Comet data in AnnotateImage script?

Phil Misiowiec

First, I found your video about using the Minor Planet Center extremely useful! I discovered a moving object in recent images of NGC 3521 that I downloaded from Telescope.live. Using the AnnotateImage script, I was able to eliminate nearby asteroids. That video helped me figure out how to use MPC's Minor Planet Checker to identify that Comet Lemmon was cruising near the galaxy in the subs. I was also able to confirm this by using Stellarium.

To confirm, it does not seem that there is an easy way to get comet data into AnnotateImage? I did not see any comet XEPH files on the MPC site.

Thanks!

BlockHead

I agree. I have not looked into the comet data..but comets are much much more unpredictable. They are more likely to have non-Newtonian forces (heating, jets...etc) that effect their orbits. In addition many come and go...so it would be a huge take to keep up with the ephemerides. 

MPC does output (regularly) a Comet data flle that could be used for this purpose. It would be incumbent on the user to get the file. However, I have not seen any plans for Juan (the developer) to do this.

-the Blockhead