I participated in some of those campaigns and I offered my thoughts on the the ups and downs of participation with Helen. I note that in her comments in the paper that one of the most difficult part of the campaigns was the organising the submitiion of data/images by observers. There needs to be a central website to upload data to that is easy to use. Too many sites and convoluted upload instructions and requirements will result in observers not being able or inclined to submit data/images. In my opinion the data collection needs to be streamlined, be simple, and run by one central body. Your mention of the next "Comet of the Century" to take these observing campaigns to the next level requires thta we have advanced warning of the appearance of this bright comet. This was possible with Halley,Deep Impact,ISON and 46P etc. With PanSTARRS and other surveys discovering incoming comets in ever more distant circumstances, it should be possible to give advanced warning of arrival and create the opportunity to organise future campaigns. However there are other comets whcih we do not have that advanced warning for, such as C/2020F3 NOEWISE and C/2019 Y4 ATLAS which either arrived without warning or suprised us by exhibiting very unusual and spectacular activity.In both these cases there was intense observational coverage by amateurs that was untertaken individually and was not part of any coordinated observing campaign.Perhaps there should be a central body where observations of any comet could be lodged. The observational requirements could be laid out in a manner that would encourage observers to participate and submit data/images (including spectroscopy)and also enable researchers to analyse these observations.There will always be comets around for us to observe, if we can coooperate and collate observations then no doubt we will learn more about these fascinating solar system bodies. Just some of my thoughts for what they are worth.
Denis Buczynski
------ Original Message ------
From: "=?us-ascii?q?Richard_Miles_-_rmiles.btee_at_btinternet.com_ ?=" <baa-comet@simplelists.com>
To: baa-comet@simplelists.com
Sent: Wednesday, 18 Nov, 20 At 18:02
Subject: Re: [BAA Comets] interesting paper
You've beaten me to it Denis! - it's on my list of things to do for today but I needed to send out the earlier note first.
Helen Usher has been the prime mover behind this well-written and informative work - this is one of her contributions that in their entirety should eventually see her awarded a Ph.D., which she is currently studying for.
As well as Rosetta and Comet 67P, there is a useful retrospective of previous observing campaigns (Halley, Deep Impact, ISON and others) and the results of a couple of surveys - one questioning Rosetta campaign participants and the other obtaining feedback from the wider astronomical community.
Now we just need the next Comet of the Century to make its presence known to us and we can put in practice Helen's recommendations for an ideal observing campaign with it as the target!
Richard Miles
----- Original Message ----- From: "denis buczynski - buczynski8166 at btinternet.com (via baa-comet list)" <baa-comet@simplelists.com>
To: <baa-comet@simplelists.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2020 5:29 PM
Subject: [BAA Comets] interesting paper
Hello all Gideon Van Buitenen has brought to attention this paper which will be of interest to BAA Comet Section members.
An interesting new paper on arxiv:
The Rosetta Mission Amateur Observing Campaign and Lessons for the Future. (Helen Usher
, Colin Snodgrass, Simon F. Green, Andrew Norton and Paul Roche)
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2011.07123.pdf
Denis Buczynski
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