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ICSTARS ASTRONOMY
Comet De Vico
Comet De Vico, photographed on the morning of October 4, 1995 at Elmcrest Observatory, located near Kingsville, Missouri, USA.
The 7 minute exposure was guided with a Meade LX-200 tracking on the comet. The exposure was made with a Nikon F2 camera on a 6 inch Meade Comet Tracker, f3.5 at prime focus, using Kodak 3200p asa negative film.
Sky conditions were clear and steady with excellent transparancy. Winds were calm. Temperature was 47 degrees F. Humidity was 80 percent.
The exposure was started at 10:38:00 UT 10/04/95.
Photo (C)1995 by Vic Winter.
Observations with a 10 inch reflector showed a huge tail, with hints of a split near the end.(As the photograph shows)
The comet has a very bright core. A very beautiful sight, indeed! The kink in the comet's tail was easily seen.
Assisting in the making of this photograph was my good friend Bob Haler. The loan of his Comet Tracker was essential and his aid in set-up and timing helped pull it off.
Three Japanese amateurs, each using giant binoculars, independently discovered a comet in the constellation Hydra on September 17th. Calling it about 7th magnitude, Yuji Nakamura, Masaaki Tanaka, and Shougo Utsunomiya noticed its northeastward motion of about 1.4 degrees per day. They could see only a diffuse coma, but a CCD image by T. Kojima with a 10-inch reflector shows a "kinked tail" extending more than 0.4 degree to the west, according to IAU Circular 6231.
Based on a striking similarity of orbits, Daniel W. E. Green (Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams) has identified this object with the long-lost Comet De Vico, last seen in 1846. Green's orbital elements, published on IAU Circular 6232, indicate the comet is now approaching perihelion at about Venus's distance from the Sun....
Comet De Vico Perihelion date, T 1995 October 6.03 UT Eccentricity, e 0.9627 Perihelion distance, q 0.6589 a.u. Argument of perihelion 12.98° Long. ascending node 79.63° (2000.0) Inclination, i 85.38°
Thanks to Sky Telescope Magazine For Some of This Information.
This page was created October 4, 1995
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