |
2017-10 | 90256 | 63550 | 2999 | 6 | 21,2 | 70,41 | 141 |
2017-11 | 33651 | 24870 | 889 | 1 | 28,0 | 73,91 | 46 |
2017-12 | |||||||
2018-01 | 16324 | 9900 | 390 | 1 | 25,4 | 60,65 | 13 |
2018-02 | 81384 | 60440 | 2511 | 4 | 24,1 | 74,27 | 78 |
2018-03 | |||||||
2018-04 | 180213 | 133280 | 4726 | 8 | 28,2 | 73,96 | 197 |
2018-05 | 116915 | 80875 | 3170 | 9 | 25,5 | 69,17 | 121 |
2018-06 | 80030 | 58560 | 2510 | 6 | 23,3 | 73,17 | 75 |
2018-07 | 143274 | 101960 | 3999 | 11 | 25,5 | 71,16 | 130 |
2018-08 | 244791 | 185595 | 6797 | 13 | 27,3 | 75,82 | 246 |
2018-09 | 191831 | 154847 | 5606 | 12 | 27,6 | 80,72 | 248 |
2018-10 | 113871 | 75705 | 3551 | 9 | 21,3 | 66,48 | 152 |
2018-11 | 30444 | 20850 | 965 | 3 | 21,6 | 68,49 | 29 |
2018-12 | |||||||
2019-01 | 10820 | 6510 | 327 | 1 | 19,9 | 60,17 | 9 |
2019-02 | 66407 | 51000 | 2010 | 4 | 25,4 | 76,80 | 59 |
2019-03 | 74743 | 43940 | 1668 | 3 | 26,3 | 58,79 | 59 |
2019-04 | 51891 | 35232 | 2195 | 3 | 16,1 | 67,90 | 56 |
2019-05 | 137986 | 113320 | 4728 | 8 | 24,0 | 82,12 | 131 |
2019-06 | 152677 | 122920 | 5251 | 12 | 23,4 | 80,51 | 149 |
2019-07 | 140928 | 97350 | 3741 | 9 | 26,0 | 69,08 | 143 |
2019-08 | 233815 | 176740 | 6029 | 11 | 29,3 | 75,59 | 213 |
2019-09 | 135754 | 94100 | 3871 | 9 | 24,3 | 69,32 | 132 |
2019-10 | 68843 | 35560 | 1458 | 4 | 24,4 | 51,65 | 29 |
2019-11 | 18249 | 13800 | 570 | 2 | 24,2 | 75,62 | 26 |
2019-12 | 37623 | 24380 | 1077 | 2 | 22,6 | 64,80 | 41 |
2020-01 | 32614 | 20652 | 1367 | 2 | 15,1 | 63,32 | 30 |
2020-02 | 14602 | 9180 | 490 | 1 | 18,7 | 62,87 | 16 |
2020-03 | 100008 | 74640 | 2803 | 6 | 26,6 | 74,63 | 102 |
2020-04 | 299457 | 219644 | 8370 | 14 | 26,2 | 73,35 | 255 |
2020-05 | 208693 | 152200 | 6000 | 12 | 25,4 | 72,93 | 176 |
2020-06 | 79318 | 60670 | 2157 | 7 | 28,1 | 76,49 | 65 |
2020-07 | 151522 | 112960 | 4379 | 9 | 25,8 | 74,55 | 155 |
2020-08 | 110597 | 80970 | 3339 | 6 | 24,2 | 73,21 | 51 |
2020-09 | 304617 | 225415 | 10028 | 13 | 22,5 | 74,00 | 304 |
2020-10 | 90042 | 68000 | 2113 | 4 | 32,2 | 75,52 | 51 |
Total session duration in hrs. 2523.16 |
Total exposure time in hrs. 1836.14 |
Total number of images taken 249863 |
Total number of nights used 704 |
Total number of positions to MPC 9501 |