Stellarium

Uptade magnitude calculations for comets

Asked by cicero

Everybody knows, when a new comet is found in the sky, its magnitude behavior is only a guess.
So, a given comet can be brigther or darker than expected as it approach the sun.
But, we can not update the magnitude formula to a observed comet magnitude. And we have several sources of amateur astronomers, like cometbase and calsky, whith the real comet magnitude to date. The updated magnitude formula is ready available in these sites, so it would be easy to edit a formula. Or even a internet download just like orbital elements?

Could the stellarium comunity wait for a version including this possibilty?

Thank you very much

Cícero Antonio from Brazil. A Stellarium fanatic!!

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gzotti (georg-zotti) said : 		#1

If you know about better *formulae* for comet magnitudes, post them please (with reference where you got them from!)
If you have *data* for absolute magnitude (H10) and something called slope factor (although I think it's a misnomer for comets), you can enter H10 and slope factor into the orbital elements.
If you have *measured brightness data*, edit absolute_magnitude and slope_factor in ssystem.ini until it fits the measurements.

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