From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: Re: Comet in Temporary Orbit Around Jupiter?
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In article <1psfan$pj0@access.digex.net>, prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes...
>In article <6APR199314571378@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
>|Comet Gehrels 3, which was discovered in 1977, was determined to have
>|been in a temporary Jovian orbit from 1970 to 1973.  Comet Shoemaker-Levy 1993e
>|may remain in orbit around Jupiter long enough to allow Galileo to
>|make some closeup observations.  The orbital trajectory for Comet
>|Shoemaker-Levy is still being determined.
>a
> 
>What about positional uncertainties in S-L 1993e?   

If Comet Shoemaker-Levy 1993e is in Jovian orbit, and if the comet
is still hanging around when Galileo arrives, then I'm sure it will
be added to the list of targets.  We'll have by then over two years
of Earth-based observations to help narrow down the positions of the
pieces of the comet. It probably won't be too much different than
what was done with Gaspra.

>But when they were
>imaging toutatis?

Galileo did not image Toutatis.  That came from Earth-based radar.

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