Observations of CHIRON by Denis Bergeron, Val-des-bois, Quebec, Canada        
(E-MAIL: bergeron@achilles.net)                                               
                                                                              
Night of March 24th to March 25th, 1995                                       
                                                                              
Hello dear friend astronomer,                                                 
                                                                              
It's a pleasure for me to participate on CPC as an AMATEUR ASTRONOMER.        
It's my first experience in this kind of project and  I'm glad to share       
my personnal observations with other observers. In 1994,  I was following     
Shoemaker-Levy 9 in the sky before the collision as well as the collision     
itself. Incredible experience!                                                
                                                                              
My astronomical equipment is a Meade SCT LX-200 10'' F10 telescope with a     
telecompressor lens to reduce my f/ratio to about F6.0 and a SBIG ST-6 CCD    
camera at prime focus. I also use a CCD SBIG ST-4 at prime focus of my        
piggyback SCT telescope 4'' F10 to autoguide my Meade. All CCD pictures       
were exposed 5 minutes each. I had taken a lot of exposures during this       
session. My first exposure was taken on March 24th 1995 at 22h37 EST and      
my last picture on March 25th at 01h32 EST. No filter was used.               
                                                                              
During this observation session, I have taken 3 dark frames of 5 minutes.     
In the end, I took a flat field image. The following days, I averaged my      
dark frames and I calibrated (dark subtract and FF corrected) all my          
pictures. With my software, I add up the best images centered on stars        
to create a picture showing CHIRON'S MOVEMENT between stars (see              
CHIRON-1.FIT) and another picture centered on CHIRON to show CHIRON alone     
(see CHIRON-2.FIT). I haven't detected any evidence of COMA around CHIRON.    
A kind of weak nebulosity appears in my images around Chiron but I think it   
could be caused by background noise. I don't find any reports from other      
observers to confirm or infirm my observations                                
                                                                              
I include images in FITS and TIFF . The pictures in FITS format are the       
esult of the addition of my best images (averaged). Use these images if       
you wish analyse them. The TIFF pictures are the same images but              
processed with my image processing software. I include an ANIMATION of        
CHIRON in the sky (CHIRON.FLI). To see the blink effect, try a software       
such as AUTODESK ANIMATION  (AAPLAY) capable to read FLI files. Remark        
the presence of an asteroid in upper left of the image. Chiron is near        
the center.                                                                   
                                                                              
I use Chiron's ephemerides supplied by CPC. They are very precise. If you     
wish to find Chiron easily, use software with the GUIDE STAR CATALOG such     
MEGASTAR, THE SKY or others. Plot the position of Chiron on the chart and     
try to identify the area where Chiron is. Be patient!                         
                                                                              
Don't expose your images more than 10 minutes. I detect a slight shift        
in my images. It's best to take many 5mn images and add them up to            
increase the S/N. Be careful to don't saturate the pixels. If you have        
images of Chiron, please prepare the best ones and send a copy of them        
to CPC. I'm very interested to look at them.                                  
                                                                              
See my others reports                                                         
                                                                              
Bye