The International Astronomical Union Circulars (IAUCs) are notices that give information about astronomical phenomena. IAUCs are issued by the International Astronomical Union's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) at irregular intervals for the discovery and follow-up information regarding such objects as planetary satellites, novae, supernovae, and comets.
The first series of IAUCs was published at Uccle during 1920–1922 when the IAU's first CBAT was located there; the first IAUC published in the present series was published in 1922 at Copenhagen Observatory after the transfer of the CBAT from Uccle to Copenhagen. [1]
At the end of 1964, the CBAT moved from Copenhagen to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it remains, on the grounds of the Harvard College Observatory (HCO). [2] HCO had maintained a Central Bureau for the Western hemisphere from 1883 until the end of 1964, when its staff took on the IAU's CBAT; HCO had published its own Announcement Cards that paralleled the IAUCs from 1926 until the end of 1964, but the Announcement Cards ceased publication when the IAUCs began to be issued from the same building. [1]
The IAUCs are delivered via the United States Postal Service, e-mail, and through the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams/Minor Planet Center Computer Service. Most of the announcement circulars published at Cambridge, Copenhagen, and Uccle from 1895 to the present day are available for viewing via the CBAT website.
The International Astronomical Union is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and development through global cooperation. It was founded on 28 July 1919 in Brussels, Belgium and is based in Paris, France.
The timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their natural satellites charts the progress of the discovery of new bodies over history. Each object is listed in chronological order of its discovery, identified through its various designations, and the discoverer(s) listed.
In ancient times, only the Sun and Moon, a few stars, and the most easily visible planets had names. Over the last few hundred years, the number of identified astronomical objects has risen from hundreds to over a billion, and more are discovered every year. Astronomers need to be able to assign systematic designations to unambiguously identify all of these objects, and at the same time give names to the most interesting objects, and where relevant, features of those objects.
Themisto, also known as Jupiter XVIII, is a small prograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered in 1975, subsequently lost, and rediscovered in 2000.
1862 Apollo is a stony asteroid, approximately 1.5 kilometers in diameter, classified as a near-Earth object (NEO). It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory on 24 April 1932, but lost and not recovered until 1973.
The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Skathi, also named Saturn XXVII and originally spelled Skadi, is a natural satellite of the planet Saturn. Skathi is one of Saturn's irregular moons, in its Norse group of satellites. It was discovered on September 23, 2000, by a team of astronomers led by Brett Gladman. The team announced their discovery on December 7, 2000, along with seven other satellites of Saturn, namely; Tarvos, Ijiraq, Thrymr, Siarnaq, Mundilfari, Erriapus, and Suttungr. The moon was named after Skaði, a figure in Norse mythology, as part of an effort to diversify the largely Greek and Roman names of astronomical objects.
Siarnaq, also designated Saturn XXIX, is the second-largest irregular moon of Saturn. It was discovered on 23 September 2000 by a team of astronomers led by Brett J. Gladman. It was named after the Inuit goddess of the sea, Siarnaq, who is more commonly known as Sedna. Siarnaq is the largest member of Saturn's Inuit group of prograde irregular moons, which orbit far from Saturn in the same direction as the planet's rotation. The moons of the Inuit group are believed to have originated as fragments from the collisional breakup of a larger progenitor moon after it was gravitationally captured into orbit around Saturn several billion years ago. Several other small Inuit group moons share similar orbits to Siarnaq, indicating that the moon had experienced another collision after forming from its progenitor.
Pierre Antonini is a retired French mathematics professor and amateur astronomer who has discovered several minor planets and two supernovae at his private Observatoire de Bédoin located at Bédoin, southeastern France. For many of his discoveries he used a 16-cm telescope or a 30-cm telescope.
878 Mildred is a minor planet in the main belt orbiting the Sun. It is the lowest numbered, and thus the namesake, of the Mildred family of asteroids, a subgroup of the Nysa family. The Mildred subgroup, and by extension 878 Mildred itself, is thought to have been formed by a recent fragmentation event from a larger asteroid.
The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) is the official international clearing house for information relating to transient astronomical events.
65P/Gunn is a periodic comet in the Solar System which has a current orbital period of 6.79 years. The comet is a short-period comet, orbiting the Sun every 6.79 years inside the main asteroid belt between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.
102P/Shoemaker, also known as Shoemaker 1, is a periodic comet in the Solar System. It was first seen in 1984 and then again in 1991. Images taken of it in 1999 were not recognized until 2006 when it was once again observed. It was unexpectedly dim in each of these returns.
The Royal Observatory of Belgium has been situated in the Uccle municipality of Brussels since 1890.
Giovanni Sostero was an Italian amateur astronomer. He was one of the leading members of the Associazione Friulana di Astronomia e Meteorologia. He was an honorary member of the Astronomical Observatory of Visnjan (Croatia), too.
Masakatsu Aoki is a Japanese amateur astronomer who operates from his private Aoki Astronomical Observatory at Toyama, Toyama Prefecture, Japan.
A minor planet is "lost" when today's observers cannot find it, because its location is too uncertain to target observations. This happens if the orbital elements of a minor planet are not known accurately enough, typically because the observation arc for the object is too short, or too few observations were made before the object became unobservable.
440P/Kobayashi is a periodic comet in the Solar System, discovered by the Japanese amateur astronomer Takao Kobayashi on January 30, 1997. It was the first comet to be discovered by an amateur astronomer with the use of CCD.
246P/NEAT is a periodic comet discovered on 2004 March 28 by Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) using the 1.2-metre (47 in) reflector at Haleakala. It was given the permanent number 246P on 2011 January 14.
Tenagra Observatory and Tenagra Observatory II are astronomical observatories in Cottage Grove, Oregon and Arizona. The observatories house heavily automated robotic telescopes.