J. Brit. Astron. Assoc., 109, 6, 1999, p.351

The International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy

held on 1999 August 14-16 at New Hall, Cambridge

Eleven comet discoverers at the Cambridge meeting. Left to right: David Sargeant (1); Don Machholz (9); Patrick Stonehouse (1); Keith Tritton (1); Alan Hale (1); Doug Biesecker (40 SOHO comets); George Alcock (5 comets, 5 novae); Bill Liller (1 comet, 40 novae or novalike variables, 1 supernova); Michael Jager (1); Kesao Takamizawa (5 comets, 2 novae, 1 supernova, approx. 500 variables); Kazimieris Cernis (3). Photo by Martin Mobberley


Report by Jonathan Shanklin

The BAA was proud to host the second International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy at New Hall, Cambridge between August 14 and 16. The meeting was designed to foster links between amateur and professional observers, with the specific aim of attracting as many comet discoverers as possible to attend. We succeeded in bringing together 11: George Alcock, Doug Biesecker (SOHO), Kazimieris Cernis, Alan Hale, Michael Jager, Bill Liller, Don Machholz, David Seargent, Patrick Stonehouse, Kesao Takamizawa and Keith Tritton, who between them had discovered 28 comets and many SOHO comets (a further SOHO comet was discovered during the meeting).

The meeting was held immediately after the total eclipse, as this brought many visitors to Europe to enjoy the spectacle of rain-drenched skies. Several participants were successful in viewing totality, and as expected in general the clearest skies were found the furthest east. There were several themes to the invited talks, which began on Saturday morning - comet discovery, social issues regarding comet observing and comet photometry, and the meeting concluded with contributed talks and posters. Sessions were run by a moderator and generally concluded with a panel discussion, which often widened to include comments from other participants. The food provided by the New Hall caterers was superb and the quantity defeated even the hungriest astronomers. In all we had 70 participants from 15 countries making it a truly international occasion. We had a good representation of BAA members, some staying at New Hall, with others visiting on a daily basis. An informal account of the meeting and notes from the talks appears on the Comet Section web page and will also appear in The Comet's Tale. Papers presented at the meeting will be formally published in the International Comet Quarterly after refereeing.

Perhaps the highlight of the meeting was the appearance of George Alcock on Sunday afternoon. George is internationally renowned as the visual discoverer of five comets and five novae, but other aspects of his life are less well known. Kay Williams has recently written his biography (Under an English Heaven, Genesis Publications Ltd), which recounts his life and observations, not just in the field of astronomy, but also in meteorology, natural history and architecture. Several of his superb comet drawings were on display during the meeting and he received a standing ovation.

Several talks showed what could be achieved by careful attention to detail when observing with CCD cameras or photography. Bernd Brinkmann, Michael Jager, Herman Mikuz and others showed some superb images demonstrating that amateurs could now do what professionals were doing only a few years ago. Brian Marsden emphasised how important accurate astrometry was for orbit determination, in order that non-optical telescopes and spacecraft could be accurately targeted. Jean-Claude Merlin and Bob Neville demonstrated that many amateurs could provide good follow-up astrometry even using simple equipment.

An increasing feature in the community is the widespread use of the Internet to disseminate news and observations. It is not always obvious which sites give accurate and reliable information, and concern has been expressed that some observers are becoming biased by noting what other observers report before making their own observations. Andreas Kammerer demonstrated in a poster that the very long tail lengths reported for comet Hyakutake around the time of its closest approach to the Earth are most likely exaggerations, unless the comet somehow knew what the motion of the Earth would be and obligingly changed its tail orientation.

The Cambridge University Press hosted a reception at their bookshop in the centre of Cambridge on Saturday evening and participants were able to purchase books from their large range. The sky cleared after dinner and participants walked across to the Cambridge University Observatories, where comets 10P/Tempel 2 and 1999 N2 (Lynn) were observed with binoculars and the Thorrowgood refractor. The historic Northumberland refractor was also put to use on a number of deep sky objects. We had clear skies again the following night, and both were amongst the most transparent summer skies that Cambridge sees, giving visitors a slightly false impression of our usual observing conditions.

Most meetings include an excursion and we boarded an air-conditioned bus on Monday afternoon to visit Avebury and Stonehenge. I played the part of tour guide and gave an informal account of features of some of the towns we passed through en route. At Stonehenge we were granted permission by English Heritage to enter the stone circle after normal visiting hours and this provided a fitting conclusion to an historic meeting.


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