[Kstars-devel] [X-POST] Question about Coma Diameters of Comets

[Akarsh Simha]

Hi Alexey

> > Also the sun distance is wrong (2.33 in KStars, 1.45 in all other progs).
> >
> > The real brightness is around mag 9 to 10 now. therefore the estimation
> > of mag 11.2 is not so bad.
> >
> I've found accidentally suspiciously looking group of comets. They lie almost 
> on straight line. Too straight IMO. These comets are located near ?? Tau. 
> Are they real or some strange artefact?

I guess I know what this is. This is the line of fragments of the
comet 73P/Schwassman Wachmann-3. When it came close in April 2007, it
broke up into some 20 odd fragments which Jason added to comets.dat -
in summary, it's real and it isn't an artefact.

> Also I've noted that if absolute magnitude of comet or slope parameter are not
> set than they set to -101[1] which lead to strange results. I was quite 
> surprised by magnitude like -200m.

Thanks for pointing that out. Will fix it when I have the time - or
you could fix that if you wish. I've got a rather tight schedule this
week and probably wouldn't be able to work on it till the weekend.

Regards
Akarsh