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Article: <5fsqfa$jcf@sjx-ixn10.ix.netcom.com>
From: saquo@ix.netcom.com(Nancy )
Subject: Re: IN SYMPATHY to the Hale-Bopp Cooperative
Date: 8 Mar 1997 22:50:18 GMT
In article <5fpu6e$buh@pollux.cmc.ec.gc.ca> Greg Neills
writes:
>> JPL announced new Orbital Elements on May 28, 1996,
>> which they said were based on observations of the
>> mythical Hale-Bopp up to May 25, 1996. So they were
>> stating that they OBSERVED Hale-Bopp at Dec -15!
>> Then on June 27, 1996, they said based on
>> OBSERVATIONS up to June 23, 1996, that they decided
>> Hale-Bopp was not 3 arc minutes away, at Dec -12,
>> saquo@ix.netcom.com
>
> If the ephemeris prediction is off by some small amount
> from an actual observation, but a new ephemeris makes
> a closer fit to that observation, then I say, well done!
> ynecgan@cmc.doe.ca (Greg Neill)
Greg, let me try once again.
| 1. | JPL laid out new Orbital Elements on May 28, 1996, based on OBSERVATIONS up through May 23, 1996. Does this not mean that they OBSERVED Hale-Bopp at Dec -15? They were telling folks they could find a comet they were calling Hale-Bopp there, no problem! Did they say "thereabouts"? Nope. |
| 2. | JPL came back on June 27, 1996, a mere month later, saying they had OBSERVED Hale-Bopp some more, up through June 25, 1996, and per the corrected Orbital Elements placed it at Dec -12, not only for June 27 but also for May 28. So they had it jumping away from Jupiter, while under observation! |
I'm not asking for a mountain of detail to be examined. Just this one month, and the observations from May 23 to June 25, 1996, that resulting in a 3 arc minute leap AWAY from Jupiter, and a tightened eccentricity!