# Looking for 2026 ED138 in older surveys turned up plates as early as 1954 **URL:** \ **Category:** Citizen Science\ **Created:** [October 29, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://www.rubin.community/t/looking-for-2026-ed138-in-older-surveys-turned-up-plates-as-early-as-1954/12897 "2026-10-29T19:26:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![eagnespuerto](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/www.rubin.community/eagnespuerto/32/4526_2.png) [@eagnespuerto](https://www.rubin.community/u/eagnespuerto)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://www.rubin.community/t/looking-for-2026-ed138-in-older-surveys-turned-up-plates-as-early-as-1954/12897/1 "2026-10-29T19:26:35Z")
Hello! I am Ella Puerto, an independent researcher with no astro affiliations but I am interested in astrometry (usually exoplanets but I branch out) and have a lot of free time so I spent two days finding more observations from older surveys! 2010–2011, VISTA/VVV infrared survey\*\*:\*\* 15 positions on 4 nights. They sit within 0.1″ of the orbit. 1991, UK Schmidt plate: ED138 is 3″ from a brighter star. I fit and subtracted the star, and the object is left behind (S/N 17). 1982 and 1984, ESO Schmidt plates: clean detections at magnitude R ≈ 18.8, within 1″ of the prediction. The faint images are stretched along the direction ED138 was moving, which is a nice check that they’re the real thing. 1954, Palomar POSS-I red plate: 2.6″ off the prediction. The orbit’s uncertainty for 1954 was about ±87″, so it landed close. I sent the observations to the Minor Planet Center on October 28–29. They’ve been received, but they aren’t accepted yet, so treat this as pending until they are. Write-ups (not yet peer reviewed) with data and code: VVV 2010–2011: [Precovery of the Dwarf Planet Candidate 2026 ED138 in 2010–2011 VISTA/VVV Images | Zenodo](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23740113) Plates 1954–1991: [Photographic Precovery of the Dwarf Planet Candidate 2026 ED138 on 1954–1991 Schmidt Plates, and a One-Day Offset in SuperCOSMOS Plate Dates | Zenodo](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23765290) Happy to collaborate on a formal note/paper! (Moved post to correct section rather than as reply to another post) ![ed138_orbit_1954_2026_ig](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/rubin/original/2X/a/aade1e0deaa8227ce85754faec4b405d6703bf6f.png) ![ed138_compilation_wide](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/rubin/original/2X/9/9c93201eb3c6f0f85d4ce6b87cabf882234ce52e.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![klyastra](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/www.rubin.community/klyastra/32/4524_2.png) [@klyastra](https://www.rubin.community/u/klyastra)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 9:23pm UTC](https://www.rubin.community/t/looking-for-2026-ed138-in-older-surveys-turned-up-plates-as-early-as-1954/12897/2 "2026-10-29T21:23:23Z")
Hi Ella, Very nice, I saw your Reddit post on this! Colin Chandler and LSST colleagues have already submitted these precoveries (1937-2010) and posted them on the Minor Planet Center’s website today (they’re listed on the MPC Explorer page). The JPL Small-Bodies Database has updated 2026 ED138’s orbit with these new precoveries. Sam Deen, a friend of mine, had also independently found 1954 precoveries of 2026 ED138 a couple days ago. ---
**Author:** ![eagnespuerto](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/www.rubin.community/eagnespuerto/32/4526_2.png) [@eagnespuerto](https://www.rubin.community/u/eagnespuerto)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2026, 2:38am UTC](https://www.rubin.community/t/looking-for-2026-ed138-in-older-surveys-turned-up-plates-as-early-as-1954/12897/3 "2026-10-30T02:38:23Z")
Thanks for the info! 🙂 Either way I had fun sifting through so I’d say it was well worth it. (I wonder how the MPC will handle independent duplicates) ---
**Author:** ![scottstirling](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/www.rubin.community/scottstirling/32/4325_2.png) [@scottstirling](https://www.rubin.community/u/scottstirling)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2026, 5:10pm UTC](https://www.rubin.community/t/looking-for-2026-ed138-in-older-surveys-turned-up-plates-as-early-as-1954/12897/4 "2026-10-30T17:10:13Z")
Nice finds and nice graphics ✨ ---
**Author:** ![InoSenpai](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/www.rubin.community/inosenpai/32/3318_2.png) [@InoSenpai](https://www.rubin.community/u/InoSenpai)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2026, 10:43pm UTC](https://www.rubin.community/t/looking-for-2026-ed138-in-older-surveys-turned-up-plates-as-early-as-1954/12897/5 "2026-10-30T22:43:17Z")
Why not upload this brilliant graphic you’ve created to Wikimedia Commons?