Observing with Large Telescopes

Abstarct

There are several comet observation projects which one can carry out with a large telescope (aperture larger than 0.30 m or 12 in.). For example, one can use a large telescope to record spectra of a comet, or to make polarization measurements of the coma. One can determine also when the coma first forms and dissipates, along with other information which may yield clues to a comet’s age. He or she may be able to measure the brightness of the bare nucleus or carry out several of the projects described in the previous chapter. In this chapter, I will describe several observing projects which may be carried out with large telescopes, namely, ­spectroscopy, radio studies, photometry of comets and lightcurves, photometry of the bare nucleus, polarization measurements, searching for new comets, recovery of periodic comets and measuring the opacity of comets.