Re: [guide-user] cometary positions puzzle

Woodchuk Feb 12, 2008

I have an old file "comet00.dat" that has the comet Kohoutek P/75 in it. Here are
the numbers from the file. If you can sort out hte spacing.
P/Kohoutek (75P) 4.3761 11 2007 0.0 1.794054
0.494611 5.9028 175.6906 269.6976 2000.0 10.5 4.0 MPC 31663

Or better still here are the elements that can be used to create a new comet.

Or I can send you the whole file (276K) it has 1649 objects listed. I think it is
the original file in Guide but I replaced it with more up to date comets --
replacing or getting rid of some older "out of place" asteroids and comets.

===================================================
P/Kohoutek (75P) mag 13.6
Period of orbit 6.69 years (2442.9 days)
Perihelion distance 1.7940540 AU
Aphelion distance 5.31 AU
Orbital elements:
Semimajor axis 3.5498477 AU
Eccentricity 0.4946110
Inclination of orbit 5.9028000 degrees
Argument of perihelion 175.6906000 degrees
Long. ascending node 269.6976000 degrees
Date of perihelion JD 2454408.87610 ( 4 Nov 2007 9:01:35)
Right ascension: 8h07m07.580s
Declination: +12 31' 20.88"
Mean position at current epoch:
Right ascension: 8h07m34.577s
Declination: +12 29' 55.09"
Apparent position at current epoch:
Right ascension: 8h07m36.581s
Declination: +12 29' 54.70"
Dist from home planet: 1.05374582 AU (157,638,131 km)
Heliocentric position: lon 131.74719 lat -3.96126
Heliocentric radius 2.00045 AU
99.07% illuminated
Phase angle: 11.05 degrees
Elongation from Sun 157.15 degrees (evening sky)
Speed of apparent motion: 15.267"/hour at position angle 269.9
Motion is 0.10 degrees/day in RA, -0.00 degrees/day in dec


Lawrence Harris wrote:
> I am using Guide on my observatory computer to locate comet Kohoutek 75P. The
> location is given on this computer, but I have just installed Guide on my main
> computer (not normally used at the same time but I am currently checking layouts
> etc). I now find that this comet is way out on this computer despite identical
> settings a.f.a.i.k. No wonder my comets are not shown in the images! What
> might be going on here?
>
> LAwrence Harris
>

--
Larry Wood

300x is almost enough!
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