Post-perihelion observations of comet 1P/Halley. V: rh = 28.1 AU
Résumé
Deep CCD observations have been performed simultaneously with the three 8.2 m Very Large Telescopes at Paranal, in the direction of comet 1P/Halley, on March 6-8, 2003. The comet, at heliocentric distance r=28.1 AU, was convincingly detected (at S/N=8) on a composite of 32 284 s exposure, as a point-source located 1.4'' from the expected position. The object is also visible (at the S/N=3-5 level) on independent per-night or per-instrument composites, confirming the reality of the object, and the match of the observed motion over 3 consecutive nights with the predicted motion of 1P/Halley guarantees that this cannot be another Solar System object. The magnitude of the object, R=28.22 ± 0.13, is compatible with the average cross-section of the bare nucleus.
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