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Re: ATM - Asaf's Comet Hunting
Richard,
I have heard the same, that many, perhaps most, comets are
discovered when they are near the Sun. Taking this a step
further, I proposed photometric detection of comets when
they are a bit further out by exploiting the composition
of comets, as discussed by Micheal Mumma. I am in the
process of trying to get him to post a message to the
group about how this might best be done, since he is a
clear expert in this subject. If you do a litterature
search for Mumma, M, you will find he has shown some very
distinctive spectral data for comets. Photometry is not
too hard to get into, and with a few filters, I was thinking
there might be some peaks that an amateur can detect to
immediately discern between a comet and an asteroid, or some
other object while it is still very far away. Once there is
a clear tail, there would not be much use for a photometer
with regard to comet-hunting. However, there might be room
for comet-composition hunting.
A lot of the bio-organically interesting chemical species
are detected in the UV, others in the IR, but there are some
few peaks in the upper UV, visible and lower IR that can pass
through the atmosphere and could be detected with CCD and
photometers. I need to see how much can be detected. I know
OH and CO2+ are around 280 to 290 nm, but this might be
outside the atmospheric window. Above this, will be some
bi and poly -atomic organics. I suspect the mirror
may not be as crucial as the detection method if you
really want to pick up comets early on. To make a
real answer to this issue of detecting comets, I will
be looking at more complete spectral data and see what
Mumma can offer. I am banking on the prospect of finding
some characteristic peaks that can immeditately identify
a comet while it is nothing more than a small point source
of light. Then again, with the massive mirror some
amateurs are making, maybe people will start just filming
these sources and wiating for comets to drop out of the
pool.
Cheers,
Dominic
North 59 37' 30"
East 17 48' 10"
_______________________________________
Dominic-Luc Webb, doktorand
Lab:
Department of Molecular Medicine
Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit
Rolf Luft Center for Diabetes Research
Karolinska Hospital L6B:01
S-17176 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel: Int+46-8-517-75727
Fax: Int+46-8-517-73658
Home:
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Fidonet Netmail: 2:201/645.13
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