Campaign Goals: March 31 - April 15, 2005

Tempel 1 is at opposition in April and is visible the entire night. Images taken by STSP participants in the last week of March show the coma has a diameter of about 1.4 arcminutes and the tail is about 1.5 arcminutes long and bent toward the south-west.

The goal of this campaign is to obtain scientifically useful observations of comet 9P/Tempel 1 over several days and weeks. We expect the total visual magnitude to be about 10.5 and the R magnitude to be about 12.5. The comet is near RA 13:15:56.6 and dec +13deg 09min 54.7sec at UTC 05:32 2005-04-09 (9 hours after new moon). From latitudes near 39 degrees north, the comet has an elevation of 60-65 degrees from midnight through 2am (daylight savings time) on April 9.

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!

Registration and Data Submission

(Spring 2006)
Registration and data submission have been closed.

Questions? How to Contact Us!

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

During the campaign weekend, Stef will monitor the observers' message board. Also, 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