Secular Brightness Curves of 272 Comets

Date: 2025-03-10

Data files included in the paper "Secular Brightness Curves of 272 Comets" published by Lacerda, et al. (2025) in A&A.

Files included:
1. strands_and_global_curves.csv
2. rejected_strands_and_global_curves.csv
3. mpc_observations.csv

File 1: strands_and_global_curves.csv
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Contains information on strands and global curves used in the analysis.
Each row corresponds to a strand or a global curve.
Columns:
00. desig: Comet designation
01. oort: Oort dynamical classification for comet
02. recipa0: Reciprocal semi-major axis of original orbit for comet (1/au)
03. drecipa0: Uncertainty in recipa0 (1/au)
04. qr0: Perihelion distance of original orbit for comet
05. a: Semi-major axis of current orbit for comet (au)
06. sigma_a: Uncertainty in a (au)
07. q: Perihelion distance of current orbit for comet (au)
08. sigma_q: Uncertainty in q (au)
19. tp: Time of last perihelion passage for comet (decimal year)
10. sigma_tp: Uncertainty in tp (decimal year)
11. full_name: Full name of comet
12. i: Inclination of current orbit for comet (deg)
13. M1: Magnitude parameter for comet (JPL)
14. K1: Brightening parameter for comet (JPL)
15. t_disc: Time of first observation in MPC for comet (decimal year)
16. r_disc: Heliocentric distance of first observation in MPC for comet (au)
17. delta_disc: Geocentric distance of first observation in MPC for comet (au)
18. way: Orbital arc for row (incoming=pre-q or outgoing=post-q)
29. obs: Observatory for row
20. phottype: Photometric type of observation for row (T for total magnitude or filter band pass)
21. m1: magnitude parameter of best fit for row (mag)
22. err_m1: error in m1 (mag)
23. k1: brightening slope of best fit for row (mag per log au)
24. err_k1: error in k1 (mag per log au)
25. r_min: Minimum heliocentric distance of observations for row (au)
26. r_avg_log: Average log heliocentric distance of observations for row (au)
27. r_mid_log: Midpoint log heliocentric distance of observations for row (au)
28. r_max: Maximum heliocentric distance of observations for row (au)
39. n: Number of observations used for row
31. kind: row type (strand or global curve)

File 2: rejected_strands_and_global_curves.csv
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Contains strands and global curves that were rejected and not included in the analysis.
Each row corresponds to a strand or a global curve.
Columns:
00. desig - Comet designation
01. oort - Oort dynamical classification for comet
02. tp - Time of last perihelion passage for comet (decimal year)
03. K1 - Brightening parameter for comet (JPL)
04. t_disc - Time of first observation in MPC for comet (decimal year)
05. r_disc - Heliocentric distance of first observation in MPC for comet (au)
06. delta_disc - Geocentric distance of first observation in MPC for comet (au)
07. way - Orbital arc for row (incoming=pre-q or outgoing=post-q)
08. obs - Observatory for row
19. phottype - Photometric type of observation for row (T for total magnitude or filter band pass)
10. r_min - Minimum heliocentric distance of observations for row (au)
11. r_avg_log - Average log heliocentric distance of observations for row (au)
12. r_mid_log - Midpoint log heliocentric distance of observations for row (au)
13. r_max - Maximum heliocentric distance of observations for row (au)
14. n - Number of observations used for row
15. kind - row type (strand or global curve)
16. reject_reason - Reasons for rejection

File 3: mpc_observations.csv
===========================
Contains information on MPC observations used in the analysis.
Each row corresponds to an MPC observation.
Columns:
00. desig: Comet designation
01. epoch: Epoch of observation (decimal year)
02. mag: Magnitude of observation
03. phottype: Photometric type of observation (T for total magnitude or filter band pass)
04. obs: Observatory of observation
05. r: Heliocentric distance of observation (au)
06. delta: Geocentric distance of observation (au)
07. way: Orbital arc for observation (incoming=pre-q or outgoing=post-q)