Encke observation 23th October 2003

On this page we present the observations of the comet 2P/Encke, made on the 23th of October 2003. A very fast reduction has been done.

Observation
Observers:Dominique Suys, Jan Vantomme, Hugo Riemis.
Time: 23th of October 2003 from 22h30m to 23h00.
Location: Observatoire de Pic du Chateau Renard - AstroQueyras - Saint Véran - France.
Longitude: 6°54'24" East Latitude: 44°41'52" North Altitude: 2931m.
Instrument: T62 - 62cm f/15 Casserganian telescope - with a 2x reducer
CCD: ST8ex working in binning 3x3
Exposure times: 15-60sec. We could notice a move of the nucleus at an exposure time of 30sec.
Limiting magnitude: in the image of 15sec, stars of mag18 can easily be found.
Weather: clear - very cold (-13 deg Celius)

Preprocessing
All the images are corrected for bias, dark and flat.
All the processing was done using the IRIS software of Christian Buil.

Photometic reduction
Time: 23th of October 2003 from 22h39m57s to 22h48m51s.
Instrument: T62 with a 2x reducer
CCD: ST8ex working in binning 3x3
Exposure times: 15sec.
The reduction has been done based on the following stars:
GSC 2806 2181 RA:00h58m32.378s DEC:+42°19'24.06" MAG:15.01±0.39
GSC 2806 1497 RA:00h57m59.623s DEC:+42°17'57.01" MAG:14.17±0.40
The comet was taken as a star to determine its magnitude, so the we only measure the nucleus:
The average magnitude was 15.08.

Astrometric reduction
Time: 23th of October 2003 at 22h39m57s - these images are not made for astrometric reduction, therefor the clock of the controlling PC was not adjusted to an atomic clock. Deviations of 1 minute could be possible. Sorry...
Instrument: T62 with a 2x reducer
CCD: ST8ex working in binning 3x3
Exposure times: 15sec.
The reduction has been done based on the following stars:
GSC 2806 2181 RA:00h58m32.378s DEC:+42°19'24.06" MAG:15.01±0.39
GSC 2806 1497 RA:00h57m59.623s DEC:+42°17'57.01" MAG:14.17±0.40
GSC 2806 1619 RA:00h58m35.112s DEC:+42°22'17.79" MAG:14.17±0.39
GSC 2806 1369 RA:00h58m32.008s DEC:+42°20'44.62" MAG:13.42±0.39
GSC 2806 1697 RA:00h58m00.828s DEC:+42°17'24.93" MAG:14.98±0.40
GSC 2806 1483 RA:00h57m56.097s DEC:+42°20'06.00" MAG:13.81±0.40
We find the following result:
ALPHA = 00h 58m 23.000s DELTA = +42° 19' 46.35"
C2003 10 23.94441 00 58 23.000 +42 19 46.35

go to diary of the mission 2003 where this observation has been made


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Last updated on 29 October, 2003
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