Observations of small Solar System bodies

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Cumulative number of astrometric observations (in millions) stored in the Minor Planet Center's database per last reported month of each year since 1995. As of December 2019, the database contains 246,034,463 records, 99.5% of which are observations of minor planets. [1]

Observations of minor planets as well as comets and natural satellites of the Solar System are made by astronomical observatories all over the world and reported to the Minor Planet Center (MPC), a service of the International Astronomical Union. The MPC maintains a data base that stores all observations submitted by these registered observatories. An astrometric record consists of the position, brightness and timestamp of an observed object, besides additional information. The database contains more than 200 million records gathered over the past two centuries. [2]

Contents

The MPC assigns a 3 digit observatory code for each observatory, also known as 'MPC-' or 'IAU codes'. The code is in the range 000 to Z99 and serves as a unique identifier for the reported observations. The MPC periodically published a revised "List Of Observatory Codes" with newly registered observatories in their Minor Planet Circulars . Over time, the number of astronomical observatories worldwide has been growing constantly and contains 2468 observatory codes as of November 2023. [3]

On numbering, often years later, the MPC determines the discovery among all the reported observations for an object. This does not need to be the earliest dated observation, also see precovery . The date of the selected observation will become the object's discovery date, and the corresponding observing astronomer or facility will become its discoverer. [4] The discovery circumstances are given in the catalog of numbered minor planets.

Observational record

An astrometric observational record includes the position, timestamp, and absolute brightness of an observed object. Typically, an observatory observes an objects at least three times within a short timespan during the same night. The records are then reported together with the individual code of the observatory to the Minor Planet Center. These are then compared to MPC's internal database and a new provisional designation is assigned if no match is found. The observational records are published by the MPC on a weekly basis. Summaries are published in the Minor Planet Circulars several times a year. [5]

Examples

Date (UT) J2000 RA J2000 Dec Magn LocationRef
1980‑03‑21.5963313h 51m 40.18s−02° 46′ 38.6″
-
 260 - Siding Spring Observatory-DSS MPS  #15065

The example shows the first observational record for the Jupiter trojan (21271) 1996 RF33 as found in the lower section of the MPC's corresponding object page. [6] The observation was taken on 21 March 1980 at 14 hours 18 minutes and 43 seconds (1980 03 21.59633). The position of the object is given in the celestial coordinate system as declination (DEC) and right ascension (RA). The observation was taken by the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia and later released by the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) using the observatory's archived photographic plates with a dedicated IAU code ( 260 ). The observation was published in the Minor Planets and Comets Supplement (MPS) on the continual page number 15065 on 21 June 2000. [5] [6]

Astrometric database

MPC's astrometric database contains more than 200 millions entries, split up into 199.9 million minor-planet observations as well as 0.4 million comet- and 0.6 million satellite-observations. [1]

The ceremonial first entry, by date, is the discovery observation of Ceres made by G. Piazzi on 1 January 1801.

Before the end of the 1950s, records were published in a variety of (non-MPC) journals:

Journals formerly publishing observations
APOAnnales de l'Observatoire de Paris: Observations
AN Astronomische Nachrichten
RM Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society
HDMitteilungen der Landessternwarte Heidelberg

Discovery

Among the observations of an object, one will be determined by the MPC as the discovering observation and its timestamp as the discovery date. This typically happens years after the first observations when an object is numbered and additional observation have secured the object's orbit sufficiently. While the discovery date is typically defined by the object's first obtained observation, there are many exceptions, as the rules for discovery are intricate and have changed over time. [4] For example, an object needs to be observed several times over (at least) two consecutive nights. As nowadays most discoveries are made by dedicated surveys and observing facilities, and the MPC typically does not give credit to more than three individual astronomers, most discoveries of minor planets are credited to a facility (identified by its observatory code) rather than to individual astronomers.

See also

Related Research Articles

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.

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The V. P. Engel'gardt Astronomical Observatory, also known simply as the Engelhardt Observatory, is located 20 kilometers west of Kazan, Russia. Its observatory code is 136. The co-ordinates are about 55°50′23″N48°48′45″E.

A formal minor-planet designation is, in its final form, a number–name combination given to a minor planet. Such designation always features a leading number assigned to a body once its orbital path is sufficiently secured. The formal designation is based on the minor planet's provisional designation, which was previously assigned automatically when it had been observed for the first time. Later on, the provisional part of the formal designation may be replaced with a name. Both formal and provisional designations are overseen by the Minor Planet Center (MPC), a branch of the International Astronomical Union.

(119070) 2001 KP77, provisional designation:2001 KP77, is a resonant trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt, a circumstellar disc located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 23 May 2001, by American astronomer Marc Buie at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. The object is locked in a 4:7 orbital resonance with Neptune. It has a red surface color and measures approximately 176 kilometers (110 miles) in diameter. As of 2021, it has not been named.

(118378) 1999 HT11, provisional designation:1999 HT11, is a trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System, locked in a 4:7 orbital resonance with Neptune. It was discovered on 17 April 1999, by astronomers at the Kitt Peak Observatory, Arizona, in the United States. The very red object measures approximately 134 kilometers (83 miles) in diameter. As of 2021, it has not been named.

2044 Wirt, provisional designation 1950 VE, is a binary Phocaea asteroid and Mars-crosser, approximately 6.7 kilometers in diameter. The minor-planet moon has an estimated diameter of 1.89 kilometer.

Haumea was the first of the IAU-recognized dwarf planets to be discovered since Pluto in 1930. Its naming as a dwarf planet was delayed by several years due to controversy over who should receive credit for its discovery. A California Institute of Technology (Caltech) team headed by Michael E. Brown first noticed the object, but a Spanish team headed by José Luis Ortiz Moreno were the first to announce it, and so normally would receive credit. Brown accused the Spanish team of fraud, using Caltech observations without credit to make their discovery, while the Ortiz team accused the American team of political interference with the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The IAU officially recognized the Californian team's proposed name Haumea over the name proposed by the Spanish team, Ataecina, in September 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost minor planet</span> Asteroids whose orbits are not known accurately enough to find them again

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.

3982 Kastelʹ, provisional designation 1984 JP1, is a Florian asteroid and a suspected binary system from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6.9 kilometers in diameter.

(523639) 2010 RE64, provisional designation 2010 RE64, is a trans-Neptunian object in the scattered disc located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 570 kilometers (350 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 11 July 2010 by the Pan-STARRS-1 survey at the Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, in the United States.

Herbert Raab is an Austrian software engineer, amateur astronomer and discoverer of astronomical objects.

420356 Praamzius, provisional designation 2012 BX85, is a trans-Neptunian object from the classical Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 190–320 kilometers (120–200 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 23 January 2012, by astronomers Kazimieras Černis and Richard Boyle with the Vatican's VATT at Mount Graham Observatory in Arizona, United States. The cold classical Kuiper belt object is a weak dwarf planet candidate and possibly very red in color. It was named after the chief god Praamžius from Lithuanian mythology.

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The Sormano Astronomical Observatory is an astronomical observatory north of Milan, Italy. Located near the Swiss border at 1000 meters elevation at the mountain village of Sormano in the pre-Alps, the observatory was privately funded by the Gruppo Astrofili Brianza and built in 1986.

Dmitry Nikolayevich Chestnov is a Russian astronomer, observer and photometrist of comets and discoverer of minor planets. He lives in Saransk, the capital city of the Republic of Mordovia, Russia.

(523676) 2013 UL10 (prov. designation:2013 UL10) is a reddish centaur with cometary activity orbiting the Sun between Jupiter and Uranus. It was discovered on 18 August 2010, by a team of astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at the Haleakalā Observatory, Hawaii. It is the first centaur known to have both comet-like activity and red surface colors. It is also one of the smallest centaurs, with a nucleus of no more than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in diameter. As of 2021, it has not been named.

References

  1. 1 2 "Orbits and names". Minor Planet Statistics. Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  2. ↑ "Running tallies". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  3. ↑ "List of Observatory Codes". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  4. 1 2 "Editorial notice". Minor Planet Center. 19 October 2010. MPEC 2010-U20. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  5. 1 2 "MPC / MPO / MPS archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  6. 1 2 "(21271) 1996 RF33". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
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