A preliminary light curve spanning 4 hours for Minor Planet 2860 Pasacenten. Determined from 81 frames obtained on 2003-11-01. Each 3 minute frame was binned 2x2. The camera was cooled to -20°C. The telescope used was the 254mm SCT in a f/12 configuration (focuser/AO-7/CFW-8/ST-7XE). No focal reducer was used to minimize vignetting. The image scale is 1.23 arc seconds per binned pixel.
As can be seen from the light curve, the rotational period of this minor planet is around 2.5 hours. I used GSC3674:761 (mag 14.1) and GSC3674:3 (mag 13.5) as K,C stars for the photometry.
I also determined from these Pasacenten frames that I can go until magnitude 18.5 in 3 minutes when binning 2x2 at F/12 from my San Jose patio, and possibly a bit deeper. By combining all 81 images (243 minutes = 4 hours), I determined that I can go until magnitude 20 in that period. Possibly even deeper if during the last hour the frames were not out of focus due to the dropping temperature.
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