Confirmation of Cometary Features of Newly Discovered Bodies

The majority of new ground-based discoveries of comets comes from large surveys devoted, predominantly, to Near Earth Asteroids. The first step in distinguishing these newly discovered members of the population of cometary bodies consists inconfirmatory astrometric observations along with detection of their cometaryfeatures. Although both amateur and professional stations take part in suchconfirmatory observations, only some of them do a preliminary analysis of thecometary activity of a particular newly discovered body. A timely recognitionof cometary features of a particular body having an unusual orbit can help inplanning further observing campaigns.A main goals of the Klet Observatory NEO astrometric follow-upprogramme consists of an analysis of possible cometary activity of newlydiscovered unusual bodies. Here, we describe several examples (comets C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) and so on). We also mention an extension of our programme to fainterobjects after the completion ofa new 1-m telescope at the Klet Observatory.     

An efficient algorithm for prioritizing NEA physical observations

The present near‐Earth asteroids (NEA) discovery rate has surpassed 1500 objects per year, thus calling for extensive observation campaigns devoted to physical characterization in order to define successful mitigation strategies in case of possible impactors. A tool is presented which, through a prioritization algorithm, aims to optimize the planning and the execution of NEA physical observations. Two ranking criteria are introduced, Importance and Urgency, accounting for the need of satisfying the two basic observational modes for physical characterization, that is, rapid response and large observing programs, aimed at selecting targets for exploration and mitigation space missions. The resulting tool generates a daily table of observable targets and it can also be run as a stand‐alone tool in order to provide future observing opportunities at a specific date of interest. It has been developed and implemented within the framework of the NEOShield‐2 EU/HORIZON 2020 Project; the output of the prioritization algorithm is publicly available, in tabular format, on the NEOShield‐2 NEO Properties Portal ( http://www.neoshield.net/the-neoshield-project/project-activities/neo-properties-portal ), reachable from the main page of the Project website ( http://www.neoshield.eu ).     

The Recovery as an Important Part of NEA Astrometric Follow-up

The number of known near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) has increased rapidly in recent years due to large surveys. This discovery process has to be followed by follow-up observations to obtain a sufficient number of precise astrometric data needed for an accurate orbit determination of newly discovered bodies.Accurate orbit determination requires observations from at least two oppositions. If asteroids are not found in the next apparition, different from the discovery apparition, then they can be considered lost. This is particularly embarrassing for NEAs. If data for different apparitions are not found in the course of precovery surveys or in other archive data, then it is necessary to prepare targeted observations of a particular NEA in the second convenient apparition. Therefore NEA recovery is a very important part of NEA follow-up.We discuss here methods, techniques, and results of planned recoveries at the Klet' Observatory using a 0.57-m telescope equipped with a CCD detector. The Klet' NEA recovery subprogram has brought 21 planned NEA recoveries since 1997, including seven NEAs belonging to the potentially hazardous asteroid category.We briefly mention the overall work on NEA recoveries provided by several NEO follow-up programs as well as the need for communication resources supporting astrometric observers. Finally we present here a planned extension of the Klet' NEA recovery subprogram to fainter objects by means of a new 1.06-m reflector.     

A concept for providing warning of earth impacts by small asteroids

The atmospheric detonation of a 17 m-asteroid above Chelyabinsk, Russia on 2013 February 15 shows that even small asteroids can cause extensive damage. Earth-based telescopes have found smaller harmless objects, such as 2008 TC3, a 4 m-asteroid that was discovered 20h before it exploded over northeastern Sudan (Jenniskens, 2009). 2008 TC3 remains the only asteroid discovered before it hit Earth because it approached Earth from the night side, where it was observed by large telescopes searching for near-Earth objects (NEO’s). The larger object that exploded over Chelyabinsk approached Earth from the day side, from too close to the Sun to be detected from Earth. A sizeable telescope in an orbit about the Sun-Earth L1 (SE-L1) libration point could find objects like the “Chelyabinsk” asteroid approaching approximately from the line of sight to the Sun about a day before Earth closest approach. Such a system would have the astrometric accuracy needed to determine the time and impact zone for a NEO on a collision course. This would give at least several hours, and usually 2–4 days, to take protective measures, rather than the approximately two-minute interval between the flash and shock wave arrival that occurred in Chelyabinsk. A perhaps even more important reason for providing warning of these events, even smaller harmless ones that explode high in the atmosphere with the force of an atomic bomb, is to prevent mistaking such an event for a nuclear attack that could trigger a devastating nuclear war. A concept using a space telescope similar to that needed for an SE-L1 monitoring satellite, is already conceived by the B612 Foundation, whose planned Sentinel Space Telescope could find nearly all 140 m and larger NEO’s, including those in orbits mostly inside the Earth’s orbit that are hard to find with Earth-based telescopes, from a Venus-like orbit (Lu, 2013). Few modifications would be needed to the Sentinel Space Telescope to operate in a SE-L1 orbit, 0.01 AU from Earth towards the Sun, to find most asteroids larger than about 5 meters that approach the Earth from the solar direction. The spacecraft would scan 165 square degrees of the sky around the Earth every hour, finding asteroids when they are brightest (small phase angle) as they approach Earth. We will undertake Monte Carlo studies to see what fraction of asteroids 5 m and larger approaching from the Sun might be found by such a mission, and how much warning time might typically be expected. Also, we will check the overall coverage for all Earth-approaching NEO’s, including ground-based observations and observations by the recently-launched NEOSSat, which may best fill any gaps in coverage between that provided by an SE-L1 telescope and ground-based surveys. Many of the objects as large as 50 m, like the one that created Meteor Crater in Arizona, will not be found by current NEO surveys, while they would usually be seen by this possible mission even if they approached from the direction of the Sun. We should give better warning for future “Bolts out of the blue.”     

Realistic survey simulations for kilometer class near Earth objects

We present a new Near Earth Object (NEO) survey simulator which incorporates the four-dimensional population model of 4668 NEOs [Bottke, W.F., Morbidelli, A., Jedicke, R., Petit, J.-M., Levison, H.F., Michel, P., Metcalfe, T.S., 2002. Icarus 156, 399-433] and the observing strategies of most asteroid search programs. With the recent expansion of survey capabilities, previous simulators focused on a specific survey facility are no longer useful in predicting the future detection rates. Our simulation is a superposition of simplified search patterns adopted by all major wide-field surveys in operation in both hemispheres. We defined five different simulation periods to follow the evolution of survey efficiencies reflecting changes in either search volume as a result of upgrades of telescopes and instruments or in observing schedules. The simulator makes remarkably good reproductions of actual survey results as of December 2005, not only the total number of detections but also (a,e,i,H) (‘H’ means absolute magnitude of an asteroid) distributions. An extended experiment provides excellent predictions for discovery statistics of NEOs (H<18) reported to the Minor Planet Center in 2006. These support that our simulator is a plausible approximation of real surveys. We further confirm that, with the Bottke et al. [Bottke, W.F., Morbidelli, A., Jedicke, R., Petit, J.-M., Levison, H.F., Michel, P., Metcalfe, T.S., 2002. Icarus 156, 399-433] population model and present survey capability, the 90% completeness level of kilometer-sized NEOs will be achieved by 2010 or 2011. However, about 8% of the kilometer-sized or larger NEOs would remain undetected even after 10-year operation (2007-2016) of all current NEO survey facilities. They are apparently faint, with orbits characterized by large semimajor axis and higher eccentricity; these “hardest-to-find” objects tend to elude the search volume of existing NEO survey facilities. Our simulation suggests that 15% of undetectable objects are Atens and Inner Earth Objects. Because of their orbital characteristics, they will remain within ±45° from the Sun, thus cannot be discovered in the forthcoming decade if our effort is limited to current ground-based telescopes.     

Transient detection and classification

I provide an incomplete inventory of the astronomical variability that will be found by next‐generation time‐domain astronomical surveys. These phenomena span the distance range from near‐Earth satellites to the farthest Gamma Ray Bursts. The surveys that detect these transients will issue alerts to the greater astronomical community; this decision process must be extremely robust to avoid a slew of “false” alerts, and to maintain the community's trust in the surveys. I review the functionality required of both the surveys and the telescope networks that will be following them up, and the role of VOEvents in this process. Finally, I offer some ideas about object and event classification, which will be explored more thoroughly by other articles in these proceedings. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Formation of the binary near‐Earth object 1996 FG3: Can binary NEOs be the source of short‐CRE meteorites?

Abstract— 1996 FG₃ is a binary near‐Earth object (NEO) that was likely formed during a tidal disruption event. Our results indicate that the formation of this binary object was unlikely to have occurred when the progenitor had a encounter velocity with the Earth significantly smaller than its current value (10.7 km/s); The formation of the binary object on an orbit similar to the present one is possible, and the survival of the satellite constrains this to have happened less than 1.6 Ma ago. However, the binary object could also have been formed when the progenitor's encounter velocity with Earth was >12 km/s, and in this case we cannot constrain its formation age. Our results indicate that tidal disruptions occurring among NEOs with low velocity encounters with Earth are unlikely to produce long‐lasting NEO binaries. Thus, tidal disruption may not be able to completely re‐supply the observed population. This would imply that a significant fraction of the observed NEO binaries evolved out of the main asteroid belt. Overall, our results suggest to us that the CM2 meteorites having cosmic ray exposure (CRE) ages of ?200,000 yr were likely liberated by the tidal disruption of a primitive NEO with a relative velocity with the Earth significantly smaller than that of 1996 FG₃. We propose a list of such objects, although as far as we know, none of the candidates is a binary for the reasons described above.     

The Campo Imperatore Near Earth Object Survey (CINEOS)

The Campo Imperatore Near Earth Object Survey (CINEOS) is an Italian survey dedicated to the search and follow-up of Near Earth Objects (NEOs). It is operated with the 90 cm f/3 Schmidt telescope at the Campo Imperatore of the Rome Astronomical Observatory (INAF-OAR) as a joint project with the Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale and Fisica Cosmica (INAF-IASF) in Rome. Since the end of 2001 CINEOS has covered about 4,250 sq. deg to 20th magnitude in the course of about 160 nights. This effort led to the discovery of 7 Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs), 1 comet (167P/CINEOS; a member of the Centaur group) and a few other unusual objects including 2004 XH₅₀ with a unique comet-like orbit. CINEOS has also contributed almost 2,200 preliminary designations and over 30,000 detections to the Minor Planet Center. About 20% of the survey effort was carried out at low solar elongations (LSE), although no object with an orbit interior (Inner Earth Objects, IEO class) or nearly interior to the Earth (Aten class) was found. The work at LSE was, however, very important to test survey strategies implemented with larger telescopes. We also provide the results of a CINEOS simulation on a reliable NEO population model based on the results of two larger scale surveys, Spacewatch and LINEAR.     

Earth and space-based NEO survey simulations: prospects for achieving the spaceguard goal

We have used an improved model of the orbit and absolute magnitude distribution of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) to simulate the performance of asteroid surveys. Our results support general conclusions of previous studies using preliminary Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) orbit and magnitude distributions and suggest that meeting the Spaceguard Goal of 90% completion for Near Earth Objects (NEOs) greater than 1 km diameter by 2008 is impossible given contemporary surveying capabilities.The NEO model was derived from NEO detections by the Spacewatch Project. For this paper we developed a simulator for the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) for which we had a complete pointing history and NEO detection efficiency. The good match between the output of the simulator and the actual CSS performance gives confidence that both the NEO model and simulator are correct. Then, in order to determine if existing surveys can meet the Spaceguard Goal, we developed a simulator to mimic the LINEAR survey, for which detailed performance characteristics were unavailable. This simulator serendipitously provided an estimate for the currently undiscovered population of NEOs upon which we base all our estimates of time to 90% completion. We also developed a set of idealized NEO surveys in order to constrain the best possible survey performance in contrast to more realistic systems.A 100% efficient, all-sky, every night survey, subject only to the constraints of detection above a specified air mass and when the Sun is 18° below the horizon provides a benchmark from which to examine the effect of imposing more restrictions and the efficacy of some simple survey strategies. Such a survey must have a limiting V-magnitude of 20.1 ± 0.2 to meet the Spaceguard Goal.More realistic surveys, limited by latitude, the galaxy, minimum rates of NEO motion, etc., require fainter limiting magnitudes to reach the same completion. Our most realistic simulations, which have been normalized to the performance of the LINEAR detector system’s operation in the period 1999-2000, indicate that it would take them another 33 ± 5 years to reach 90% completeness for the larger asteroids (?1 km diameter). They would need to immediately increase the limiting magnitude to about 24 in order to meet the Spaceguard Goal.The simulations suggest that there may be little need for distributing survey telescopes in longitude and latitude as long as there is sufficient sky coverage from a telescope or network of telescopes which may be geographically close. An idealized space-based survey, especially from a satellite orbit much interior to Earth, would offer an advantage over their terrestrial counterparts. We do not consider a cost-benefit analysis for any of the simulations but suspect that a local-area network of telescopes capable of covering much of the sky in a month to V ∼ 21.5 may be administratively, financially, and scientifically the best compromise for reaching 90% completion of NEOs larger than 1 km diameter.     

Autonomous software: Myth or magic?

We discuss work by the eSTAR project which demonstrates a fully closed loop autonomous system for the follow up of possible micro‐lensing anomalies. Not only are the initial micro‐lensing detections followed up in real time, but ongoing events are prioritised and continually monitored, with the returned data being analysed automatically. If the “smart software” running the observing campaign detects a planet‐like anomaly, further follow‐up will be scheduled autonomously and other telescopes and telescope networks alerted to the possible planetary detection.We further discuss the implications of this, and how such projects can be used to build more general autonomous observing and control systems. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

ARTEMiS (Automated Robotic Terrestrial Exoplanet Microlensing Search): A possible expert‐system based cooperative effort to hunt for planets of Earth mass and below

The technique of gravitational microlensing is currently unique in its ability to provide a sample of terrestrial exoplanets around both Galactic disk and bulge stars, allowing to measure their abundance and determine their distribution with respect to mass and orbital separation. Thus, valuable information for testing models of planet formation and orbital migration is gathered, constituting an important piece in the puzzle for the existence of life forms throughout the Universe. In order to achieve these goals in reasonable time, a well‐coordinated effort involving a network of either 2m or 4×1m telescopes at each site is required. It could lead to the first detection of an Earth‐mass planet outside the Solar system, and even planets less massive than Earth could be discovered. From April 2008, ARTEMiS (Automated Robotic Terrestrial Exoplanet Microlensing Search) is planned to provide a platform for a three‐step strategy of survey, follow‐up, and anomaly monitoring. As an expert system embedded in eSTAR (e‐Science Telescopes for Astronomical Research), ARTEMiS will give advice for follow‐up based on a priority algorithm that selects targets to be observed in order to maximize the expected number of planet detections, and will also alert on deviations from ordinary microlensing light curves by means of the SIGNALMEN anomaly detector. While the use of the VOEvent (Virtual Observatory Event) protocol allows a direct interaction with the telescopes that are part of the HTN (Heterogeneous Telescope Networks) consortium, additional interfaces provide means of communication with all existing microlensing campaigns that rely on human observers. The success of discovering a planet by microlensing critically depends on the availability of a telescope in a suitable location at the right time, which can mean within 10 min. To encourage follow‐up observations, microlensing campaigns are therefore releasing photometric data in real time. On ongoing planetary anomalies, world‐wide efforts are being undertaken to make sure that sufficient data are obtained, since there is no second chance. Real‐time modelling offers the opportunity of live discovery of extra‐solar planets, thereby providing “Science live to your home”. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

An improved astrometric calibration technique for space debris observation

An optical survey is the main technique for detecting space debris. Due to the specific characteristics of observation, the pointing errors and tracking errors of the telescope as well as image degradation may be significant, which make it difficult for astrometric calibration. Here we present an improved method that corrects the pointing and tracking errors, and measures the image position precisely. The pipeline is tested on a number of CCD images obtained from a 1-m telescope administered by Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory while observing a GPS satellite. The results show that the position measurement error of the background stars is around 0.1 pixel, while the time cost for a single frame is about 7.5 s; hence the reliability and accuracy of our method are demonstrated. In addition, our method shows a versatile and feasible way to perform space debris observation utilizing non-dedicated telescopes, which means more sensors could be involved and the ability to perform surveys could be improved.     

Scientific exploration of near‐Earth objects via the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle

Abstract— A study in late 2006 was sponsored by the Advanced Projects Office within NASA's Constellation Program to examine the feasibility of sending the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) to a near‐Earth object (NEO). The ideal mission profile would involve two or three astronauts on a 90 to 180 day flight, which would include a 7 to 14 day stay for proximity operations at the target NEO. This mission would be the first human expedition to an interplanetary body beyond the Earth‐Moon system and would prove useful for testing technologies required for human missions to Mars and other solar system destinations. Piloted missions to NEOs using the CEV would undoubtedly provide a great deal of technical and engineering data on spacecraft operations for future human space exploration while conducting in‐depth scientific investigations of these primitive objects. The main scientific advantage of sending piloted missions to NEOs would be the flexibility of the crew to perform tasks and to adapt to situations in real time. A crewed vehicle would be able to test several different sample collection techniques and target specific areas of interest via extra‐vehicular activities (EVAs) more efficiently than robotic spacecraft. Such capabilities greatly enhance the scientific return from these missions to NEOs, destinations vital to understanding the evolution and thermal histories of primitive bodies during the formation of the early solar system. Data collected from these missions would help constrain the suite of materials possibly delivered to the early Earth, and would identify potential source regions from which NEOs originate. In addition, the resulting scientific investigations would refine designs for future extraterrestrial resource extraction and utilization, and assist in the development of hazard mitigation techniques for planetary defense.     

OpenOrb: Open‐source asteroid orbit computation software including statistical ranging

Abstract— We are making an open‐source asteroid orbit computation software package called OpenOrb publicly available. OpenOrb is built on a well‐established Bayesian inversion theory, which means that it is to a large part complementary to orbit‐computation packages currently available. In particular, OpenOrb is the first package that contains tools for rigorously estimating the uncertainties resulting from the inverse problem of computing orbital elements using scarce astrometry. In addition to the well‐known least‐squares method, OpenOrb also contains both Monte‐Carlo (MC) and Markov‐Chain MC (MCMC; Oszkiewicz et al. [2009]) versions of the statistical ranging method. Ranging allows the user to obtain sampled, non‐Gaussian orbital‐element probability‐density functions and is therefore optimized for cases where the amount of astrometry is scarce or spans a relatively short time interval. Ranging‐based methods have successfully been applied to a variety of different problems such as rigorous ephemeris prediction, orbital element distribution studies for transneptunian objects, the computation of invariant collision probabilities between near‐Earth objects and the Earth, detection of linkages between astrometric asteroid observations within an apparition as well as between apparitions, and in the rigorous analysis of the impact of orbital arc length and/or astrometric uncertainty on the uncertainty of the resulting orbits. Tools for making ephemeris predictions and for classifying objects based on their orbits are also available in OpenOrb. As an example, we use OpenOrb in the search for candidate retrograde and/or high‐inclination objects similar to 2008 KV₄₂ in the known population of transneptunian objects that have an observational time span shorter than 30 days.     

Precovery of near‐Earth asteroids by a citizen‐science project of the Spanish Virtual Observatory

This article describes a citizen‐science project conducted by the Spanish Virtual Observatory (SVO) to improve the orbits of near‐Earth asteroids (NEAs) using data from astronomical archives. The list of NEAs maintained at the Minor Planet Center (MPC) is checked daily to identify new objects or changes in the orbital parameters of already catalogued objects. Using NEODyS we compute the position and magnitude of these objects at the observing epochs of the 938 046 images comprising the Eigth Data Release of the Sloan Digitised Sky Survey (SDSS). If the object lies within the image bound‐aries and the magnitude is brighter than the limiting magnitude, then the associated image is visually inspected by the project's collaborators (the citizens) to confirm or discard the presence of the NEA. If confirmed, accurate coordinates and, sometimes, magnitudes are submitted to the MPC. Using this methodology, 3226 registered users have made during the first fifteen months of the project more than 167 000 measurements which have improved the orbital elements of 551 NEAs (6% of the total number of this type of asteroids). Even more remarkable is the fact that these results have been obtained at zero cost to telescope time as NEAs were serendipitously observed while the survey was being carried out. This demonstrates the enormous scientific potential hidden in astronomical archives. The great reception of the project as well as the results obtained makes it a valuable and reliable tool for improving the orbital parameters of near‐Earth asteroids. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

EURONEAR—Recovery, follow-up and discovery of NEAs and MBAs using large field 1–2 m telescopes

We report on the follow-up and recovery of 100 program NEAs, PHAs and VIs using the ESO/MPG 2.2 m, Swope 1 m and INT 2.5 m telescopes equipped with large field cameras. The 127 fields observed during 11 nights covered 29 square degrees. Using these data, we present the incidental survey work which includes 558 known MBAs and 628 unknown moving objects mostly consistent with MBAs from which 58 objects became official discoveries. We planned the runs using six criteria and four servers which focus mostly on faint and poorly observed objects in need of confirmation, follow-up and recovery. We followed 62 faint NEAs within one month after discovery and we recovered 10 faint NEAs having big uncertainties at their second or later opposition. Using the INT we eliminated four PHA candidates and VIs. We observed in total 1286 moving objects and we reported more than 10,000 positions. All data were reduced by the members of our network in a team effort, and reported promptly to the MPC. The positions of the program NEAs were published in 27 MPC and MPEC references and used to improve their orbits. The O−C residuals for known MBAs and program NEAs are smallest for the ESO/MPG and Swope and about four times larger for the INT whose field is more distorted. For the astrometric reduction, the UCAC-2 catalog is recommended instead of USNO-B1. The incidental survey allowed us to study statistics of the MBA and NEA populations observable today with 1–2 m facilities. We calculate preliminary orbits for all unknown objects, classifying them as official discoveries, later identifications and unknown outstanding objects. The orbital elements a, e, i calculated by FIND_ORB software for the official discoveries and later identified objects are very similar with the published elements which take into account longer observational arcs; thus preliminary orbits were used in statistics for the whole unknown dataset. We present a basic model which can be used to distinguish between MBAs and potential NEAs in any sky survey. Based on three evaluation methods, most of our unknown objects are consistent with MBAs, while up to 16 unknown objects could represent NEO candidates and four represent our best NEO candidates. We assessed the observability of the unknown MBA and NEA populations using 1 and 2 m surveys. Employing a 1 m facility, one can observe today fewer unknown objects than known MBAs and very few new NEOs. Using a 2 m facility, a slightly larger number of unknown than known asteroids could be detected in the main belt. Between 0.1 and 0.8 new NEO candidates per square degree could be discovered using a 2 m telescope.     

关于LAMOST天体测量标准天区选择的建议

简述已有几个天体测量标准天区的大小、星数以及恒星位置和自行的精度；给出LAMOST天体测量标准天区选择的原则；介绍研究疏散星团和古德带附近星团观测的意义；列出13个LAMOST天体测量标准天区J2000．0历元的赤经和赤纬、银经和银纬，如果疏散星团位于这个标准天区，也给出它们的日心距、红化值、金属丰度和年龄。     

Possible potentially threatening co‐orbiting material of asteroid 2000EE104 identified through interplanetary magnetic field disturbances

Near‐Earth objects (NEOs) with diameters of <300 m are difficult to detect from the Earth with radar or optical telescopes unless and until they approach closely. If they are on collisional courses with the Earth, there is little that can be done to mitigate the considerable damage. Although destructive collisions in space are rare for 1 km diameter bodies and above, once hit by a sizeable impactor, such a NEO can develop a relatively dense cloud of co‐orbiting material in which destructive collisions are relatively frequent. The gas and nanoscale dust released in the destructive collisions can be detected remotely by downstream spacecraft equipped with magnetometers. In this paper, we use such magnetic disturbances to identify regions of near‐Earth space in which high densities of small objects are present. We find that asteroid (138175) 2000EE104 currently may have a cloud of potentially threatening co‐orbiting material. Due to the scattered co‐orbitals, there can be a finite impact probability whenever the Earth approaches the orbit of asteroid 2000EE104, regardless of the position of the asteroid itself.     

Speckle observations with PISCO in Merate (Italy): XIV. Astrometric measurements of visual binaries in 2013 and new orbits for ADS 1097, 5871, 7203, 7775, 9378, 9578, and 11186

We present relative astrometric measurements of visual binaries made in 2013 with the speckle camera PISCO at the 102‐cm Zeiss telescope of Brera Astronomical Observatory, in Merate. Our observing list contains orbital couples as well as binaries whose motion is still uncertain. We obtained 134 new measurements of 129 visual binary stars, with angular separations in the range 0.≈23–5 and an average accuracy of 0.≈01. The mean error on the position angles is 0.°5. Most of the position angles were determined without the usual 180° ambiguity with the application of triple‐correlation techniques and/or by inspection of the long integration files. We also present new revised orbits for ADS 1097, 5871, 7203, 7775, 9378, 9578, and 11186, partly derived from PISCO observations. The corresponding estimated values for the masses of those systems are compatible with the spectral types. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)