Campaign Goals: January 7 - 19, 2005

The goal of this campaign is to obtain scientifically useful observations of comet 9P/Tempel 1 over several days. The comet is visible from the southern and northern hemispheres for several hours before dawn. We expect the total visual magnitude to be 16.8. The comet is near RA 12:47, dec +09°11' at UTC 08:00 2005-01-10 (new moon).

We are requesting the following types of observations or measurements during this period:

• aperture photometry of the dust coma from broadband RI images; reduced RI images without photometry will be accepted and analyzed
• daily imaging in VRI or unfiltered to monitor for outbursts

If you attempt to image the comet and it is too faint to record, please send us an email describing your attempt AND THE LIMITING MAGNITUDE for your observing run! This information can be useful!

Some Results from the Observing Campaign in December 2004

Giovanni Sostero, Joe Manteca, Gary Emerson, and Tim Puckett attempted to image the comet during the December campaign. Here are some of their results:

• Giovanni Sostero, Remanzacco Observatory, Italy
  • 2004-12-10.12, Unfiltered images, 17.2 total visual magnitude
  • 2004-12-19.13, R images, 17.7 average R magnitude
• Jose Manteca, Observatorio de Begues, Spain
  • 2004-12-11.23, Unfiltered images, 18.6 total visual magnitude

Several observers reported that imaging the comet was difficult because it was a dim point source for small telescopes. If you attempted to image the comet in December, please let us know your results.

Also, Juan Lacruz of La Cañada Observatory, Spain, imaged that comet as early as October 2, 2004. He reported a total visual magnitude of about 19.3. His results (no pictures) are available here.

Questions? How to Contact Us!

Please send questions about this campaign to Stef McLaughlin, University of Maryland.

If you have an urgent question, you may leave a message at 301.405.3605 (USA).

STSP Coordinator: Stef McLaughlin
Webmaster: Elizabeth Warner
Last Updated: Wednesday August 29, 2007