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“Comets are fascinating objects to observe. They are also scientifically very important since they represent material left over from the formation of the Solar System, which has been kept in deep freeze for billions of years,” says Nick James (pictured), director of the British Astronomical Association Comet Section. “A rare, bright comet can be an extraordinary sight in the sky and even the more mundane objects often behave

in ways that we don’t expect. You never quite know what you will see when you go out to observe one.

“The Comet Section has been around since 1891 and we aim to encourage observations of these enigmatic objects, both for pleasure and to provide valuable scientific data. As with many areas of astronomy we have benefited from the revolution in digital imaging systems over the past few decades and our section officers have then necessary expertise to help observers record their sightings.

“When a comet is first discovered it’s important to characterise its orbit and a number of our observers submit very

accurate position measurements obtained from images. Once the orbit is secure we can characterise the comet’s activity by measuring how its brightness evolves. Despite recent developments in digital imaging, visual observers still excel in this area. In fact, visual observations are often crucial in understanding the behaviour of a comet since they allow us to compare recent observations with observations made using similar techniques many years ago. “The Comet section produces a newsletter,

The Comet’s Tale, which can be downloaded from our website (britastro.org) and there are often items of interest to comet observers in the BAA Journal.”