Observing with Small Telescopes

Abstarct

With a small telescope (lens diameter of up to 12 in. or 0.30 m) one should be able to carry out many useful comet projects. While some features of a comet cannot be measured because of a lack of scale, this should not dissuade one from conducting studies of comet features. In the text which follows, various comet features which can be measured are presented, together with my beliefs of what needs to be done in order to maximize the scientific potential of drawings and images. In conducting­ such studies, for example, one should be able to measure the rotation period of the nucleus and the growth rate of any jet(s). With the proper filters, measurements could be made of the gas-to-dust ratio in the coma, and with a CCD camera and an electronic calculator, the orientation, shape and length of the gas and dust tails as the comet moves around the Sun could be monitored. Other areas of study are presented below.