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Re: IN SYMPATHY to the Hale-Bopp Cooperative


Article: <5fmnr2$g95@sjx-ixn8.ix.netcom.com>
From: saquo@ix.netcom.com(Nancy )
Subject: Re: IN SYMPATHY to the Hale-Bopp Cooperative
Date: 6 Mar 1997 15:28:34 GMT

In article <5fimoa$gg2@news.Hawaii.Edu> Dave Tholen writes:
>> Fine, now since you claim that the Orbital Elements are
>> changed as a result of OBSERVATIONS, please tell us
>> what observation caused the eccentricity of the mythical
>> Hale-Bopp to change from
>> 0.995038361 on May 28, '96 to
>> 0.995072729 on June 27, '96, as announced by JPL.
>> saquo@ix.netcom.com
>
> All the observations have been published in the Minor
> Planet Circulars, Nancy. ... There are over 1,900 astrometric
> observations by now, including some made between May 28
> and June 27.
> tholen@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu

(Begin ZetaTalk[TM])
We have either evasive answers that refuse to address the issue, or are pointed to documentation NOT available to the layman, and are likewise told that the amount of detail is such that a layman would not be able to process it in a year of their leisure time, should they even have the knowledge of how to read this detail. And then we are to wonder just what this detail represents. Is this the 10% of data that the IAU has selected for inclusion, or the 90% they threw out so that McNaught's 1993 image would fit?

Be the astronomer you title yourself as, David, and explain EXACTLY what observation caused the eccentricity of the June 27, 1996 Orbital Elements posted by JPL to tighten, as averse the May 28, 1996 Orbital Elements. This observation would have been between May 23 and June 25, the two last dates of observation noted by JPL going into the Orbital Element recalculation, so we don't have 1,900 observation, we have a lesser amount for just this month.
(End ZetaTalk[TM])