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Post by emortimer on Jul 15, 2011 17:16:13 GMT -5
spaceobs.org/en/2011/07/11/behind-spacecraft-rolls-to-observe-comet-elenin/he SECCHI team requests to roll the Behind spacecraft by 135 degrees for two hours per day each day between Aug 1 (or late on Sep 31) and Aug 12 to observe comet Elenin as it flies within 0.05 AU of the spacecraft. Observations of the comet at a wide variety of phase angles will provide information about composition. There’s also a possibility that the in situ instruments on Behind will see the ion tail. The requested two hours per day will include the roll and settle times, with the roll starting on an even hour boundary, and then back to nominal roll and settled on the next even hour boundary. A more detailed plan will be sent to APL (Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University). The test of the roll maneuver to observe Comet Elenin from Behind is expected to be scheduled sometime in week 29 (July 18-24
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Post by abeowitz on Jul 15, 2011 20:00:02 GMT -5
Very interesting... I wonder if this is unprecedented...
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Post by emortimer on Jul 15, 2011 20:47:24 GMT -5
I have been looking at this and if you look towards Saturn is the direction of it....from TX at 10CST it is SW to West but I have to get a telescope or go to the observatory
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Post by abeowitz on Jul 16, 2011 14:53:54 GMT -5
Someone's rented a scope and posted the images. Most of the video is image analysis, but the best summary is at 6:40.
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Post by emortimer on Jul 16, 2011 15:03:28 GMT -5
sure does not look to large to me
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