181P (P/Shoemaker-Levy) - PHOTOS AND OBSERVATIONS

Possum Observatory - John Drummond, New Zealand

Comet 181P is currently (Nov 2006) in the NW at sunset (for NZ), but VERY faint.

The following was extracted from GUIDE 8.0 software...

Orbital elements:

Period of orbit 7.53 years (2751.9 days)
Perihelion distance 1.1275520 AU
Aphelion distance 6.56 AU
Orbital elements:
Semimajor axis 3.8431455 AU
Eccentricity 0.7066070
Inclination of orbit 16.9267000 degrees
Argument of perihelion 333.5581000 degrees
Long. ascending node 37.8727000 degrees
Date of perihelion JD 2454064.50170 (25 Nov 2006 0:02:26)

The following are some images I took of it with a Canon EOS 10D digital SLR. Observations and daily ephemerides lower down.

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW...	DETAILS:	..
	Date (UT): Scope: Camera: Exposures and ISO: NOTES:	Tuesday 21.35-50 November 2006 (UT) 41cm (16") f4.5 Meade Newtonian Canon EOS 10D digital SLR 30 x 4 minutes @ 800 ASA Comet is ~mag 15
	Date (UT): Scope: Camera: Exposures and ISO: NOTES:	Tuesday 21.39 November 2006 (UT) 41cm (16") f4.5 Meade Newtonian Canon EOS 10D digital SLR 1 x 4 minutes @ 800 ASA Note how faint 181P is...

EPHEMERIDES...

P/Shoemaker-Levy (181P)
Date RA declination mag Elong
---- -- ----------- --- -----
21 Nov 2006 23:12:20 21h07m27.06s -27 25' 07.3" 11.8 72.6 Cap
26 Nov 2006 23:12:20 21h27m38.53s -24 11' 32.7" 11.8 72.9 Cap
1 Dec 2006 23:12:20 21h47m37.41s -20 43' 38.0" 11.8 73.3 Cap
6 Dec 2006 23:12:20 22h07m20.11s -17 04' 03.8" 11.9 73.8 Aqr
11 Dec 2006 23:12:20 22h26m44.94s -13 16' 04.0" 11.9 74.4 Aqr
16 Dec 2006 23:12:20 22h45m51.71s -09 23' 15.5" 12.0 75.1 Aqr
21 Dec 2006 23:12:20 23h04m40.93s -05 29' 25.1" 12.1 75.8 Aqr
26 Dec 2006 23:12:20 23h23m13.42s -01 38' 15.6" 12.2 76.5 Psc
31 Dec 2006 23:12:20 23h41m29.92s +02 06' 48.0" 12.4 77.1 Psc
5 Jan 2007 23:12:20 23h59m31.30s +05 42' 51.7" 12.5 77.6 Psc
10 Jan 2007 23:12:20 00h17m18.85s +09 07' 42.1" 12.7 78.0 Psc
15 Jan 2007 23:12:20 00h34m53.94s +12 19' 46.9" 12.9 78.2 Psc
20 Jan 2007 23:12:20 00h52m17.73s +15 18' 10.4" 13.1 78.3 Psc
25 Jan 2007 23:12:20 01h09m30.84s +18 02' 26.1" 13.3 78.1 Psc
30 Jan 2007 23:12:20 01h26m33.29s +20 32' 30.3" 13.5 77.8 Psc
4 Feb 2007 23:12:20 01h43m24.99s +22 48' 38.2" 13.8 77.4 Psc
9 Feb 2007 23:12:20 02h00m06.00s +24 51' 20.7" 14.0 76.7 Ari
14 Feb 2007 23:12:20 02h16m36.36s +26 41' 18.6" 14.2 75.9 Ari
19 Feb 2007 23:12:20 02h32m55.97s +28 19' 17.5" 14.4 75.0 Ari
24 Feb 2007 23:12:20 02h49m04.30s +29 46' 03.8" 14.6 73.9 Ari
1 Mar 2007 23:12:20 03h05m00.43s +31 02' 22.2" 14.9 72.7 Ari
6 Mar 2007 23:12:20 03h20m43.59s +32 08' 56.9" 15.1 71.3 Per
11 Mar 2007 23:12:20 03h36m13.25s +33 06' 31.7" 15.3 69.9 Per
16 Mar 2007 23:12:20 03h51m29.06s +33 55' 48.6" 15.5 68.3 Per
21 Mar 2007 23:12:20 04h06m30.59s +34 37' 27.0" 15.7 66.7 Per
26 Mar 2007 23:12:20 04h21m17.14s +35 12' 02.8" 15.9 64.9 Per
31 Mar 2007 23:12:20 04h35m47.89s +35 40' 08.7" 16.0 63.1 Per