[BAA Comets] Image of Comet C/1973 E1 (Kohoutek)

[john_drummond at xtra.co.nz]

Nice photo Richard (Denis).

C/1973 E1 (Kohoutek) was the first comet that I observed. I well remember a group of ~6 of us Gisborne Astronomical Society (New Zealand) junior members sitting on the society observatory parapet with 10 x 50 binoculars and enjoying Kohoutek sporting a nice tail as it sat below Corvus in the dawn sky in early December 1973. We had just spent all night meteor observing – the Puppid-Velids and then the early Geminids from memory. From (a 45-year old) memory C/1973 E1 was about mag 6 and had a ~1 degree tail. The sight of this lone comet sitting in the emptiness of space was what propelled me into my interest in comets... 

I’m attaching a GUIDE 9.1 screen shot of Kohoutek as when you captured it (if it’s not stripped). The bright ‘star’ just above the horison is Jupiter. Of note is that our favourite comet, 29P (Schwassmann-Wachmann), is sitting 4.5 degrees east of C/1973 E1 (too faint to be seen of course). 


Cheers
==============================
John Drummond, Possum Observatory, IAU Code E94, Gisborne, New Zealand (177d 53' E, 38d 38' S)
Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand president - www.rasnz.org.nz
Gisborne Astronomical Society president - www.astrogas.co.nz
GAS Facebook - www.facebook.com/gisbornecosmos
Email: john_drummond at xtra.co.nz 



From: Richard Miles 
Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2018 10:05 PM
To: Denis Buczynski 
Cc: BAA Comets discussion list 
Subject: [BAA Comets] Image of Comet C/1973 E1 (Kohoutek)

Denis,

Have been having a root around in the garage ...

For the archive, here is my first photograph of a comet: Kohoutek.
It was snapped on 1974 January 10 using an undriven mount. The original 
frame is cropped in this image.
The person shown in silhouette was Robert Richardson, recently retired as a 
professor in the Physics Dept of the University of Bristol.

I still have the negatives. In fact I have 4 frames with the previous three 
being 10-sec exposures, so it may be worth scanning them and co-adding to 
enhance the appearance of the comet's tail.
Must also find my simple drawings of comets made prior to this one.

Cheers,
Richard



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