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Comet Ephemeris Report

 

 

 

 

Comet Ephemeris Report

The Comet Ephemeris Report contains an ephemeris calculation for each comet and instant in the Ephemeris time period. Times are accurate for the observer's location. Times and equatorial position values are shown in the format selected in Preferences.

Printed and exported documents contain a header section that on-screen documents provide in the settings pane of the document window. The header includes:

document name

observer's location (can be omitted from printing by activating the Print Saver)

objects included and time period covered by the report (can be omitted from printing by activating the Print Saver)

The body of the report (on-screen, printed, and exported) is column-oriented and the name of each column is listed below with a description. See Working with Reports to learn how to control content, layout and appearance of the report.

Column Name

Description

Date/Time

Date and time of the instantaneous ephemeris data. The data are formatted as specified in Preferences.

Object

Name assigned to the comet. If the comet's orbital elements are downloaded from the Minor Planet Center, this is the official designation of the object. (See Updating Orbital Elements.)

Con

Constellation in which the object is located

RA/ Decl

Apparent topocentric position. The data are formatted as specified in Preferences.

Perihelion

Date that comet reaches its closest point to the Sun.

Mag

Predicted Magnitude - these values are predicted by mathematical models and are not necessarily accurate. ICQ/CBAT/MPC maintains recent magnitude estimates for many comets at: http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/CometMags.html

Elng

Angular distance from the object to the sun (sun-earth-object angle)

Phase

Phase angle (sun-object-earth angle)

Alt

Apparent altitude at the ephemeris date and time. The angle is formatted as specified in Preferences.

Az

Apparent azimuth at the ephemeris date and time. The angle is formatted as specified in Preferences.

LHA

Local hour angle at the ephemeris date and time. The angle is formatted as hours and minutes East or West of the meridian.

SA2000

Chart number on which the object appears in Sky Atlas 2000.0

U2000

Volume and page number on which the object appears in Uranometria 2000.0. Note that there is some overlap in the two volumes, but the page number is valid for either volume

MSA

Volume and page number on which the object appears in Millennium Star Atlas

HB

Chart series (B & C) and page number on which the object appears in Herald-Bobroff AstroAtlas.

U2000.2

Volume and page number on which the object appears in Uranometria 2000.0 2d Ed. Note that there is some overlap in the two volumes, but the page number is valid for either volume

PSA

Chart number on which the object appears in Pocket Sky Atlas.

IDSA

Chart number on which the object appears in interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas.

Dist (Earth)

Distance between object and earth measured in astronomical units (au).

Dist (Sun)

Distance between object and sun measured in astronomical units (au).

Motion

Angular distance traveled by the object between this instant of the ephemeris calculation and the previous (blank if there is no previous instant in this report)

Rise(Az), Set(Az)

Time of rise, set, and apparent azimuth at rise and set time for your location. If your location has a local horizon model defined for it and the model is applied to the ephemeris calculation, rise & set times are the approximate times at which an object rises above and sets beneath the local horizon model. The data are formatted as specified in Preferences.

Transit(Alt)

Time of transit and apparent altitude at transit. The data are formatted as specified in Preferences.

Observed

Whether or not present in the observing log

 


 

Help file version 9.2.3.0 ▪ Copyright © 2024-2026 Knightware, LLC

 

 

 

Help file version: 9.2.3.0  Copyright © 2026 Knightware, LLC