Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Sep 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994a%26a...289..311h&link_type=abstract
Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 289, no. 1, p. 311-324
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
11
Comets, Distance, Faint Objects, Imaging Techniques, Stellar Magnitude, Astrometry, Astronomical Photometry, Data Reduction, Image Analysis, Image Processing, Visual Observation
Scientific paper
We describe observations and reduction techniques used to image sky fields around three extremely distant comets (Shoemaker 1984 XV at heliocentric distance r = 17 AU, Bowell 1982 I at 23 AU and Schuster 1975 II at 31 AU) during a pilot program (3 half-nights) at the 3.5-meter Earth Observing System (ESO) New Technology Telescope. Very deep upper brightness limits could be set (V greater than or = 27 m), consistent with their nuclei now being quiescent and implying unexpectedly small upper limits for their radii, 3.4 km, 5.4 km and 10.3 km, respectively. We address in some detail the important problem of determining objectively the 'limiting magnitude' actually achieved during CCD imaging of a moving object. We also discuss some of the specific problems related to observations of very faint, moving objects with the currently available instrumentation, and we make predictions about observational possibilities with the new generation of giant telescopes.
Hainaut Olivier
Marsden Brian G.
Smette Alain
West Richard M.
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