The McDonald Observatory Faint Comet Survey data set presents spectral data from 152 observations of 17 comets taken using the Intensified Dissector Scanner spectrograph.

We report on low-spectral resolution observations of comet 9P/Tempel 1 from 1983, 1989, 1994 and 2005 using the 2.7m Harlan J. Smith telescope of McDonald Observatory. This comet was the target of NASA's Deep Impact mission and our observations allowed us to characterize the comet prior to the impact. In the published paper, we showed that the comet decreased in gas production from 1983 to 2005, with the decrease being different factors for different species. OH decreased by a factor 2.7, NH by 1.7, CN by 1.6, C3 by 1.8, CH by 1.4 and C2 by 1.3. Despite the decrease in overall gas production and these slightly different decrease factors, we found that the ratios of the gas production rates of OH, NH, C3, CH and C2 that of CN were constant over all of the apparitions. We saw no change in the production rate ratios after the impact. We found that the peak gas production occurred about two months prior to perihelion. This data set represents the integrated fluxes and column densities, mentioned in the published paper, which were used to derive the production rates in the paper.

We report on low-spectral resolution observations of comet 9P/Tempel 1 from 1983, 1989, 1994 and 2005 using the 2.7m Harlan J. Smith telescope of McDonald Observatory. This comet was the target of NASA's Deep Impact mission and our observations allowed us to characterize the comet prior to the impact. In the published paper, we showed that the comet decreased in gas production from 1983 to 2005, with the decrease being different factors for different species. OH decreased by a factor 2.7, NH by 1.7, CN by 1.6, C3 by 1.8, CH by 1.4 and C2 by 1.3. Despite the decrease in overall gas production and these slightly different decrease factors, we found that the ratios of the gas production rates of OH, NH, C3, CH and C2 that of CN were constant over all of the apparitions. We saw no change in the production rate ratios after the impact. We found that the peak gas production occurred about two months prior to perihelion. This data set represents the integrated fluxes and column densities, mentioned in the published paper, which were used to derive the production rates in the paper.

The database presented here is comprised entirely of observations made utilizing conventional photoelectric photometers and narrowband filters isolating 5 emission species (OH, NH, CN, C3 and C2) and continua. This work was initiated by A'Hearn and Millis in 1976 and includes 2020 observations of 85 comets obtained over 429 nights through the end of 1992. The total number of observations, however, is not evenly distributed over the 85 comets. The median number of observations for a comet is 6, with only a single observation obtained for 14 comets while there were 820 observations of P/Halley. The majority of observations were obtained at either Lowell Observatory or Perth Observatory, however four other observatories were used including an extensive campaign on comet P/Halley from the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO). In this archive, results for a subset of 68 comets are presented while the results for P/Halley from this study are archived in the IHW archive.

The database presented here is comprised entirely of observations made utilizing conventional photoelectric photometers and narrowband filters isolating 5 emission species (OH, NH, CN, C3 and C2) and continua. This work was initiated by A'Hearn and Millis in 1976 and includes 2020 observations of 85 comets obtained over 429 nights through the end of 1992. The total number of observations, however, is not evenly distributed over the 85 comets. The median number of observations for a comet is 6, with only a single observation obtained for 14 comets while there were 820 observations of P/Halley. The majority of observations were obtained at either Lowell Observatory or Perth Observatory, however four other observatories were used including an extensive campaign on comet P/Halley from the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO). In this archive, results for a subset of 68 comets are presented while the results for P/Halley from this study are archived in the IHW archive.

The INFRARED PHOTOMETRY Network contains 2204 observations of Comet Halley spanning dates from 1984 Sep 14 through 1988 Apr 08.

The INFRARED PHOTOMETRY Network contains 2204 observations of Comet Halley spanning dates from 1984 Sep 14 through 1988 Apr 08.

Atlas of cometary spectral lines from high resolution measurements of comet deVico.

Atlas of cometary spectral lines from high resolution measurements of comet deVico.

Images of comet 19P/Borrelly obtained at the McDonald Observatory with the Imaging Grism Instrument on five observing runs during the 2001 apparition