COMET 2006 M3 (Barmard) - PHOTOS AND OBSERVATIONS

Possum Observatory - John Drummond, New Zealand

Cmet 2006 M3 (Barnard) is currently in the NW at sunset (for NZ).

The following was extracted from GUIDE 8.0 software...

Orbital elements:

Semimajor axis 24.2794334 AU
Eccentricity 0.9543970
Inclination of orbit 31.2175000 degrees
Argument of perihelion 60.4608000 degrees
Long. ascending node 272.0664000 degrees
Date of perihelion JD 2453976.18840 (28 Aug 2006 16:31:17)

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:	Saturday 22.40-43 July 2006 (UT) 41cm (16") f4.5 Meade Newtonian Canon EOS 10D digital SLR 19 x 3-6 minutes @ 800 ASA Comet is mag 8.5, large, and diffuse

EPHEMERIDES...

Barnard (P/2006 M3)
Date RA declination mag Elong
---- -- ----------- --- -----
30 Jul 2006 16:22:50 16h55.13376m +26 13.542' 13.7 110.0 Her
2 Aug 2006 16:22:50 16h53.58239m +30 15.121' 13.7 105.8 Her
5 Aug 2006 16:22:50 16h52.52918m +33 59.915' 13.7 102.1 Her
8 Aug 2006 16:22:50 16h51.96937m +37 28.366' 13.7 98.8 Her
11 Aug 2006 16:22:50 16h51.89533m +40 41.344' 13.7 96.0 Her
14 Aug 2006 16:22:50 16h52.30367m +43 39.936' 13.8 93.5 Her
17 Aug 2006 16:22:50 16h53.20099m +46 25.335' 13.8 91.5 Her
20 Aug 2006 16:22:50 16h54.60375m +48 58.796' 13.8 89.8 Her
23 Aug 2006 16:22:50 16h56.53662m +51 21.556' 13.9 88.5 Dra
26 Aug 2006 16:22:50 16h59.03293m +53 34.781' 13.9 87.4 Dra
29 Aug 2006 16:22:50 17h02.13649m +55 39.515' 14.0 86.7 Dra
1 Sep 2006 16:22:50 17h05.90419m +57 36.668' 14.1 86.3 Dra
4 Sep 2006 16:22:50 17h10.40885m +59 26.994' 14.1 86.1 Dra
7 Sep 2006 16:22:50 17h15.74271m +61 11.082' 14.2 86.2 Dra
10 Sep 2006 16:22:50 17h22.02405m +62 49.344' 14.3 86.5 Dra
13 Sep 2006 16:22:50 17h29.40567m +64 22.037' 14.4 87.1 Dra
16 Sep 2006 16:22:50 17h38.07628m +65 49.292' 14.4 87.9 Dra
19 Sep 2006 16:22:50 17h48.25577m +67 11.094' 14.5 88.8 Dra
22 Sep 2006 16:22:50 18h00.18927m +68 27.227' 14.6 90.0 Dra
25 Sep 2006 16:22:50 18h14.13689m +69 37.210' 14.7 91.3 Dra
28 Sep 2006 16:22:50 18h30.35292m +70 40.254' 14.8 92.9 Dra
1 Oct 2006 16:22:50 18h49.04892m +71 35.218' 14.9 94.5 Dra
4 Oct 2006 16:22:50 19h10.33660m +72 20.610' 15.0 96.4 Dra