NEEDHELP QUICK!

I was out tonight with the scope doing some ccd work and have found a 'slow mover'. Not sure if it's an asteroid or comet (by it's brightness and speed, I'd guess an asteroid, perhaps a NEO). I need to find a resource that will show what known objects are in the area right now. It's pretty bright; I haven't done a mag estimate yet, but as bright as it appears at a glance, I'd assume I would have heard about it before. Thanks

If you have TheSky, this is trivial - just turn on asteroids and get the recent comets.

Online, the resources you are looking for are at the Minor Planet Center web site:

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html

Try the MPC orbit database and the MPChecker.

Ron Wodaski