Gareth V. Williams wrote:
: Maurice Gavin wrote:
: : I've posted a couple of images of Comet Encke fuzzball taken last
: : night at

: : http://home.freeuk.com/m.gavin/encke.htm

: : I'd like to identify the starfield. Can someone compute Encke's
: : position for 2003 Nov 27 @ 18.33UT? TIA

: Why not compute it yourself using, e.g., the on-line Minor Planet
: & Comet Ephemeris Service
: (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html)?

I'm following up my earlier post, because someone else posted a
position for the requested time without indicating the source of his
information.

Using the above-mentioned service, I see that at the specified time
the position of 2P/Encke for a topocentric site somewhere in England
(code J95, Great Shefford) was:

0002P
Date UT R.A. (J2000) Decl. Delta r El. Ph. m1...

2003 11 27 1833 18 44 28.3 +11 08 22 0.296 0.825 49.4 114.9 7.6...

where the lines have been truncated to fit in this posting (so we've lost
the motion and local circumstances). The header to the ephemeris
indicates the source for the elements used to compute this ephemeris
(MPC 50140).

Note that a PDF describing how to use the MPES is available on the main
MPES page (URL given above) and it is recommended that users read this
document.


--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gareth V. Williams, MS 18, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Associate Director, IAU Minor Planet Center
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html
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