Home Page       Tue Sep 2 14:15:44 JST 1997

When the information is missed

When discovering of new bright comets, the observations by other seachers before discovery are often reported these years. Comet Hyakutake has been in a picture on Jan. 1, 1996 as 13 mag, about one month before the discovery on Jan. 30 as 10 mag. Comet Hale-Bopp also has been in a picture on May 29, 1995 as 12 mag, about two months before the discovery on July 23 as 10.5 mag. Even the observation on Apr. 27, 1993, about two years before, is also reported. These examples imply much significant information, not only discovery, are missed.

The miss is happened by several reasons. Sometimes new objects are detected after discovery from images taken for another purpose, but I have mentioned in this case already. Sometimes new objects are missed at the examination of images. In case of personal searchers examining their images visually, an automated software, already mentioned, can help them. Sometimes, especially in case of personal searchers, the examination itself is postponed by their social reason. An automated software reduces the time to examine and can help this case, too. Even an examination with a software may miss some objects. In this case, publication of the image at the world wide database causes the possibility of that another person examines the image with another software and detects the missed objects. Or, when another person discovers a new object and examines old images again whether the object is in them, the missed object may be detected.