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IHW COMET HALLEY AMATEUR VISUAL MAGNITUDES V1.0

Published by National Aeronautics and Space Administration | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Metadata Last Checked: August 03, 2025 | Last Modified: 2025-07-17
NASA's International Halley Watch (IHW) has created a Comet Halley Archive. The collection of data spans the full wavelength range as submitted by scientists to the IHW. The observations belong to one of the following Disciplines: Amateur, Astrometry, Infrared Studies, Large-Scale Phenomena, Meteor Studies, Near-Nucleus Studies, Photometry and Polarimetry, Radio Studies, and Spectroscopy and Spectrophotometry. The data collected by these nine disciplines were augmented by Spacecraft measurements. The data were submitted to IHW, but the evaluation and selection for the Archive has been the primary responsibility of the Discipline Specialist Teams for each network in cooperation with the Lead Center. The Amateur Observation Network archived 11641 measurements of Halley's comet. Even though most observers adhered to guidelines established by the IHW, visual magnitudes are highly subjective depending on the technique of each observer and may vary with the quality of the instrument used (e.g., binoculars vs. telescope). These magnitude estimates cover the date range from 1985 January 23 through 1988 February 23.

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