Catalog of Cometary Orbits

Book excerpt: This reference Catalog of Cometary Orbits represents the orbital parameters of hundreds of comets from over 100,000 observations at the Arkansas Sky Observatories (ASO) since 2002, when digital recording of data began at the observatory. Over 250 individual comets are presented with orbital parameters derived from observations solely obtained at ASO, using the three privately owned robotic observatories. Orbital elements are given for 118 periodic comets and 116 non-designated (un-numbered) comets observed by the Observatories during the past fifteen years. Accompanying some of the orbital pages are original photographs from the robotic telescopes at ASO, many times demonstrating the morphology of unusual or in some cases highly common comet types. Established in 1971, Arkansas Sky Observatories is one of the nation's oldest independent non-publicly funded observatories still in operation, providing daily research into asteroids, comets and cataclysmic stars throughout the Heavens.