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Why Is The Magnitude For Comet 289P So Far Off? (Answer: SkySafari Gets Asteroid, Comet And Satellite Data From MinorPlanetCenter.Net)

289P is showing up as -1.3 magnitude.  I got excited for a few moments.  It is actually an 18.9 mag comet at 12/16/2019.

Using Sky Safari Plus.  I did do the minor body update.

Bruce

 

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6 comments

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    Dean

    I see this as well, but only on my iPad version. The Mac OS version seems to be OK (listed magnitude of +15.2)

    The comet tail on the iPad also does not point in a consistent direction, changing as you pan around the sky map.

    I suspect that this is related to the post:

    https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360034717614-Why-Is-SS6-Plus-Suddenly-Displaying-Strange-Flares-From-The-Sun-Answer-This-Is-Not-The-Sun-These-Are-Comets-Read-On-

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    bruce lamoreaux

    Yes - I usually turn comets off on my iPad.  The incorrect mag for 289P is probably just a glitch in the minor body update.  We wish there was -1.3 mag comet out there!  That would be some kind of a Christmas star.

        

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    Dean

    I just updated the minor body orbit data on my Mac OS version and now it too shows an incorrect -1.3 magnitude (jumping from +15.2).

    However, the direction of the tail still wanders as you pan around in the sky map. So while the magnitude seems to be an error in the downloaded data, the depiction of the tail seems to be a SkySafari bug.

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    Володимир Гаврилюк

    In case there are errors in downloaded data then why do not use other source database? For example, which Mobile Observatory uses.

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    bruce lamoreaux

    SkySafari uses the "Minor Planet Center" for it's updates.  There is not any way to deviate from that.  I did check out the Mobil Observatory app.  It is not available for iOS.

    Bruce

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    Jay Tee

    The minor planet center made a mistake. The magnitude slope and absolute magnitude numbers are incorrect hi. Substitute in 4.50000 and 20.50000. this will put the magnitude back in a reasonable range.

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