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Observation by Alex Pratt: Video astrometry of comet C/2019 L3 (ATL...

Uploaded by

Alex Pratt

Observer

Alex Pratt

Observed

2022 May 04 - 22:00

Uploaded

2022 Aug 24 - 21:09

Objects

C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)

Equipment
  • C11 f/10 and f/3.3 focal reducer
  • Watec 910HX video camera
  • IOTA-VTI GPS 1PPS time inserter
  • OccuRec (recorder)
  • Tangra (reduction)
  • Online Find_Orb
Exposure

Generally 0.64s

Location

Z92 (Bortle 7)

Target name

Comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)

Title

Video astrometry of comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)

About this image

I obtained 113 measurements of this comet on 42 nights between January and May, when its distance from Earth increased from 2.5 to 4 AU and its distance from the Sun was almost constant, from 3.5 to 3.7 AU. On 3 nights I could only get single measurements (not acceptable to the MPC) but thankfully Find_Orb has no such restriction.

My last observation was on 'May the Fourth'. It then became too faint in the growing twilight in the western sky.

The attached plot shows the results from Find_Orb, comparing my video astrometry with all other data downloaded from the MPC. During this period the comet didn't deviate from the accurate MPC ephemeris.

The magnitude estimates used a ~10 arcsec aperture so they're more like nuclear magnitudes rather than total ones. The Watec 910's sensor is red sensitive, but with the IR/UV filter its response is somewhere between R and V.

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