[[Image: Lulin-Sky-Survey/k07n01l_20070711.png|500|2007 NL1 at discovery.]] 

I rarely write blog in English but today due to some reasons I'll do it, the reason is quite unusual: an asteroid, but the asteroid is quite unusual too, it's a Near-Earth Asteroid. That boy, 2007 NL1, became the first NEA I have got.

Long long stories of discovery could be reduced to a sentence: I scan, I spot, I found. I won't repeat this routine but will just mention two interesting spots during the discovery.

Spot 1: To be or not to be...

It seems pretty fine for me that all big surveys are off from work this dark run, but I just didn't get lucky. Our survey detected five NEOs in three nights -- a new record ever, but all of them are known -- include those very promising R~20's! Lord. So when I saw another detection on afternoon of July 12, all I thought was: "another known one, dot."

But usual checks went on.

"So that boy is a new one?" Out of the expectation and within the expectation, I asked myself. Well, possibly something simply went wrong. I had been chased those "NEOs" three or four times, stayed up for several nights, and later they turned out to be a-little-unusual main-belts. But a thing moving at 1.5 degree per day can't be anything. I checked again.

Indeed something went wrong, I had examed a wrong one. *That* boy called YQ00uR, not YQ00uS. I have to check for knowns again. But still no known ones turn out.

My heart was beating fast. The "one" finally comes.

Spot 2: Big surveys, where are you?

I never thought I'll miss the big surveys, I always regard them as big rivals, but on July 13 I found myself missing them!

YQ00uR was running quickly in the sky and the uncertainty area kept growing. July 12/13 nights were cloudy and I could do nothing but writing "help needed" mails. All surveys were off for holiday due to monsoon season on southwest United States except Siding Spring Survey in Australia, so it seems Siding Spring is my only option. Dr.McNaught replied my mail very quickly, and the answer was simple: cloudy. Then I look for other helps: Peter Birtwhistle at United Kingdom, Reiner Stoss at Spain, Jean-Claude Pelle at Tahiti Island, and they were all not okay with the rock.

Well, real problems occured. Seems I have to do anything to secure the rock on July 13/14 by myself. I spent a whole afternoon for observing design, then went to bed on around 7 p.m. On the morning of July 14 I have to cover dozens of arc degrees to catch the boy.

I dreamt I was searching for a little rabbit in a big big forest.

On 1 a.m. I got up. Jean-Claude told me the sky became clear at Tahiti and he was hunting. "I'd better secure the boy myself." I thought, then I began. There were 16 fields, coded Field 1 to Field 16. It would take 2 hours to fix, and they covered all the uncertainty area. "It won't lost..." I encouraged myself, "I still have one extra hour if all these 16 attempts are failed." Then I download image sets of Field 1, they were just finished.

Guess what happened? A faint, fast moving dot at the center of the images! I combined it with the observations on July 11 -- very fit! It's a nice Apollo.

I can't believe my eyes. The boy was done in such an easy way! I could just said I have been lucky.

I got up at 10 a.m. and the sun was high in the sky, the rock -- 2007 NL1, has been published in Minor Planet Electronic Circular. I also learned Jean-Claude had spot the asteroid too, a few hours earlier than me, but he reported it later than I did.

And so the big surveys are big rivals again ;-)