La Cañada Observatory, is an initiative by Juan Lacruz, the observatory started astrometric operations in the summer of 2002, it is registered as station J87 in the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union.

The Observatory also participates in the studies on minor bodies promoted by the Group on Meteorites, Minor Bodies, and Planetary Sciences of the Institute of Space Sciences (CSIC-IEEC).



Tuesday, December 8, 2015

C/2013 US10 Catalina

The comet C/2013 US10 Catalina observed from La Cañada on Dec the 6th 2015 early morning, the straight plasma tail spans some 3.5 degrees and shows a disconnection event better seen in the black and white reversed image.

C/2013 US10 Catalina, 6-dec-2015 J87 La Cañada
C/2013 US10 Catalina, 6-dec-2015 J87 La Cañada

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Observaciones 13-nov-2015 La Cañada

Confirmación de tres objetos publicado en la página de confirmación de NEOs NEOCP

2015 VG106 Main Belt
2015 VT105 Main Belt

2015 VA196 NEO Apollo

Imágenes de confirmación del nuevo asteroide NEO apollo 2015 VA196, observatorio de La Cañada 13-nov-2015 a 1.8232459 e 0.5238127 Incl. 3.74823

MPEC K15VG0


2015 VA196 13-nov-2015 J87 La Cañada


La Galaxia de Andrómeda, suma de 8 imágenes de 2 minutos
Algunas imágenes de Táuridas, son fragmentos del cometa 2P Encke




Descubrimiento de un nuevo objeto del cinturón principal, de momento no tiene órbita publicada, las efemérides están basadas en una aproximación de Väisälä, el asteroide ronda actualmente la magnitud 21V.

2015 VY144

No published elements available. Ephemeris is based on Generalized Väisälä elements based on observations 2015 Nov. 13-14.

Further observations? Useful for numbering.


     K15VE4Y       [H=]
Date       UT      R.A. (J2000) Decl.    El.    V      Sky Motion
            h m s                                      "/min    P.A.
2015 11 21 000000 03 04 52.6 +16 51 35  170.4  20.9    0.60    247.9
2015 11 22 000000 03 03 57.2 +16 46 11  169.1  20.9    0.59    247.8
2015 11 23 000000 03 03 02.3 +16 40 50  167.9  20.9    0.59    247.7
2015 11 24 000000 03 02 08.1 +16 35 30  166.7  21.0    0.58    247.6
2015 11 25 000000 03 01 14.6 +16 30 13  165.4  21.0    0.57    247.6



Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Crescent Moon and Saturn, 25-Jul-2015

The crescent Moon,  bottom right Copernicus 93 km diameter, middle right Eratosthenes 59 km diameter.


Saturn, 4000 mm focal length


Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Three new names

(325366) Asturias = 2008 QN16

The Principality of Asturias, in northwest Spain, is known for its coastline, mountain landscapes and medieval architecture. The Covadonga Sanctuary to the Virgin Mary, patron of Asturias, sits in a cave above a waterfall.

(309706) Avila = 2008 GP

Avila de los caballeros, is the capital of the province of Avila in Spain. Sometimes called the Town of Stones and Saints, it is notable for its complete and prominent medieval town walls.



(352760) Tesorero = 2008 UR4

Pico Tesorero is a prominent pyramidal peak located in the central massif of Picos de Europa in Spain. Its 2570-m summit dominates most of the beautiful mountains of the western and central massifs, and marks the boundary between Asturias, Cantabria and Leon provinces.

Monday, May 18, 2015

La Cañada 16-May-2015 NEOCP Observations P10l0Zk -> COMET C/2015 J2 (PANSTARRS)

The image below is a stack of short images of NEOCP P10l0Zk taken at La Cañada on the night of 16-May-2015, at that moment only three observations were available at the NEOCP, those by the observatory F51 Pan-STARRS  Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System.

Once the object was confirmed by J87 at the predicted position and movement, the astrometry and photometry report was sent to the Minor Planet Center MPC together with remarks on the diffuse aspect of the object. A coma about 8 arc seconds elongated in PA 320 degrees was measured.

Soon after that, the MPC moved the body from the NEOCP to the Possible Comet Confirmation Page PCCP,  the only observations available from the PCCP then were the discovery observations and those of the confirmation by J87.

The calculations updated May 18.63 UT based on 35 observations spanning 2.89 days showed a nearly parabolic orbit with a semi axis about 100 AU passing the perihelion around 2015 Oct. 17.8

Picture obtained from observatory J87 La Cañada, this is a stack of 50 images with 1 minute of exposure time each following on the movement predicted by the Minor Planet Center ephemeris Service MPES based on just three observations by F51 Pan-STARRS the night before.


Electronic Telegram No. 4100
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION CBAT
Director: Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University; 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA 02138; U.S.A. e-mail: cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org) URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network

 COMET C/2015 J2 (PANSTARRS) E. Lilly and R. Weryk, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, report the discovery of another apparent comet in three w-band exposures taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on May 15.5 UT (discovery observations tabulated below); the object shows a prominent tail with approximately 8" long extending towards p.a. approximately 300 degrees.

 2015 May UT R.A. (2000) Decl.          Mag.

 15.48694        16 10 05.44 -23 22 05.6 19.6
 15.49789        16 10 05.12 -23 22 07.0 19.7
 15.50882        16 10 04.80 -23 22 08.7 19.6 

Wainscoat and M. Micheli add that three 60-s r-band follow-up exposures were taken of the object with the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on May 16.5 UT (queue observer D. Woodworth), which show the object clearly cometary in appearance, with a broad, low-surface-brightness tail that extends from the nuclear condensation for at least 10" toward p.a. approximately 300 degrees.

After the comet was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have also noted the object's cometary appearance. J. Lacruz, Madrid, Spain, reports that sixty stacked 60-s exposures taken with a 0.40-m Ritchey-Chretien reflector on May 17.0 UT show the comet to be diffuse with a fan-shaped coma 9" across with an apparent tail in p.a. 320 deg. A. Maury and J.-F. Soulier finds that images taken on May 17.1 with a 0.4-m f/8 Ritchey-Chretien reflector at San Pedro de Atacama show a 11" x 13" coma and a tail 15" long in p.a. 310 deg; they measured the comet's brightness in a 6".2 radius to be 18.8. W. H. Ryan communicates that his R-band images taken on May 18.33-18.36 with the Magdalena Ridge Observatory 2.4-m f/8.9 reflector show a distinct tail at p.a. about 300 deg, and he finds the comet's magnitude to be 18.6-18.9. H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan, writes that four stacked 60-s exposures taken with an iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph (+ luminance filter) at Siding Spring on May 18.6 UT show the comet to be strongly condensed with a coma 10" in diameter and no tail; the w-band magnitude was 20.2 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 6".6. The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on

MPEC 2015-K18. T = 2015 Oct. 17.8168 TT Peri. = 208.0670 Node = 57.2873 2000.0 q = 4.448423 AU Incl. = 18.7941

NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars. (C) Copyright 2015 CBAT 2015 May 19 (CBET 4100) Daniel W. E. Green

My personal NOTE, shame on the central bureau for astronomical telegrams:

Hello Daniel,
It's not correct the observations by J. Lacruz were done after the object was posted on the PCCP as CBET 4100 states.
To be fair, the remarks on the cometary nature of this object by J. Lacruz should appear rigth after the discovery observations, and before those by Wainscoat and Micheli because the cometary appearance of this body by J. Lacruz was noted and communicated to cbat before others did..
The observations from La Cañada and remarks noting the cometary appereance  were done before the object was posted on the PCCP. At that time the object was posted on the NEOCP and only three observations by the discovery site were available. In summary it was moved to the PCCP because of the remarks sent by J87 when it was in the NEOCP.
The object was moved to the PCCP right after I sent the remarks on its cometary nature and it appeared there with just the discovery observations together with mine. After that observations by others were added including those taken by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.  
It is not the same to note the cometary nature of such a faint object when it mey just be a NEO that once you know it may most likely be a comet
Please correct
Best regards

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, 27-Feb-2015 La Cañada

Despite the crescent Moon and some thin cirrus clouds, this is the result of stacking 20 pictures of 45 seconds integration each. Taken with an unmodified Canon 1D MK IV and a zoom EF 70-200 mm F2.8 working at 110mm. In the field of view the Perseus great double cluster, the comet's tail length is about 4 degrees. 

Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, 27-Feb-2015 La Cañada Observatory (J87) (c) 2015 Juan Lacruz

Friday, January 9, 2015

Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy

Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy in a mosaic composition, 09-Jan-2015
(c) 2015 Juan Lacruz, Observatorio de La Cañada

Inner comma study of comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, the Larson Sekanina rotational gradient enhances the many jets of sublimating volatiles. These get ionized by the Solar wind becoming a plasma that gets trapped in the magnetic field lines, as the comet nucleus rotates these plasma streamers form beatiful knots and the comet displays a vivid greenish electric colour.