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Article: <[email protected]>
From: [email protected](Nancy)
Subject: Re: IN SYMPATHY to the Hale-Bopp Cooperative
Date: 2 Apr 1997 14:25:23 GMT
In article: <[email protected]> Lamont Granquist
writes:
> And Nancy, the three arc minute "leap" was for the
> prediction (a year in advance) when the comet was at
> perihelion. Jupiter was not involved in the slightest.
> [email protected]
Not so, JPL, while supposedly watching a REAL comet in May/June of 1996, while having 936 observations under its belt as of May 25 and up to 1008 observations by June 23, stated that the REAL comet they were tracking moved from -12 arc minutes of declination on May 25 to Dec -15 for the SAME DAY when Jupiter was at -22 declination. I put the Orbital Element given by JPL on May 28, 1996 and June 27, 1996 into SkyMap and plotted for May 28, a safe bet as the Orbital Element were JUST GIVEN on that date. Comparing the two I found that the June 27 position for what JPL is asserting is a REAL comet was 3 arc minutes further AWAY from Jupiter.
They had it leaping away from Jupiter, while under close observation. In addition, during the same change
in Orbital Elements from May 28 to June 27, they tightened the eccentricity. These JPL published elements
are available off the ZetaTalk home page at
http://www.zetatalk.com/halebopp/hb000001.htm