Comet Halley observational bias: Theory and measurement

Details Comet Halley observational bias: Theory and measurement Comet Halley observational bias: Theory and measurement

Dec 1986

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1986esasp.250c.283r&link_type=abstract

In ESA, Proceedings of the 20th ESLAB Symposium on the Exploration of Halley's Comet. Volume 3: Posters p 283-287 (SEE N87-26714

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Astrometry, Astronomical Photometry, Halley'S Comet, Position Errors, Visual Observation, Comet Nuclei, Image Analysis, Light Curve, Orbit Calculation

Scientific paper

Orbit determinations of comet Halley for ESA's GIOTTO mission have revealed systematic differences between best-fit ephemerides and astrometric observations in the months of September, October 1985, January 1986, and, even more pronounced, in February and March 1986. These differences are often explained by an offset of the centre of light from the centre of gravity of the comet. In this paper the authors deal with the determination of the centre of light in an astrometric measurement. To this purpose, they carefully analysed the images of the comet on exposures taken at the Calar Alto observatory in Spain in the period September 1985 till January 1986. These investigations show that the position which an observer refers to as "the" centre of light strongly depends on the focal length of the telescope, the exposure time and the way of measurement (eye or scanning machine). The implications for orbit determination are the following: (a) Special treatment of cometary images can significantly reduce observational biases. (b) Presently available models to describe an observation bias are inequate to model fluctuations of a short time-scale as observed in January 1986.

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