FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Re: A NEAT Sunset Comet

[Russell Chmela~ <rchmela@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

PS, How does one estimate a comet's magnitude?  The nucleus?  Same as
estimating a galaxy?

Thad
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 The two I have seen are described in Charles Morris' Comet web site.
One is called the IN-OUT method (not the hamburger stand;-) where comet
is in focus and compared then with field stars made out-of-focus to the same 
angular "size". The magnitude of the comet is determined by comparing
to the charted magnitude of the star. The method is easy to do and the
one I use. It has a small innacuracy and supposedly this is between using
the method on bright comets (Hale/Bopp) and using it on dimmer ones of
the same angular size. The other method is OUT-OUT and uses both star 
and comet out of focus at once. See his web site for more details.
 
 Russ
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