The contribution to the CARA project is free, but some basic requirements are needed.
A telescope coupled with a CCD camera (no anti-blooming is highly preferred) with an image scale around 1-3 arcsec/pixel and at least one photometric filter (R or I Cousins / Bessel filters are suggested). A sophisticated equipment is not specifically needed, but must be of enough quality and solidity to grant standard results and match the requirements to perform a basic scientific research (reproducible results).
Comets are a typical target for amateur astronomers. Scientific observations span from basic visual techniques (drawing and total magnitude estimates) to imaging and CCD techniques, the latter devoted in particular to astrometry and photometry.
Astrometry and photometry require two different approaches.
The CARA Project was born after several years of study and tests around the photometry of comets with amateur astronomers equipments performed about since 1995 by the italian Comet Section (Unione Astrofili Italiani).
The CARA Project was born after several years of study and tests around the photometry of comets with amateur astronomers equipments performed about since 1995 by the italian Comet Section (Unione Astrofili Italiani).