Observing Comets

British Astronomical AssociationComet Section - further informationElsewhere on these pages: Highlights / Newly discovered comets / Periodic comets / Contributing observations / Comet Ephemerides / Upcoming Comets / Observing Comets / Current meteor showers / Links / Meetings / IWCA / Publications / Comments and Contacts / Old 2009 News / SPA News / Comet discovery procedure / Weather information / The Comet's Tale

Observing comets
For the beginner: Details of a comet and good and bad observations.
Some hints and tips on how to improve your observations.
Christopher Taylor contributed an article to the section newsletter which describes how to carry out simple spectroscopic studies of comets.
The Edgar Wilson Award has been instituted for amateur comet discoveries.
The 1999 Edgar Wilson Award was divided among the following six individuals or groups: Peter Williams, Heathcote, N.S.W., Australia, for C/1998 P1; Roy A. Tucker, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A., for P/1998 QP_54; Michael Jager, Weissenkirchen i.d. Wachau, Austria, for P/1998 U3; Justin Tilbrook, Clare, S.A., Australia, for C/1999 A1; Korado Korlevic and Mario Juric, Visnjan, Croatia, for P/1999 DN_3; and Steven Lee, Coonabarabran, N.S.W., Australia, for C/1999 H1. [IAUC 7223, 1999 July 14]
The 2000 Award was divided between the following three individuals or groups: Daniel W. Lynn, Kinglake West, Victoria, Australia, for C/1999 N2; Korado Korlevic, Visnjan, Croatia, for P/1999 WJ_7; and Gary Hug and Graham E. Bell, Eskridge, KS, U.S.A., for P/1999 X1. [IAUC 7445, 2000 June 29]
The 2001 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets was divided among the following two amateur astronomers for C/2000 W1: Albert Francis Arthur Lofley Jones, Stoke, Nelson, New Zealand; and Syogo Utsunomiya, Minami-Oguni machi, Aso-gun, Kumamoto-ken, Japan. [IAUC 7652, 2001 June 29]
The 2002 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets was divided among the following seven individuals: Vance Avery Petriew, Regina, SK, Canada, for P/2001 Q2; Kaoru Ikeya, Mori, Shuchi, Shizuoka, Japan, and Daqing Zhang, Kaifeng, Henan province, China, for C/2002 C1; Douglas Snyder, Palominas, AZ, U.S.A., and Shigeki Murakami, Matsunoyama, Niigata, Japan, for C/2002 E2; Syogo Utsunomiya, Minami-Oguni, Aso, Kumamoto, Japan, for C/2002 F1; William Kwong Yu Yeung, Benson, AZ, U.S.A., for P/2002 BV. [IAUC 7926, 2002 June 24]
The 2003 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets was divided among the following five individuals: Sebastian Florian Hoenig, Dossenheim, Germany, for C/2002 O4; Tetuo Kudo, Kikuchi, Kumamoto, Japan, and Shigehisa Fujikawa, Mitoyo, Kagawa, Japan, for C/2002 X5; Charles Wilson Juels, Fountain Hills, AZ, U.S.A., and Paulo Renato Centeno Holvorcem, Campinas, Brazil, for C/2002 Y1. [IAUC 8162, 2003 July 2]
The 2004 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets was divided among the following two individuals: Vello Tabur, Wanniassa, A.C.T., for C/2003 T3; and William A. Bradfield, Yankalilla, S. Australia, for C/2004 F4. [IAUC 8372, 2004 July 12]
The 2005 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets was divided among the following two individuals: Roy A. Tucker, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A., for C/2004 Q1; and Donald Edward Machholz, Jr., Colfax, CA, U.S.A., for C/2004 Q2. [IAUC 8554, 2005 June 30]
The 2006 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets was divided among the following three individuals: Charles Wilson Juels (Fountain Hills, AZ, U.S.A.) and Paulo Renato Centeno Holvorcem (Campinas, Brazil) for C/2005 N1; and John Broughton (Reedy Creek, Qld., Australia) for P/2005 T5. [IAUC 8730, 2006 July 17]
The 2007 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets was divided among the following three individuals: John Broughton (Reedy Creek, Qld., Australia) for C/2006 OF_2; David H. Levy (Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.) for P/2006 T1; and Terry Lovejoy (Thornlands, Qld., Australia) for C/2007 E2 and C/2007 K5. [IAUC 8854, 2007 July 11]
The 2008 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets was divided among the following two individuals for the discovery of C/2008 C1: Tao Chen (Suzhou City, Jiangsu province, China) and Xing Gao (Urumqi, Xinjiang province, China). [IAUC 8962, 2008 August 1]
Maik Meyer has a catalogue of comet discoveries. Don Machholz "A decade of comets" gives an account of discoveries between 1975 and 1984, and Don also has spreadsheets giving further information on amateur discoveries to date. He also provide an account of his searching in a message posted on 2008 May 6.

Current meteor showers
Meteors are the debris of comets and a meteor shower occurs if a comet's orbit intersects the earth's orbit. It is always worth watching for sporadic meteors as you never know when an outburst from some minor shower may take place. Several showers have produced enhanced returns over the last few years. [Updated 2007 September 11]
Cédric Bemer notes that the Earth passes 0.005 AU inside the orbit of comet 2006 VZ13 on 2008 May 27.1 (solar longitude 66 degrees) and that there may be a possibility of a meteor shower. The radiant is around RA 330 +16. Interestingly Peter Jenniskens lists the gamma Delphinid shower, which has a broadly similar orbit and is active from June 1 - 20 from a radiant around RA 320 +12. Jenniskens gives a possible outburst on 2013 June 11.
The 2007 Orionids gave an unexpectedly strong return, with ZHR of over 50.
More information on meteor showers can be found from
Gary Kronk
Gary Kronk's European mirror site
Phil Bagnall
International Meteor Organisation
Spaceweather
BAA Meteor Section

Other sources of information
This section gives a list of helpful urls [Updated 2002 May 14].

Meetings
This section gives details of meetings that have been held, and advance notice of forthcoming meetings.
An IWCA was held in Paris in 2004 from June 4 to 6, in association with the transit of Venus. IWCA III home page
A pro-am meeting on Comets and Meteorites was held on 2003 May 10. This included the inaugural George Alcock Memorial Lecture, which was given by Brian Marsden. The meeting was held in Milton Keynes at the Open University. Other speakers included Neil Bone, Alan Fitzsimmons, David Hughes, Monica Grady, Andrew Elliot, Iwan Williams, Nick James, Graeme Waddington and myself. Programme.Meeting report.
The "Meeting on Asteroids and Comets in Europe", MACE 2003, was held from May 1st to 4th at the Mallorca Observatory, Costitx, Mallorca, Spain.
There was an RAS discussion meeting on Cometary Science at the Launch of Rosetta on 2002 December 13 at the Geological Society Lecture Theatre, Burlington House. For more details see the RAS Meetings Calendar. An account appeared in the Aril 2003 issue of The Comet's Tale.
The Asteroids Comets Meteors (ACM2002) conference was held in Berlin from July 29 to August 2, 2002. Information on the conference is available at the meeting web site. Notes from the meeting appear in the October 2002 issue of The Comet's Tale.
There was a Section meeting associated with the BAA Ordinary meeting on Saturday 2002 February 23, notes from the meeting are included in the April 2002 issue of The Comet's Tale.
A recent professional meeting was the "5 Years After Hale Bopp" conference held in Tenerife January 21-25, 2002. Information on this conference is available at the meeting web site.
The second International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy was held in Cambridge over the weekend following the total eclipse on 1999 August 11. Details of IWCA2.

Publications The new revised and expanded comet section 'Observing Guide to Comets' is available from the BAA Office at a cost of GBP 3.50, or at selected BAA events for 3.00. Overseas and UK observers can now purchase items from the BAA Sales desk using credit cards. The Guide describes all the details you need to record to make a scientifically useful observation and also helps beginner observers to locate and view comets.
The Section Newsletter 'The Comet's Tale' is published once a year. BAA Members of the Section who contribute observations or other material receive a printed copy free of charge. Other BAA Members may subscribe to it at the rate of 5.00 pounds for three years or download it from the web. Rates for overseas members and non BAA members are negotiable. Subscriptions may be paid by credit card. The latest issue is 2007 January. Back issues for April 1999, October 1999, April 2000, October 2000, April 2001, October 2001, April 2002, October 2002, April 2003, October 2003, April 2004, October 2004, April 2005, October 2005, April 2006, January 2007, December 2007 and December 2008 are available in pdf format.
The ICQ has published a very comprehensive guide to observing comets, which covers historical observations and theory to degree level. Further details are available from the ICQ pages. This is now out of print, but may be published commercially in the near future. Some recent ICQ articles are published on line.
Pamphlet on the George Alcock memorial plaque Martin Mobberley has created a web page on George Alcock.
There is an interesting perspective on the Kuiper Belt and Comets written by Dave Jewitt.
The Section publishes an annual report each year in the BAA Journal. The following reports are available on line: 2003 / 2002 / 2001 / 2000 / 1999 / 1998 / 1997 / 1996 / 1995 / 1994 / 1993 / 1992 / 1991 / 1990. Some additional historical information about the Section can be seen from this list of Section Directors, Keedy Award winners and Newsletter Editors. This detailed history is taken from the BAA Publications 'The first fifty years' and 'The second fifty years'.
The December Journal usually includes an update on the comet prospects for the coming year. Analyses of comets appearing in any year appear on a regular basis. A report on the comets of 1991 appeared in the August 1997 BAA Journal. Unfortunately the figures for the orbits of comets 97Pand 103Pgiven in the paper are for the current orbits, not as they were in 1991. The correct figures are given in the links above.
This index to Section publications gives a brief listing of the contents of the Section Newsletters and papers published in the BAA Journal. [Updated 2002 October 14]

Comments and contact
Many thanks to those that regularly access this page for your interest. If you have any comments, suggestions for improvement or find any problems, please mail the comet section director, Jon Shanklin, but please make sure that it is possible to reply to your address. If you need to phone me I have an answer/faxphone at home on +44 (0)1223 571250 or my work number is +44 (0)1223 221400. The work fax is +44 (0)1223 221279 I can also be contacted at j.shanklin @ bas.ac.uk and snail mail will reach me at British Antarctic Survey, Madingley Road, CAMBRIDGE CB3 0ET, England. For information about my day job I have a web page at BAS.
Published by jds@ast.cam.ac.uk