Comet Hunting

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Introduction:

Observational astronomy was, is, and without doubt will be my ultimate passion and desire in my entire life, observing all sorts of giants and beauties of the Universe like those belonging to the Solar System and extra-solar objects. I've never biased among the members of our Universe, but there's one object which has begun to influence me the most, the object in whom I plan to make my amateur career. Those are the temporary visitors of the Solar System, comets. These objects come in a variety of all shapes and sizes. And every month unlike other objects, there are newer comets to be observed, some of which remain faint and make an appearance and pass away silently just as they came, and there are the ones on the other hand which in a decade or so reach naked-eye brightness apparition, the sight of which is feasted by thousands of eyes worldwide.

Consequently observing comets has been my primary goal and I hope to start it as soon as possible. The next step has always been to observe them sufficiently and go on to discovering one. Yes, this comet bug has bit me so hard that now that's the only thing I want to do most of the time while I'm in observing. I seriously plan to discover India's first ever comet!! Hardly anyone will be knowing this fact that there's never been a single amateur or professional discovery of a comet upto today by an Indian from within India!!! This has not been done in India's history!! So I'm sure that I have all the time, luck and opportunities to aim for it. Right now I'm still in the first stage of observing and I hope, that day will come soon when I have all the right knowledge and techniques wherein I can systematically plan my comet hunting with the right equipment. It's a quest for an insatiable and never ending journey. It has to be accepted that this quest like any other discovery takes it's own time and is a very long term project, maybe a totally impossible project. But I would like to highlight one completely unknown and hidden fact about the comet discovery from India. Actually there's been just one comet discovery by an Indian, and I'm very proud to say that it's by none other than the legendary and distinguished astrophysicist, Prof. M.K. Vainu Bappu. This is called as "Comet Bappu-Newkirk-Bok", discovered somewhere around 1949. But this was not done from Indian soil, but from foreign, when he was studying at Harvard University. He was a professional, so as of now no amateur has done it from Indian land.

And the biggest factor thrusting me forward is the need to try out my luck. The position is always open to me to work hard and prove it here that in this age of computerized surveys, it is still possible to discover one visually. "Better late than never". Amateur discoveries keep on coming from several countries throughout the world, but not through the seventh largest and the second most populous country, our India. Infact forget amateur comet research, but the spate of amateur astronomy is such that it's suffering at a very sickening state here, lack of resources, lack of long-term dedication and interest by individuals, and the need for the situation. It's considered important to concentrate energy, time and resources on other "important" matters. There's truly lot more to be said and discussed on this topic. So I hope that my initiative will try to make some difference.

THIS IS HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED....

Actually I got intoxicated by comets mainly, when I read an article sometime in 2002 by an Indian amateur association, one of India's best, Khagol Mandal, Mumbai, about discovering a comet in the next five years and winning an award of 1-lakh rupees from yet another Indian association, but the country's oldest, Jyotir-Vidya Parisanstha (JVP) in Pune! For a couple of seconds it was that greediness and hope of earning some fame and money and nothing else. But finally greediness paid off and I just thought to myself that how will getting that name help me, the name and fame is going to last for only a few days and after that everything is going to return to normal. But the thought of doing something new and contributing to the field of astronomy, that too from a country where this subject is being very much neglected in terms of amateur, was just overwhelming. This has since then provoked me to go deeper into comet hunting and do some pure observation. Now my state of mind is...it's become a more than a disease, it's a religion now! Day or night, it's only comets!!! I am happy and extremely Blessed to be part of that elite cometary team! Finally here are the bonuses of any discovery : it's something that you discover once in a life ! it's your own discovery !! this will be the first such discovery by an Indian from India!!! you're the first person in the world at that moment to have observed that object and reported, what a matter of prestige and awareness !!!! and you have a temporary celestial visitor with your name on it (at least from earth's point of view) which carries your name in and out or around the solar system like a celestial messenger !!!!!

For this reason apart from the regular sky-observations, I'm currently building a 10 inch f/5.1 Dobsonian telescope and plan to make it an open tube truss design, this is my first ever own instrument. If not then I plan to buy something myself. This will help me in observing whatever objects are up there, with enough practice usually these aperture telescopes go up to 12-12.5 magnitude which is a pretty good number as there are tons of celestial objects and handful of comets visible every month in this range. And I'll have to systematically scan prime areas of the sky, like those near the Sun just after sunset and before sunrise with binoculars and my telescope, for potential candidates. According to estimates done, it's believed that morning searches prove more fruitful than the evening ones.

Nowadays, especially in the field of comet hunting, automated and computerized sky-surveys or the big eyes (large telescopes) are a constant nuisance and are bent upon outshining amateurs by discovering hordes of comets every month. Since their introduction in the late 1990's, these projects or surveys for Near Earth Objects (NEOs) started routine operations and discovered many comets as well as asteroids. The amateur comet discovery seemed to decline since then by around 50%.

However this fact doesn't dishearten or disillusion me at all, it doesn't matter even if other amateurs or the computerized giant eyes keep on getting new comets and the same spate continues with me here. As far as I'm trying to get closer to them and even if I never reach the goal doesn't matter at all. It pays off not only to be a successful comet discoverer but also a comet hunter, even one who never gets one!! But I'm very sure that whatever the case be for now, my Comet Sharma is up there somewhere distant heading towards our lonely Planet and I need to get it soon before anyone else does...we just need to wait and watch for it to happen sometime soon!!

MY COMET HUNTING PAGE TO BE CREATED AND UPDATED WHEN I START IT.