International Comet Quarterly

Information for Contributors of Observations for the ICQ/CBAT Page

NOTE: Contributors of comet magnitudes for inclusion on these web pages need to also include full information for ICQ publication and archiving! Observations from first-time (and occasional) contributors of comet magnitudes will generally not be considered unless they are accompanied by such necessary additional details.

Contributors of such observations for this Web site and for CBAT publications should use the format below --- but send data in chronological order (not in reverse chronological order, as given on the CBAT/ICQ magnitudes webpage) and use carriage-returns for any data beyond column 80 -- which is the form used for potential IAUC-published data (we have a program to automatically convert observations from IAUC-format chronological order into reverse-chronological order for the postings below). Please put each single observation on a line by itself, beginning with the month on each and every line (to avoid errors in observations becoming separated). Use month abbreviations (or full spellings) exactly as given on the ICQ magnitudes webpage. Send observations for IAUCs and the ICQ/CBAT Web page to icqcsc@eps.harvard.edu). In general, we include data below only by experienced observers who also contribute full details in ICQ format (magnitude method, comparison-star reference, coma diameter, DC, etc.). Data not contributed in the format below will not be posted here.

[UT to 0.01 day, total visual mag., coma diameter (observer, observing site, instrument);]

Examples (note that month should always be given, unlike what appears to the reader on the actual comet-magnitudes webpage listings; below is how to actually contribute an observation):

COMET 17P/HOLMES
     Total-magnitude and coma-diameter estimates:
Nov. 15.23, 3.5, -- (F. Gobet, Cestat, France, naked eye);
Nov. 15.49, 3.2, -- (R. O. Wheeler, Edmond, OK, U.S.A., naked eye);
Nov. 15.52, 3.3, 37' (S. Yoshida, Kanagawa, Japan, naked eye);
Nov. 15.72, 2.8, -- (K. Cernis, Vilnius, Lithuania, naked eye);
Nov. 15.74, 3.5, 15' (V. M. Ivanov, Saratov, Russia, naked eye);


Comet 191P/McNaught
     Total-magnitude and coma-diameter estimates:
Oct. 18.00, 15.7, +0'.4 (A. Baransky, Lisnyky, Ukraine, 0.70-m reflector + CCD);
Nov. 17.11, 14.0, 0'.4 (J. J. Gonzalez, Leon, Spain, 0.20-m reflector);

Give last (family) name of observer, preceded by first- and middle-name initials (not full names). Observing site should be a geographical feature (city, town, mountain, valley, near a certain town, etc.), not an observatory name. Instruments should be given as on ICQ comet-magnitudes webpage, to either the nearest 0.01 m or to the nearest 1 cm in aperture (no magnification, no f/-ratio). Use periods (.), not commas (,) for decimal points. Both below and on the IAU Circulars, 2-letter standard postal abbreviations are used for states in the USA and for provinces in Canada; the abbreviations are also available here.

     Note that contributors from non-English-speaking countries using
alphabets that employ diacritic marks (accents, umlauts, etc.) in the
names of observers and/or places need to specify what marks are needed;
do NOT use special control characters, as these frequently do not
survive e-mail (electronic) transmission.  Use a backslash (\) and then
give the diacritic mark in the spaces immediately preceding the
letter; for example, the French word "echelle" uses an acute accent
(aigu) over the first "e", so this should be written thus:  \'echelle.
Likewise, use \" for a German umlaut, \^ for a circumflex, \~ for a tilde,
\` for a grave accent, \v# for a hacek (where # is a blank space),
\c# for a cedilla (where # is a blank space), \H\ for a Hungarian umlaut,
and \ae, \o, and \aa for the final three Norwegian letters.
More complete information is available at
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/NonEnglish.html.

ICQ contributors need to supply more information; when reporting data, include magnitude method, comparison-star source, coma diameter (in arc minutes), instrument used for making the estimate, name, and address (while all this information is not included below, it is included in the published tabulated data in the ICQ).

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