Processing 19th Century Cometary Observations

BRANHAM, RICHARD L. JR.

Comets: Characteristics, Composition and Orbits

Nova Science Publishers

Año: 2011; p. 1 - 14

Comets observed during the 19th century, because many are catalogued with parabolic orbits, offer an opportunity to study possible Near Earth Objects (NEO?s). When a more refined orbit is calculated, one can determine if the orbit is hyperbolic, and the comet will never return, or highly elliptical, and a possible NEO. Whether one?s interest is primarily to investigate a parabolic orbit or merely to improve an existing elliptical or hyperbolic orbit, to calculate the orbit one must first process the observations, a laborious task because they are published in diverse languages, there is lack of standardization for the format of an observation, and many errors are present. Examples are given of these difficulties, which are nevertheless mostly superable and lean to the satisfactory outcome of a better orbit.