The story of the discovery of asteroid (410928 Maidbronn)

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K87 Dettelbach Vineyard Observatory with old equipment — (C) Copyright: Photo montage performed by Bernhard Häusler, Germany
Credit of the comet image of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM (C) CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
and ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

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An unexpected story

Many newspapers, online magazines and some radio and television stations from around the world reported on the discovery of an asteroid from a balcony.

Press review of the discovery of of asteroid (410928 Maidbronn)
'German amateur discovered an asteroid from his terrace'...
pagewide articles in newspapers and internet, mostly written by Christiane Gläser, dpa Würzburg
Credit for the background image: David Ebener, dpa

The image shows some examples of publications about the discovery. I found further examples in the Middle East, India, and Borneo.
The reason for the worldwide dissemination of the discovery was twofold: firstly, its location on my balcony at the old B82 Maidbronn station, and secondly,
the interest of the German Press Agency (dpa), which used its networks to spread the news around the world.

The response to the discovery of the people and the media was really surprising to me.
Chaos theory played godfather and produced a kind of a snowball system. Read the complete story here:

The butterfly strike caused...

At a class reunion of my high school graduate class in 2012 I mentioned the discovery of some asteroids rather casually,
which at that time had not yet been confirmed by the Minor Planet Center MPC.

...a breath of wind:

A classmate passed this information to his brother Klaus Rüfer, a bavarian radio reporter and with whom I played street football in my youth.
Klaus made an appointment with me in my apartment and the interview was then broadcast on Bavarian radio in 2012.
I promised to contact him if an asteroid discovery was confirmed, which I did in early January 2015.

The branches on the trees begin to bend... :

As agreed, Klaus was the first reporter to conduct another interview with me, this time with the background of confirmation of the discovery by the MPC.
I certainly wouldn't have informed any other official body about my discovery otherwise.

...and a local little storm breaks out:

After the interview was broadcast on Bavarian Broadcasting (BR) radio, he informed the local press and local and Bavarian television stations.
From that moment on I experienced a story that I could not have dreamed of as a stargazer.

That day I received an inquiriy from a local newspaper for an interview and without prior notice a television team appeared at my front door with their cameras out.
That same evening I was able to watch the discovery story on local television and could read the story in the local newspaper the next day.

The wind began to gain strength...:

In addition, the dpa (German press agency) asked for an interview date.
The dpa team with Christiane Gläser and her press photographer David Ebener came to my apartment a few days later
and we chatted some hours about the discovery and David took a few photos. Then nothing happened for two days.

...and swept the land and the world:

On February 2, 2015, Christiane Gläser's article in German and English appeared in most German-language newspapers and on the Internet,
which she distributed worldwide via the DPA network.
Internationally, I found the story with pictures, for example in the Gulf Times, the Borneo Bulletin, or on Punjab Kesari TV in India,
last written there in the local language.

"German amateur discovered an asteroid from his terrace"... pagewide articles in newspapers and internet, written by Christiane Gläser, dpa Würzburg:
Article from a Middle Eastern newspaper

But this shouldn't be the climax of the story ...

The Bavarian television contacted me and asked for a film about the asteroid discovery on the Franco-German broadcaster ARTE.
The TV team was then in my region for two days and they filmed in my apartment and at the Würzburg University.
The result was a nice report about the discovery of the asteroid Maidbronn, which was broadcast several times by scientific television series X:enius.

...the storm finally developed into a continuous breeze around the world

This great experience around the confirmation of my first asteroid discovery inspired me to continue my little contribution to the exploration of space.

The acquisition of new equipment followed promptly in 2017.
And for surveying asteroid and comet orbits and confirming newly discovered objects on the NEOCP, I developed the NEO Planner,
which has enabled me to make over 14,000 measurements of more than 2,000 Near Earth Objects at K87 Dettelbach Vineyard Observatory since 2017.
Many users of NEO Planner worldwide have also made numerous measurements with the help of the planning tool that they would not have been able to perform without it.

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The discovery image and video of the main belt asteroid (410928 Maidbronn)

© Bernhard Häusler. The discovery image of the main belt asteroid (410928 Maidbronn) in full size

© Bernhard Häusler. The discovery video of the main belt asteroid (410928 Maidbronn)

I made the discovery by visually blinking a series of images of comet P/2008 O2 (now 372P/McNaught) from September 28, 2009,
taken at my balcony observatory B82 Maidbronn.
If you can identify the paths of the three moving objects marked with a left-pointing arrow, you too are equipped to recognize the blinking of astrophotographs.
These days, however, this is done automatically and mechanically, for example, by the Tycho Synthetic Tracker.

The image data is as follows: 24 x 5 min. exposure, 2009-09-28 UT 01:52 to 03:46, 12" SCT, f-6.532 + CCD ST10XME

In the video, you can see the comet and its tail moving in the lower right corner.
Although MAID01 was also detected as a new object, it quickly turned out to be the already provisionally numbered object 2009 SG172.
The slightly fainter object MAID02, however, had not yet received a provisional number.

On October 1st, 2009, after submitting measurements from two days according to the discoverers' rule of the time,
I received a standardized AUTODES message from Gareth V. Williams of the MPC with the brief content: MAID02 K09SO2T.

Since there was no other character between the two words except a space, the joy was great,
because this meant that my station had been provisionally credited with the discovery.
K09SO2T means the provisional number 2009 ST242, which the asteroid then carried for another 5 years.

In the years following the discovery, further measurements of the object were carried out by myself, friendly amateur astronomers from Spain,
and professional surveys until my IAU code B82 Maidbronn was officially recognized as the discoverer of the object in the Minor Planet Center's MPO document on October 8, 2014.

(410928)* 2009 ST242 = 2006 BN60 Discovered 2009 Sept. 28 by B. Haeusler at Maidbronn.

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Related publications:

TV report by X:enius/arte/BR

B82 Maidbronn on the Night of the Stars on X:enius of the TV channel ARTE on August, 8 2015: Infinite Universe - also limitless view?

My telescope tracks the evening starry sky from my balcony observatory.
Credit: BR, arte, X:enius

Images from the X:enius television crew during their visit to B82 Maidbronn

Arrival of television crews of Arte (X:enius) of the Bavarian Broadcast BR in February 2015.
© Bernhard Häusler.

Cameraman of the X:enius team.
© Bernhard Häusler.

Preparation for another recording.
© Bernhard Häusler.

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Carnival 2015 in Maidbronn

Walking group with the motif Asteroid Maidbronn at the carnival parade in Maidbronn, 2015. — Walking group with the motif 'Asteroid Maidbronn' at the carnival parade in Maidbronn, 2015
Credit: Carnival Club Maidbronn

Carnival group together with the appointed mayor of the asteroid Maidbronn
Credit: Carnival Club Maidbronn

"A star that bears our name" - "Mr. Häusler has discovered the asteroid and aroused our interest in astronomy"

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Astronomy Day 2015 in Würzburg, Franconian region in Bavaria

Lecture at the Würzburg Observatory on Astronomy Day 2015. — Lecture at the Würzburg Observatory on Astronomy Day 2015
Credit: Peter Schramm, Sternwarte Würzburg

Lecture on Astronomy Day 2015 on the observatory Würzburg with around 30 listeners

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Lectures on asteroids with Franconian names in Birnfeld 2015

"Franconia in Space", lecture of Dr. Thomas Müller, MPE in Birnfeld in April 2015

The presenters of lectures on asteroids with Franconian names in Birnfeld 2015. — The presenters of lectures on asteroids with Franconian names in Birnfeld 2015
Credit: unknown photographer

Lectures "Franconian Minor Planets" in Birnfeld on April 2015 (around 100 listeners)

Left to right:
Dr. Thomas Müller, MPE Garching , Minor Planet (8793) Thomasmuller was named after him.
Bernhard Häusler, Maidbronn, the discoverer of (410928) Maidbronn and (668527) Christophgerhard.
Felix Hormuth, MPIA Heidelberg, the discoverer of about 200 asteroids on Calar Alto Observatory, Spain,
he suggested the name for the minor planets (365130) Birnfeld and (365131) Hassberge.

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The real star, the one behind it all

The real star, the workhorse of clear nights, a Meade LX200 12in. telescope with an attached SBIG ST-10XME CCD camera. — The real star, the workhorse of clear nights, a Meade LX200 12in. telescope with an attached SBIG ST-10XME CCD camera
© Bernhard Häusler

The real star - the fully equipped telescope with CCD camera in preparation for a starry night

The flying telescope, widely known among German amateur astronomers, which a few months before the discovery of asteroid Maidbronn,
plummeted from the balcony during a nighttime thunderstorm, landed upside down in a bush, and then righted itself on its tripod.
Apart from the bent tripod, the telescope was completely undamaged.

In a way, this was a miracle, because otherwise I would certainly have given up my hobby.

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