Member’s In-Reach: Viewing Comet Trails with Amateur-Sized Telescopes w/David Chandler

Members In-Reach Events are for DAS members only.

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Topic: Viewing Comet Trails with Amateur-Sized Telescopes

David will discuss his discovery that “comet trails” (comet debris trails littering their orbits) can be seen with amateur-sized telescopes.  Locating them is a challenge, given that typical astronomy software does not show their locations, but there are some options.  David will describe how he computed and plotted them with his former DOS software, Deep Space.  Between this writing and his presentation, he may be able to budget enough time to write a simple, special-purpose program to plot comet trails, but he makes no promises.  If any attendees would like to write such a program themselves, David will guide them on how to proceed.

The observations he will be describing tonight were brought about by a confluence of his interest in challenging his observational skills, the availability of dark skies in the southwest, the availability of medium-sized telescopes, 13” and up, and his ability to customize his software to facilitate locating unusual observing targets: comet trails, the debris trails and potential meteor shower streams that inhabit the orbital paths of comets.

About David Chandler

David has a BS in physics and an MS in mathematics and has taught physics, mathematics, and astronomy at these secondary and college levels since the early 1970s (retired in 2012).  He won a cash prize for his senior physics project at Harvey Mudd College and used the money to buy his first telescope. He has built telescopes ranging from 6” to 24” and has been an avid observer of “faint fuzzy” objects, looking for visual observing challenges.  He wrote a computer program to generate custom star maps and plot comet orbits in the late 1970s and expanded it into a general-purpose observing software package, complete with telescope control.

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Designed to educate newer and less-experienced members about astronomy, these monthly events are hosted by experienced club members.