Rosetta and 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

News

2012 April 19.  Richard Miles has made the first amateur observation of the comet with the Faulkes Telescope.  The comet was 23rd magnitude and still a month from aphelion. Image
2012 April 25.  Pages created in draft.  Not all links (indeed most) will not work yet.

Observing diagrams

To see the full resolution diagram click on a thumbnail. The diagrams were generated using the GraphDark software written by Richard Fleet.  In general UK observers are poorly placed, but perhaps have a slight edge immediately after perihelion.  The comet is not well placed during the main period of Rosetta observation in 2015.
  2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
50°N 67p50n12.png (29336 bytes) 67p50n13.png (29619 bytes)  67p50n14.png (28878 bytes) 67p50n15.png (28753 bytes) 67p50n16.png (32189 bytes)
30°N  67p30n12.png (28643 bytes) 67p30n13.png (28609 bytes) 67p30n14.png (28104 bytes) 67p30n15.png (26465 bytes) 67p30n16.png (30604 bytes)
10°N  67p10n12.png (28233 bytes) 67p10n13.png (28610 bytes) 67p10n14.png (28273 bytes) 67p10n15.png (25242 bytes) 67p10n16.png (29844 bytes)
10°S  67p10s12.png (29479 bytes) 67p10s13.png (29842 bytes) 67p10s14.png (29159 bytes) 67p10s15.png (25003 bytes) 67p10s16.png (29038 bytes)
30°S  67p30s12.png (32520 bytes) 67p30s13.png (32727 bytes) 67p30s14.png (33019 bytes) 67p30s15.png (26451 bytes) 67p30s16.png (30289 bytes)

Ephemerides

Ephemerides for 67P at 30°N , 10°N , 10°S , 30°S and 50°S which give 1950 and J2000 positions and approximate observing windows for the period 2012 April 26 until 2015 January 31. The magnitudes are from standard parameters. The comet is not well placed for observation from more northerly latitudes. 

Ephemerides for 67P at 59°N , 56°N , 53°N , 50°N , 40°N , 30°N , 10°N , 10°S , 30°S , 40°S and 50°S for the period from 2015 February 1 until 2016 May 31 using linear magnitude parameters. 

Projected light curve

Guidance

  • Faulkes Telescope observing notes.
  • Comparison star charts

Meetings

A workshop on ground-based support for Rosetta was held at University College, London on 2012 April 17 and 18.  Meeting notes.

There is a joint Asteroids and Remote Planets Section and Comet Section meeting on 2012 October 6.  This is being held in Milton Keynes and will include discussion of Rosetta.

It is planned to hold a European Comet Workshop in London on 2013 February 7 to discuss amateur observation in support of Rosetta.  We hope to obtain EU funding to support this.

Links

  • Europlanet.
  • Sign-up to the Matrix [not yet available]

EU National Groups

Published by jds [at] ast.cam.ac.uk