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Photometric measurements

If you send photometric measurements, please use the ICQ format. We recommend the usage of  our software ICQ-Format.

The VdS-Fachgruppe Kometen has issued three publications (in german) for comet observers. The publication Einstieg in die visuelle Kometenbeobachtung is a guideline for beginners, written in a refreshing style.  A second paper is directed to visual observers. The book  "Kometen beobachten" describes all espects of visual, photographic and CCD-observations of comets.

Einstieg in die visuelle Kometenbeobachtung (14 pages)

• Sources of Information
• Instruments
• Finding comets via "star-hopping"
• Magnitude estimation methods (Bobrovnikoff/Sidgwick)
• Comparison Star Catalogues
• Coma Diameter and DC
• Tail Length and Position Angle
• Near-nucleus Phenomena
• Reporting the Observations

You can download the document as pdf document.

Anleitung zur visuellen Kometenbeobachtung

You may download the document as pdf document.

Kometen beobachten (about 300 pages)

Profound information about comet observation could be found in the book Kometen beobachten (Observing Comets) by Andreas Kammerer and Mike Kretlow. This book covered on more than 300 print pages all important aspects of comet observation and analysis (visual, photographic and CCD-observations/analysis, spectroscopy, astrometry etc.). However, this book is no longer available.

In March 2010 a second revised edition was completed. Revisions included the chapters on "Comet Observations by amateurs", "The most important references for brightness estimates", "Spectroscopy" and several appendices. The chapter "Astrometry" was removed. It should become part of the CCD-chapter in a future edition.

Version 2010 "Kometen beobachten" (Attention: 17 MB)