Astrometry of several comets
Abstract
During the Astronomisches Beobachtungspraktikum of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum at Hoher List Observatory in March 1999, astrometry of several comets was performed by undergraduated students. The objects 52P/Harrington-Abbell, 93P/Lovas, 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, C/1998 P1 (Williams), C/1998 M5 (Linear), and P/1998 U3 (Jäger) were observed using the 1m Cassegrain reflector (D=1.06 m, f=3.68 m) equipped with a focal reducer and a Ford Loral FA2048 CCD-chip with Johnson V filter. IRAF packages were used for standard reduction. The data was subsequently analysed using additional FORTRAN routines. Transformation from plate to celestial coordinates was performed with third order polynomials which were determined with respect to at least ten reference stars from the GSC 1.2. The results achieved a mean positional accuracy of 0.36'' and will be published in the MPC.
- Publication:
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Astronomische Gesellschaft Abstract Series
- Pub Date:
- 1999
- Bibcode:
- 1999AGAb...15...94B
- Keywords:
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- Comets: Astrometry