My Astronomy Page
My favorite Occupations
- PHOTOMETRY
- SPECTROSCOPY
- ASTROMETRY
- COSMOLOGY
My favorite Observatories
Royal Observatory at Uccle
European Southern Observatory
Observatory at Hoher List
Observatory at Rozhen (Bulgary)
Observatory at Haute Provence
Observatory at Piedade (Belo Horizonte, Brazil)
Observatory at Caussols (France)
Observatory at Palomar
Observatory at Venezuela
Observatory at Rio de Janeiro
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Comet Hyakutake observed at Uccle Observatory
During february 1996 we have
used the Uccle-Schmidt (85/120), which has been armed
with a Hi Sis 22 CCD-camera, to observe the bright
comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2). About 200 frames have
been obtained.
Comet Hale-Bopp observed at Haute Provence
During March and April 1997, the extremely
bright comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) has been observed
at the Observatory of Haute Provence. There we have
used the "Grand Schmidt (60/90), armed with sensitized
IIIa-J plates.
Hale-Bopp at Haute Provence
Strange Comet discovered at ESO
On August 7, 1996, Eric W. Elst (Royal Observatory,
Uccle, Belgium) reported his discovery of a cometary
image on mid-July exposures by Guido Pizarro with the
1.0-m ESO Schmidt telescope at the La Silla
Observatory. Further ESO-Schmidt plates were then
obtained, and on August 19, with the help of orbital
computations by Brian Marsden (IAU Central Bureau for
Astronomical Telegrams, Cambridge, Mass., USA), Elst
was able to identify the object on them. Even though
the orbit (Period=5.6 years; inclination = 1.4 deg;
excentricity =0.17) is entirely characteristic of that
of a main-belt minor planet with the implied long-term
orbital stability, the continued presence of a tail
seemingly confirms the object as a 'comet'.
The object now carries the designation
'Comet P/1996 N2 (Elst-Pizarro)' ESO Press Release
(16 September 1996)
My book on asteroids,
treating the discoveries from 1986-1991. There should
follow a second one on my discoveries at the
Observatory of Caussols (Southern France, near Grasse),
during 1992-1997.
Latest research:
Last campaign with the ESO-Schmidt at
La Silla
During February-October 1998 a last
photographical observational campaign has been
performed with the ESO-Schmidt, in order to discover
new asteroids. The ESO-Schmidt has been demissioned
at the end of 1998, reason why we have asked for the
last time this excellent instrument. All observations
(about 30 fields) have been obtained by Guido Pizarro
on sensitized 4415 Kodak film. After investigating and
measuring the films, here at the Observatory at Uccle,
almost 1500 new asteroids have been discovered.
Among them we count several new Phocaea-, Hungaria-,
Hilda- and L5-Trojan-objects. In addition two new
Apollo's, which had been discovered at other
observatories, were recovered on our films.
However from this final mission it became clear that
photographical searches, even with larger Schmidt-
telescopes, have had their best time, since they
may not compete anymore with the faster and more
extensive methods of CCD-observation.
Measuring the plates at the Zeiss-comparator
Numbering of Minor Planets during 1999
January 1999
February 1999
March 1999
April 1999
May 1999
Email: ericelst@helios.oma.be