[Kstars-devel] Trouble with comet magnitudes

[Akarsh Simha]

Hello

Using the same formula which was used in the patch attached to my 
previous mail for comets turns out to be a difficult thing, because
the H and G parameters are not present in our comets.dat nor is the
albedo present.

In order to be able to include the calculation of comet magnitudes,
we must expand our comets.dat database. May I know which particular
format we are using? Is it one of the formats supported by the IAU
MPC site:
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/SoftwareComets.html

Is it wise to add two columns into the current comets.dat file indicating
the H and G parameters?

PS: A small documentation patch is attached.

Regards
Akarsh.
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Index: kstars/skycomponents/cometscomponent.h
===================================================================
--- kstars/skycomponents/cometscomponent.h	(revision 750121)
+++ kstars/skycomponents/cometscomponent.h	(working copy)
@@ -50,28 +50,28 @@
     virtual ~CometsComponent();
 
     /**
-    	*@short Draw the asteroids onto the skymap
+    	*@short Draw the comets onto the skymap
     	*@p ks pointer to the KStars object
     	*@p psky reference to the QPainter on which to paint
     	*/
     virtual void draw( KStars *ks, QPainter& psky );
 
     /**
-    	*@short Initialize the asteroids list.
-    	*Reads in the asteroids data from the asteroids.dat file.
+    	*@short Initialize the comets list.
+    	*Reads in the comets data from the comets.dat file.
     	*@p data Pointer to the KStarsData object
     	*
     	*Populate the list of Comets from the data file.
     	*Each line in the data file is parsed as follows:
-    	*@li 6-23 Name [string]
-    	*@li 24-29 Modified Julian Day of orbital elements [int]
-    	*@li 30-39 semi-major axis of orbit in AU [double]
-    	*@li 41-51 eccentricity of orbit [double]
-    	*@li 52-61 inclination angle of orbit in degrees [double]
-    	*@li 62-71 argument of perihelion in degrees [double]
-    	*@li 72-81 Longitude of the Ascending Node in degrees [double]
-    	*@li 82-93 Mean Anomaly in degrees [double]
-    	*@li 94-98 Magnitude [double]
+    	*@li 3-38 Name [string]
+    	*@li 39-43 Modified Julian Day of orbital elements [int]
+    	*@li 45-54 semi-major axis of orbit in AU [double]
+    	*@li 56-65 eccentricity of orbit [double]
+    	*@li 67-75 inclination angle of orbit in degrees [double]
+    	*@li 77-85 argument of perihelion in degrees [double]
+    	*@li 87-95 Longitude of the Ascending Node in degrees [double]
+    	*@li 97-110 Passage of perihelion [double]
+    	*@li 112-117 Unused
     	*/
     virtual void init(KStarsData *data);
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