COMET Generic Object
     ====================
 
     The COMET target name is used in datasets in which a large
     number of comets were observed.  Specific comet names are used
     only for those datasets which are wholly concerned with one or a
     few comets. Note that most comets orbit the Sun, but in rare
     cases they may, in fact, be in orbit about a large planet.
     Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, for example, was in orbit around
     Jupiter.
 
     The primary repository for comet information in the Planetary
     Data System (PDS) is the Small Bodies Node (SBN), located at the
     University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.  The SBN archives
     include special data collections for comets Shoemaker-Levy 9 and
     Halley, in addition to catalogs of comet properties and general
     surveys.
 
     Other Resources
     ===============
 
     For support services for observers, contact the Minor Planet
     Center of the International Astronomical Union.  The Minor
     Planet Center operates at the Smithsonian AStrophysical
     Observatory.
     The SBN does not archive osculating (orbital) elements for any
     small bodies. However, Dr. E. Bowell of Lowell Observatory has
     made his personal database of asteroid orbital elements
     available to observers on request.
 
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                              Last update: 26 January 1999
                                           A.C.Raugh
                                           PDS SBN
                                           University of Maryland