[BAA Comets] [comets-ml] is there any value in visual drawings of comets

[JS & EJ Gifford]

When P1 McNaught went through in 2007 I possibly had the best continuous 
view of all observers as the tail developed over several days, others 
having problems with cloud, smoke etc.. Not having a suitable camera I 
made a point of taking a star chart to the observing site each night and 
sketching on it the tail as I saw it. These sketches are still in the 
photo section of this group (comets-ml) as P1 Tailcharts at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/comets-ml/photos/album/95739289/pic/list
I did not attempt to sketch any detail , this was well covered at the 
time by photographers, the aim was to leave a record, initially just for 
my own use, of the extent of the tail shown accurately against the star 
background such that rather than making statements from memory that this 
or that was 30 degrees long or  wide or whatever the measurement could 
still be made any time after the event, and still can for anyone 
interested. I was not chasing any records for the biggest, brightest etc 
but was recording simply what I could see each night from the same 
location in southwestern Australia. The one caveat is that having made 
the decision to create this record the first chart, for the 19th 
January, was drawn from memory on returning home that night. At the time 
no-one knew quite what we were in for over the next few days, as with 
all comets, and personally I am very pleased that I took the time to 
make these sketches, which refresh my my failing memory and leave a 
permanent and accurate account of the unfolding tail of the greatest 
comet I have seen.
Regards,   Jim Gifford
Bridgetown, Western Australia.

On 11/4/2013 1:41 AM, DENIS BUCZYNSKI wrote:
>
> Hello all,
> In the (possibly unlikely) event of C/2012 S1 ISON becoming a bright 
> naked eye comet in the next few months, I have been wondering about 
> the value of visual observations( drawings) made at the eyepiece of 
> telescopes and binoculars. The comparison between the eventual 
> spectacle that C/2012 S1 ISON may become, with the actual views that 
> was experienced by observers of Comet Kohoutek 1973f  is being heard 
> more loudly as perihelion approaches for C/2012 S1 ISON. As 
> experienced comet observers, members of this group may remember that 
> Comet Kohoutek 1973f may not have been the Great Comet that was hoped 
> for at the time, but it did reach naked eye visibilty and many 
> observers were able to make succesful observations. Many of these were 
> visual observations. Is there any value in observers today recording 
> what can be seen in their telescopes?
> Most observers are taking images for astrometry/photometry or for 
> pretty/stunning image purposes. The visual observers are generally 
> making magnitude determinations and some are adding morphology details 
> such as coma size/and DC, plus tail lengths and orientations. Nobody 
> actually draws what they see. I am not the person to advise on drawing 
> techniques. But I would like to see this practice rekindled amongst 
> visual observers. The historical record is littered with high 
> resolution drawings