JPL HORIZON site - "on the fly" predictions
Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Fri, 25 Jun 1999 04:10:10 -0500
I heard from someone at JPL:
> We'll consider adding Giotto flyby as a predefined object in
> the next day or two.... Is there an observing campaign for the
> Giotto flyby?
I replied that I think it's certainly a possibility.
> ... you can input the elements yourself and develop an
> ephemeris "on the fly".
>
> At the main "telnet" prompt, type a semi-coloni (';') and
> return to drop into user-defined object input. Type a question
> mark ('?') for an explanation of how to input the elements.
This person also reiterated the need for or at least usefulness of
a couple of other element details:
> (I should add that we would need the Epoch of the heliocentric
> osculating elements and, preferably, mean anomaly instead of true.
> Alternatively, time of perihelion and perihelion distance.)
Hopefully the extra details will become available.
By the way, I saw a photo of Giotto on Mark Wade's Encyclopedia
Astronomica site, and it's mostly a dark-colored cylinder!
http://solar.rtd.utk.edu/~mwade/craft/giotto.htm
Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA