ASTEROID MOTIONS

Equations are derived which describe the apparent motion of an asteroi d traveling on an elliptical orbit in geocentric ecliptic coordinates. At opposition, the equations are identical to those derived by Bowed et al. (Bowell, E., B. Skiff, and L. Wasserman 1990. In Asteroids; Com ets, Meteors III (C.-I. Lagerkvist, M. Rickman, B. A. Lindblad, and M. Lindgren, Eds.), pp. 19-24. Uppsala Universitet, Uppsala, Sweden). Th ese equations can be an important component in the optimization of sea rch strategies for specific asteroid populations based on their appare nt motions relative to other populations when observed away from oppos ition. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.