gmx.de. You can write via snail mail to Uwe Pilz, Pöppigstr. 35, D-04349 Leipzig, Germany. Please deliver reply stamps.
The main interest of the VdS-Fachgruppe Kometen is to support all amateurs interested in the observation of comets and in the analysis of the estimates. The most important tool are our web pages. Here you can find information about current comets, news about discoveries and other occurences our observation results and images.
The Fachgruppe publishes the newsletter "Schweifstern" (an old german word for comet) five times per year. The "Schweifstern" contains the latest information of all currently observable comets, for example discovery circumstances, light curves, finding star maps, ephemeris, orbital elements or comparison star charts. In addition the newsletter contains tables of visual, photographic and CCD-observations, photographs, letters to the editors and other interesting facts. A copy can be ordered from Andreas Kammerer, Mittelbergweg 21, 76316 Malsch by sending 3 Euro.
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An important objective of the Fachgruppe Kometen is the publication
of reports for all comets for which a significant number of
observations exist. These are prepared by interested members and
published in "Sterne und Weltraum", VdS-Journal or "Ahnerts
Astronomisches Jahrbuch". Preliminary analysis for the currently
visible comets can be found on these WWW-pages. Every observation that
receives us, will be stored in our archive.
The Fachgruppe Kometen has issued the free guide Einstieg in die visuelle Kometenbeobachtung for beginners and for advanced amateurs the publication "Anleitung zur visuellen und fotografischen Kometenbeobachtung". Profound informations about comet observation and analysis could be found in the book "Kometen beobachten" (editors Andreas Kammerer and Mike Kretlow), which, however, is no longer available. The Fachgruppe Kometen has worked working on a PDF-file which contains the essential parts of the book. All publications are in german.
The Fachgruppe Kometen has established several sub-divisions:
About every three to five years the Fachgruppe Kometen organises a specific meeting. In addition the Fachgruppe Kometen is involved in the organisation of the "Planeten- und Kometentagung", which takes place once a year.
Are you interested? Please look at our information sheet and registration form (in german).
or alternatively by sending E-Mail to kometengmx.de. You can write via snail mail to Uwe Pilz, Pöppigstr. 35, D-04349 Leipzig, Germany. Please deliver reply stamps.