DOCSLIB.ORG

The Comet's Tale

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

THE COMET’S TALE Newsletter of the Comet Section of the British Astronomical Association Volume 4, No 1 (Issue 7), 1997 May COMET OF THE CENTURY ? From a colour print by Mike Cook, Romford. 1997 March 29. 50-mm lens, 10 mins, Kodak Panther 1600 BAA COMET SECTION NEWSLETTER ii THE COMET’S TALE Comet Section contacts Director: Jonathan Shanklin, 11 City Road, CAMBRIDGE. CB1 1DP, England. Phone: (+44) (0)1223 571250 (H) or (+44) (0)1223 251400 (W) Fax: (+44) (0)1223 362616 (W) E-Mail: JDS @ AST.CAM.AC.UK or J.SHANKLIN @ BAS.AC.UK WWW page : http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/ Assistant Director (Observations): Guy Hurst, 16 Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, BASINGSTOKE, Hampshire. (and also Editor of RG22 4PP, England. The Astronomer magazine) Phone & Fax: (+44) (0)1256 471074 E-Mail: GUY @ TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK or GMH @ AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK Assistant Director: James Lancashire, Flat 4, 14/16 Canynge Road, Clifton, BRISTOL. BS8 3JX, England. (Urgent correspondence) Phone: (+44) (0)117 973 9963 E-Mail: JALAN @ AST.CAM.AC.UK CCD Advisor: Nick James, 11 Tavistock Road, CHELMSFORD, Essex. CM1 5JL, England. Phone: (+44) (0)1245 354366 E-mail: NDJ @ ASTRO1.DEMON.CO.UK or NICK.JAMES @ GMRC.GECM.COM Photographic Advisor: Michael Hendrie, Overbury, 33 Lexden Road, West Bergholt, COLCHESTER, Essex, CO6 3BX, England Phone: (+44) (0)1206 240021 Section news from the Director Dear Section member, reported in astronomical Stephen Laurie, Ron Livesey, magazines over the coming John Mackey, Glyn Marsh, Nick Needless to say I have been months. Martin, John McConnel, Hazel overwhelmed with observations McGee, Richard McKim, Haldun of comet Hale-Bopp! Despite The Keedy award for 1996 has Menali, Martin Mobberley, going through the details for been awarded to Gabriel Oksa of Stewart Moore, Bob Neville, reporting observations at the Starohajska, Slovakia. Gabriel Detlev Niechoy, Brian section meeting last year, has been studying at O'Halloran, Gabriel Oksa, Roy observers are still making Loughborough University on a Panther, Terry Platt, Tony mistakes in reporting their Royal Society post-doctoral Rickwood, John Rogers, Jonathan observations. This greatly fellowship, but has now returned Shanklin, Don Shirreff, James increases the workload for Guy home. He started observing Smith, John Smith, Peter Stanley, and myself as we have to correct comets for the Section in March Enrico Stomeo, David Storey, or replace the observations at a 1996 with the appearance of David Strange, Tony Tanti, later date. Some of the problems comet Hyakutake, and has quickly Christopher Taylor, Melvyn are listed in the observing section. developed into an experienced Taylor, Alex Vincent, Greme observer. Waddington, Richard Walters, Comet Hale-Bopp has certainly Peter Ward, James Weightman, been one of the most intensively Since the last newsletter Paul Yates, Joe Young and the observed comets in history and observations or contributions Mid Kent AS. section members have made the have been received from the following BAA members: most of the opportunity. I’ve Contents included a few of the many images received in the newsletter James Abott, Sally Beaumont, and more will be on display at the John Bingham, Graham Boots, Comet Section contacts 2 exhibition meeting. The Denis Buczynski, Robert Bullen, Section news 2 Astronomer magazine hopes to Peter Craven, Clive Curtis, Eric RAS meeting 3 bring out a supplement in the Dinham, Jean Dragesco, Len Spectroscopy 4 autumn which will document the Entwisle, John Fletcher, James comet’s apparition and at some Fraser, Mike Gainsford, Steven Fried comets ? 6 stage in the future a BAA Memoir Goldsmith, Massimo Giuntoli, Letters 6 will also appear. I haven’t David Graham, Werner Hasubick, Tales from the Past 7 documented the results of Michael Hendrie, Colin Henshaw, Review of observations 8 professional observations in great Guy Hurst, Nick James, Norman detail here as they will be Kiernan, James Lancashire, BAA COMET SECTION NEWSLETTER 1997 MAY 3 and also from: Jose Aguiar, classifications). Thanks to all of issue, section web page, or BAA Cornel Apetroaei, Alexandr you for your contributions. newsletter. Baransky, Sandro Baroni, John Bortle, Reinder Bouma, Mike Comets under observation were: Some BAA membership Cook, Tim Cooper, Matyas 22P/Kopff, 29P/Schwassmann- milestones reached over the past Csukas, Alfons Diepvens, Wachmann 1, 46P/Wirtanen, year include the Director (25 Maurizio Eltri, Stephen Getliffe, 81P/Wild 2, 118P/Shoemaker- years), David Frydman, Mike Guus Gilein, Bjoern Granslo, Levy 4, C/Hale-Bopp (1995 O1), Gainsford and Richard Miles (30 Roberto Haver, Lars Heen, C/Tabur (1996 Q1), years), Philip Vince (40 years) Andreas Kammerer, Heinz C/Hergenrother-Spahr (1996 R1) and Roy Panther (50 years). Kerner, Atilla Kosa-Kiss, Martin and C/Mueller (1997 D1). Congratulations to all. Lehky, Dee Levers, Romualdo Lourencon, Herman Mikuz, Some of the best material Finally if you do have any Antonio Milani, Sue Morley, John showing Hale-Bopp will be on comments on the newsletter, or O’Neill, Robert Oseman, Rok display at the Exhibition Meeting, requests for topics to be covered Palcic, Amanda Peters, Ernie so do come along and view it. I at the Section meeting do let me Richardson, Josep Rodriguez, hope to organise a section know. Clear skies, Virgil Scurtu, Oddleiv Skilbrei, meeting in Cambridge during the Steinar Thorvaldsen, Alin Tolea, autumn, but this will depend on Jonathan Shanklin John Vetterlein, Seiichi Yoshida there being a breather from bright and Vittorio Zanotta (apologies comets! More details in the next for any omissions or miss- RAS Discussion Meeting on “Comet-Asteroid Connections” The media have an interest in of dormant comets as they would dead HTC (between 3000 and bombardment from space at the be embedded in a meteoroid 12,000). moment, but having watched stream and would soon be “Asteroid” on TV recently it is reactivated by collisions. Fabio Migliorini (Armagh) fairly clear that they don't have presented results of his study on much idea about what an asteroid Nathan Harris (Armagh) “Resonant Delivery of Asteroids is, or the links between asteroids disagreed with this in his paper on and Meteorites from the Main and comets. This meeting was “Inactive Comets Among the Belt” which is part of a European organised by Mark Bailey of Near-Earth Asteroids”. Plotting Community funded GAPTEC Armagh Observatory and Iwan the aphelion distance Q against project to investigate the NEO Williams of Queen Mary College, the perihelion distance q, allows impact hazard. This project has to London and was held at various groups of small bodies, be multinational in order to win Burlington House on March 14. such as main belt asteroids (MB), EC funding and will use ESO I’m not sure that the media would Trojan asteroids, Jupiter family telescopes etc. He showed many have been much wiser after the comets (JFC) and near-earth viewgraphs (often in far too small meeting, and although one or two objects (NEO) to be print) of simulations of resonant new ideas were presented, most distinguished. NEOs have q less scattering into earth crossing talks were repeats of presentations than 1.4 AU and most JFCs have orbits. Most end up in the sun at the ACM meeting last summer. Q greater than 4.2 AU. The after a few million years. He NEOs can be split into class 1 suggested that the cosmic ray ages David Hughes (Sheffield) kicked with Q greater than 4.2 AU (and of meteorites didn’t reflect off proceedings with a review of thus affected by Jupiter) and class transport time since the parent the ‘zoo’ of small solar system 2 with Q less than 4.2 AU. collision, but possibly the time bodies in a talk entitled Computer models suggest that it since the ‘grandfather’s’ collision. “Distinguishing between Comets is possible to produce JFCs from and Asteroids”. When the both the Oort cloud (OC) and the Neil McBride (Kent) spoke about cumulative number of bodies Kuiper belt (KB), but Halley type “Meteoroids: the Debris of larger than a certain size is plotted comets (HTC) only from the OC. Comets and Asteroids”. against the size, the slope of the They also suggest it is impossible Meteoroids can be observed from line is different for asteroids (~-2) to populate the class 2 region, the ground as meteors and as and comets (~-1.67). Several unless non-gravitational forces are impacts on spacecraft. We have a asteroidal families were formed included. Comets in this class good idea of the mass distribution by the collisional break-up of a include 2P/Encke, 111P/Helin- in the mean isotropic flux. parent; in the case of the Eos Roman-Crockett, 82P/Gehrels 3 However meteoroids also occur in family this would be around 300 and 107P/Wilson-Harrington, streams. The flux from these can km in diameter. Most asteroids which are all in some sense be calculated and it works out an were solid, and consisted of ‘strange’. The current population order of magnitude less than the several types, although a few of JFCs can be explained with an overall flux, which can be split might be re-aggregates after injection rate of about one per into helion/anthelion. north/south collisions. By contrast comets century and a dynamical lifetime toroidal and north/south apex were formed by accretion and for class 1 objects of around components. The Taurids do were low density irregular 10,000 years and 1500 years for contribute a significant amount to objects. He pointed out that there class 2 objects. He would expect the anthelion flux. Meteor radars seemed to be no small comets. around 100 dead JFCs to be still give a velocity distribution, but in He didn’t think much of the idea hanging around, but many more the past have missed a lot of fast BAA COMET SECTION NEWSLETTER 4 THE COMET’S TALE meteors (~60 kms-1).
Recommended publications
  • The Comet's Tale, and Therefore the Object As a Whole Would the Section Director Nick James Highlighted Have a Low Surface Brightness

    The Comet's Tale, and Therefore the Object As a Whole Would the Section Director Nick James Highlighted Have a Low Surface Brightness

    1 Diebold Schilling, Disaster in connection with two comets sighted in 1456, Lucerne Chronicle, 1513 (Wikimedia Commons) THE COMET’S TALE Comet Section – British Astronomical Association Journal – Number 38 2019 June britastro.org/comet Evolution of the comet C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) along a total of ten days on January 2018. Composition of pictures taken with a zoom lens from Teide Observatory in Canary Islands. J.J Chambó Bris 2 Table of Contents Contents Author Page 1 Director’s Welcome Nick James 3 Section Director 2 Melvyn Taylor’s Alex Pratt 6 Observations of Comet C/1995 01 (Hale-Bopp) 3 The Enigma of Neil Norman 9 Comet Encke 4 Setting up the David Swan 14 C*Hyperstar for Imaging Comets 5 Comet Software Owen Brazell 19 6 Pro-Am José Joaquín Chambó Bris 25 Astrophotography of Comets 7 Elizabeth Roemer: A Denis Buczynski 28 Consummate Comet Section Secretary Observer 8 Historical Cometary Amar A Sharma 37 Observations in India: Part 2 – Mughal Empire 16th and 17th Century 9 Dr Reginald Denis Buczynski 42 Waterfield and His Section Secretary Medals 10 Contacts 45 Picture Gallery Please note that copyright 46 of all images belongs with the Observer 3 1 From the Director – Nick James I hope you enjoy reading this issue of the We have had a couple of relatively bright Comet’s Tale. Many thanks to Janice but diffuse comets through the winter and McClean for editing this issue and to Denis there are plenty of images of Buczynski for soliciting contributions. 46P/Wirtanen and C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto) Thanks also to the section committee for in our archive.
  • Comet C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto): Data Ulate About Past Visits of Interstellar Comets on the Basis of Available Using a 0.47-M Reflector, D

    Comet C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto): Data Ulate About Past Visits of Interstellar Comets on the Basis of Available Using a 0.47-M Reflector, D

    MNRAS 000, 1–11 (2019) Preprint 30 August 2019 Compiled using MNRAS LATEX style file v3.0 Comet C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto): dislodged from the Oort Cloud or coming from interstellar space? C. de la Fuente Marcos1⋆ and R. de la Fuente Marcos2 1 Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, E-28040 Madrid, Spain 2AEGORA Research Group, Facultad de Ciencias Matemáticas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, E-28040 Madrid, Spain Accepted 2019 August 3. Received 2019 July 26; in original form 2019 February 17 ABSTRACT The chance discovery of the first interstellar minor body, 1I/2017 U1 (‘Oumuamua), indicates that we may have been visited by such objects in the past and that these events may repeat in the future. Unfortunately, minor bodies following nearly parabolic or hyperbolic paths tend to receive little attention: over 3/4 of those known have data-arcs shorter than 30 d and, con- sistently, rather uncertain orbit determinations. This fact suggests that we may have observed interstellar interlopers in the past, but failed to recognize them as such due to insufficient data. Early identification of promising candidates by using N-body simulations may help in improv- ing this situation, triggering follow-up observations before they leave the Solar system. Here, we use this technique to investigate the pre- and post-perihelion dynamical evolution of the slightly hyperbolic comet C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto) to understand its origin and relevance within the context of known parabolic and hyperbolic minor bodies. Based on the available data, our calculations suggest that although C/2018 V1 may be a former mem- ber of the Oort Cloud, an origin beyond the Solar system cannot be excluded.
  • The State of Anthro–Earth

    The State of Anthro–Earth

    The Rosette Gazette Volume 22,, IssueIssue 7 Newsletter of the Rose City Astronomers July, 2010 RCA JULY 19 GENERAL MEETING The State Of Anthro–Earth THE STATE OF ANTHRO-EARTH: A Visitor From Far, Far Away Reviews the Status of Our Planet In This Issue: A Talk (in Earth-English) By Richard Brenne 1….General Meeting Enrico Fermi famously wondered why we hadn't heard from any other planetary 2….Club Officers civilizations, and Richard Brenne, who we'd always suspected was probably from another planet, thinks he might know the answer. Carl Sagan thought it was likely …...Magazines because those on other planets blew themselves up with nuclear weapons, but Richard …...RCA Library thinks its more likely that burning fossil fuels changed the climates and collapsed the 3….Local Happenings civilizations of those we might otherwise have heard from. Only someone from another planet could discuss this most serious topic with Richard's trademark humor 4…. Telescope (in a previous life he was an award-winning screenwriter - on which planet we're not Transformation sure) and bemused detachment. 5….Special Interest Groups Richard Brenne teaches a NASA-sponsored Global Climate Change class, serves on 6….Star Party Scene the American Meteorological Society's Committee to Communicate Climate Change, has written and produced documentaries about climate change since 1992, and has 7.…Observers Corner produced and moderated 50 hours of panel discussions about climate change with 18...RCA Board Minutes many of the world's top climate change scientists. Richard writes for the blog "Climate Progress" and his forthcoming book is titled "Anthro-Earth", his new name 20...Calendars for his adopted planet.
  • The Comet's Tale

    The Comet's Tale

    THE COMET’S TALE Newsletter of the Comet Section of the British Astronomical Association Volume 5, No 1 (Issue 9), 1998 May A May Day in February! Comet Section Meeting, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, 1998 February 14 The day started early for me, or attention and there were displays to correct Guide Star magnitudes perhaps I should say the previous of the latest comet light curves in the same field. If you haven’t day finished late as I was up till and photographs of comet Hale- got access to this catalogue then nearly 3am. This wasn’t because Bopp taken by Michael Hendrie you can always give a field sketch the sky was clear or a Valentine’s and Glynn Marsh. showing the stars you have used Ball, but because I’d been reffing in the magnitude estimate and I an ice hockey match at The formal session started after will make the reduction. From Peterborough! Despite this I was lunch, and I opened the talks with these magnitude estimates I can at the IOA to welcome the first some comments on visual build up a light curve which arrivals and to get things set up observation. Detailed instructions shows the variation in activity for the day, which was more are given in the Section guide, so between different comets. Hale- reminiscent of May than here I concentrated on what is Bopp has demonstrated that February. The University now done with the observations and comets can stray up to a offers an undergraduate why it is important to be accurate magnitude from the mean curve, astronomy course and lectures are and objective when making them.
  • Dust Near the Sun

    Dust Near the Sun

    Dust Near The Sun Ingrid Mann and Hiroshi Kimura Institut f¨urPlanetologie, Westf¨alischeWilhelms-Universit¨at,M¨unster,Germany Douglas A. Biesecker NOAA, Space Environment Center, Boulder, CO, USA Bruce T. Tsurutani Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA Eberhard Gr¨un∗ Max-Planck-Institut f¨urKernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany Bruce McKibben Department of Physics and Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA Jer-Chyi Liou Lockheed Martin Space Operations, Houston, TX, USA Robert M. MacQueen Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, USA Tadashi Mukai† Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan Lika Guhathakurta NASA Headquarters, Washington D.C., USA Philippe Lamy Laboratoire d’Astrophysique Marseille, France Abstract. We review the current knowledge and understanding of dust in the inner solar system. The major sources of the dust population in the inner solar system are comets and asteroids, but the relative contributions of these sources are not quantified. The production processes inward from 1 AU are: Poynting- Robertson deceleration of particles outside of 1 AU, fragmentation into dust due to particle-particle collisions, and direct dust production from comets. The loss processes are: dust collisional fragmentation, sublimation, radiation pressure acceler- ation, sputtering, and rotational bursting. These loss processes as well as dust surface processes release dust compounds in the ambient interplanetary medium. Between 1 and 0.1 AU the dust number densities and fluxes can be described by inward extrapolation of 1 AU measurements, assuming radial dependences that describe particles in close to circular orbits. Observations have confirmed the general accuracy of these assumptions for regions within 30◦ latitude of the ecliptic plane.
  • Ice& Stone 2020

    Ice& Stone 2020

    Ice & Stone 2020 WEEK 51: DECEMBER 13-19 Presented by The Earthrise Institute # 51 Authored by Alan Hale COMET OF THE WEEK: The Great Comet of 1680 Perihelion: 1680 December 18.49, q = 0.006 AU The Great Comet of 1680 over Rotterdam in The Netherlands, during late December 1680 as painted by the Dutch artist Lieve Verschuier. This particular comet was undoubtedly one of the brightest comets of the 17th Century, but it is also one of the most important comets in history from a scientific perspective, and perhaps even from the perspective of overall human history. While there were certainly plenty of superstitions attached to the comet’s appearance, the scientific investigations made of it were among the beginnings of the era in European history we now call The Enlightenment, and indeed, in a sense the Great Comet of 1680 can perhaps be considered as one of the sparks of that era. The significance began with the comet’s discovery, which was made on the morning of November 14, 1680, by a German astronomer residing in Coburg, Gottfried Kirch – the first comet ever to be discovered by means of a telescope. It was already around 4th magnitude at that time, and located near the star Regulus in the constellation Leo; from that point it traveled eastward and brightened rapidly, being closest to Earth (0.42 AU) on November 30. By that time it was a conspicuous naked-eye object with a tail 20 to 30 degrees long, and it remained visible for another week before disappearing into morning twilight.
  • Downloaded Freely from the Google Play Portal (

    Downloaded Freely from the Google Play Portal (

    1 2 Spiral Galaxy M51. Herrero, E. Image from Montsec Astronomical Observatory (OAdM) 3 4 5 CONTENTS The Institute 6 Board of trustees 8 Scientific advisory board 9 Board of Directors 9 Staff 10 Scientific Research 16 Scientific results 25 Publications SCI 31 Papers in which only one institute is participating 31 Papers published by two institutes in collaboration 39 Papers published by three institutes in collaboration 40 Publications non SCI 40 Papers in which only one institute is participating 40 Papers published by two institutes in collaboration 46 Books edited 47 Courses 47 Contribution to conferences and seminars 48 Contribution to conferences 48 Seminars 59 Internal seminars 59 External seminars 59 Theses 61 Finished Theses 61 PhD Theses 61 Master theses 62 On going theses 62 PhD Theses 62 Master theses 62 Visiting scientists 64 Technological development activities 65 Technical reports and documents 65 Technical reports and documents developed by only one institute 65 Technical reports and documents developed by three institutes in collaboration 69 Technological development activities 69 Finished activities 69 Ongoing activities 69 Projects managed by the IEEC 69 Finished projects 69 Ongoing projects 70 Other scientific activities 72 Space missions 73 Mission proposals 82 Ground instrument projects 89 Montsec Astronomical Observatoyy (OAdM) 95 European Projects 99 Workshops organized by the IEEC 103 Outreach activities 107 Objectives, indicators and achievement 114 6 IEEC ▪ THE INSTITUTE The Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) was founded in February of 1996 as an initiative of the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca (FCR), in collaboration with the University of Barcelona (UB), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) with the objective of creating a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional institute devoted to space research and their applications.
  • The Comet's Tale

    The Comet's Tale

    THE COMET’S TALE Journal of the Comet Section of the British Astronomical Association Number 33, 2014 January Not the Comet of the Century 2013 R1 (Lovejoy) imaged by Damian Peach on 2013 December 24 using 106mm F5. STL-11k. LRGB. L: 7x2mins. RGB: 1x2mins. Today’s images of bright binocular comets rival drawings of Great Comets of the nineteenth century. Rather predictably the expected comet of the century Contents failed to materialise, however several of the other comets mentioned in the last issue, together with the Comet Section contacts 2 additional surprise shown above, put on good From the Director 2 appearances. 2011 L4 (PanSTARRS), 2012 F6 From the Secretary 3 (Lemmon), 2012 S1 (ISON) and 2013 R1 (Lovejoy) all Tales from the past 5 th became brighter than 6 magnitude and 2P/Encke, 2012 RAS meeting report 6 K5 (LINEAR), 2012 L2 (LINEAR), 2012 T5 (Bressi), Comet Section meeting report 9 2012 V2 (LINEAR), 2012 X1 (LINEAR), and 2013 V3 SPA meeting - Rob McNaught 13 (Nevski) were all binocular objects. Whether 2014 will Professional tales 14 bring such riches remains to be seen, but three comets The Legacy of Comet Hunters 16 are predicted to come within binocular range and we Project Alcock update 21 can hope for some new discoveries. We should get Review of observations 23 some spectacular close-up images of 67P/Churyumov- Prospects for 2014 44 Gerasimenko from the Rosetta spacecraft. BAA COMET SECTION NEWSLETTER 2 THE COMET’S TALE Comet Section contacts Director: Jonathan Shanklin, 11 City Road, CAMBRIDGE. CB1 1DP England. Phone: (+44) (0)1223 571250 (H) or (+44) (0)1223 221482 (W) Fax: (+44) (0)1223 221279 (W) E-Mail: [email protected] or [email protected] WWW page : http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/ Assistant Director (Observations): Guy Hurst, 16 Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, BASINGSTOKE, Hampshire.
  • 7 X 11 Long.P65

    7 X 11 Long.P65

    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-85349-1 - Meteor Showers and their Parent Comets Peter Jenniskens Index More information Index a – semimajor axis 58 twin shower 440 A – albedo 111, 586 fragmentation index 444 A1 – radial nongravitational force 15 meteoroid density 444 A2 – transverse, in plane, nongravitational force 15 potential parent bodies 448–453 A3 – transverse, out of plane, nongravitational a-Centaurids 347–348 force 15 1980 outburst 348 A2 – effect 239 a-Circinids (1977) 198 ablation 595 predictions 617 ablation coefficient 595 a-Lyncids (1971) 198 carbonaceous chondrite 521 predictions 617 cometary matter 521 a-Monocerotids 183 ordinary chondrite 521 1925 outburst 183 absolute magnitude 592 1935 outburst 183 accretion 86 1985 outburst 183 hierarchical 86 1995 peak rate 188 activity comets, decrease with distance from Sun 1995 activity profile 188 Halley-type comets 100 activity 186 Jupiter-family comets 100 w 186 activity curve meteor shower 236, 567 dust trail width 188 air density at meteor layer 43 lack of sodium 190 airborne astronomy 161 meteoroid density 190 1899 Leonids 161 orbital period 188 1933 Leonids 162 predictions 617 1946 Draconids 165 upper mass cut-off 188 1972 Draconids 167 a-Pyxidids (1979) 199 1976 Quadrantids 167 predictions 617 1998 Leonids 221–227 a-Scorpiids 511 1999 Leonids 233–236 a-Virginids 503 2000 Leonids 240 particle density 503 2001 Leonids 244 amorphous water ice 22 2002 Leonids 248 Andromedids 153–155, 380–384 airglow 45 1872 storm 380–384 albedo (A) 16, 586 1885 storm 380–384 comet 16 1899
  • The Planetary Report) Watching As a Bust

    The Planetary Report) Watching As a Bust

    The Board of Dlrec:tolll The naming of comets can, indeed, be a very difficult matter. Traditionally these small, CARL SAGAN BRUCE MURRAY President Vice President icy solar system bodies were named for their discoverers. But because some people are Director" Laboratory Professor of Planetary very persistent (for example, there are four Comets Meier) a particular name is needed for Planetary Studies. Science, California Camell University Institute of Technology for each individu.al comet. Thus, at discovery a comet is assigned a letter designation LOUIS FRIEDMAN HENRY TANNER based on the order of discovery or recovery in a certain year. So, Comet 1982i was the Executive Director Corporate Secretary and 9th comet found in 1982. Later, comets are assigned new names based on their peri­ Assistant Treasurer, Cafifom;a THOMAS O. PAINE Institute of Technology helion (closest approach to the Sun). 1984 XXll1 was the 23rd comet to pass perihelion Former Administrator. NASA: Chairman, National JOSEPH RYAN in 1984. Confused? Here is a poetic attempt to explain. Commission on Space O'Melveny & Myers Board of Advlsolll DIANE ACKERMAN GARRY E. HUNT poet and author Space -Scientist, THE NAMING OF COMETS (With apologies to T. S. Eliot) United Kingdom ISAAC ASIMOV aulhor HANS MARK BY DAVID H. LEW Chancellor, RICHARD BERENDZEN University of Texas System Presid8nt, American University JAMES MICHENER The naming of Comets is a difficult matter, JACQUES BLAMONT author Chief Scien#st, Centre National It isn't just one of your holiday games; d'Etudes Spatlales, France PHILIP MORRISON Institute Professor, You may think at first I'm mad as a hatter RAY BRADBURY Massachusetts poet and author Institute of Technofogy When I tell you, a comet has THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
  • Ionic Emissions in Comet C/2016 R2 (Pan-STARRS)

    Ionic Emissions in Comet C/2016 R2 (Pan-STARRS)

    MNRAS 000,1–12 (2019) Preprint 23 April 2020 Compiled using MNRAS LATEX style file v3.0 Ionic emissions in comet C/2016 R2 (Pan-STARRS) Kumar Venkataramani1;2? Shashikiran Ganesh1 and Kiran S.Baliyan1 1 Astronomy & Astrophysics Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India. 2 Department of Physics, Leach Science Center, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA. 23 April 2020 ABSTRACT We carried out observations of a peculiar comet, C/2016 R2 (Pan-STARRS), using a low resolution spectrograph mounted on the 1.2m telescope at Mount Abu Infrared Observatory, India. The comet was observed on two dates in January 2018, when it was at a heliocentric distance of 2.8 AU. Study based on our observations revealed that the optical spectrum of this comet is quite unusual as compared to general cometary spectra. Most of the major cometary emissions like C2,C3 and CN were absent in comet C/2016 R2. However, the comet spectrum + + showed very strong emission bands from ionic species like CO and N2 . A mean N2/CO ratio of 0.09 ± 0.02 was derived from the spectra and an extremely low depletion factor of 1.6 ± 0.4 has been estimated for this ratio as compared to the solar nebula. We have also detected minor + + emission features beyond 5400 Å, albeit marginally. The column densities of CO and N2 were calculated from their emission bands. The optical spectrum suggests that the cometary ice is dominated by CO. The low depletion factor of N2/CO ratio in this comet, as compared to the solar nebula and the unusual spectrum of the comet are consequences of distinctive processing at the location of its formation in the early solar nebula.
  • UNIVERSITY of HAWAII at MANOA Institute for Astrononmy Pan-STARRS Project Management System

    UNIVERSITY of HAWAII at MANOA Institute for Astrononmy Pan-STARRS Project Management System

    Pan-STARRS Document Control PSDC-xxx-xxx-00 UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA Institute for Astrononmy Pan-STARRS Project Management System Appearance of and response to interesting and rare objects discovered by MOPS Richard J. Wainscoat Pan-STARRS Solar System Group Institute for Astronomy October 28, 2006 c Institute for Astronomy 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution Pan-STARRS Moving Object Processing System PSDC-xxx-xxx-00 Revision History Revision Number Release Date Description 00 2006.10.20 First draft Interesting and rare objects—definition and followup ii October 28, 2006 Pan-STARRS Moving Object Processing System PSDC-xxx-xxx-00 TBD / TBR Listing Section No. Page No. TBD/R No. Description Interesting and rare objects—definition and followup iii October 28, 2006 Contents 1 Overview 1 2 Referenced Documents 1 3 Facilities available for followup observations 1 4 Fuzzy objects—comets or outgassing asteroids 2 4.1 Introduction .................................................. 2 4.2 Signature ................................................... 2 4.3 Response ................................................... 2 4.4 Followup ................................................... 2 4.5 Naming of Comets discovered by Pan-STARRS ............................... 3 5 Objects with high inclination, retrograde, or highly eccentric orbits 3 5.1 Introduction .................................................. 3 5.2 Signature ................................................... 3 5.3 Response ..................................................