Hello Bernd, I'm sorry you didn't get to see the asteroid. I read your preparations and felt your excitement. I also prepared to see NY40 with my 10" reflector and fortunately it was clear here. In my time zone (Duluth, MN) it was traveling through western Lyra and Hercules between 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. I've seen probably a dozen NEAs but this was by far the fastest -- even at 72x it moved slowly but continuously across the 1-degree field making and breaking new 'double' stars. For fun I increased the power to 214x and the asteroid's movement was rather like a slower-moving satellite or airplane seen from far away. I kept trying to imagine how our planet looked from NY40's perspective -- I believe Earth would have been a gorgeous marbled crescent at the time. It's been quite a month what with the asteroid and the big sunspot which today still looks impressive. By the way, what charting program did you use to plot the asteroid's path? I used Megastar and was able to spot 2002 NY40 about 5 days before closest approach at 13th magnitude. Even then you could see motion in 3-5 minutes. Whether in our collections or through the eyepiece of a telescope these asteroids are a source of wonder. Wishing you and the list well! Bob
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