IAU: Minor Planet Center

The MPC is responsible for the designation of minor bodies in the solar system: minor planets; comets (in conjunction with CBAT); and natural satellites (also in conjunction with CBAT). The MPC is also responsible for the efficient collection, (computation,) checking and dissemination of astrometric observations and orbits for minor planets and comets, via the Minor Planet Circulars (issued generally on a monthly basis), the Minor Planet Circulars Orbit Supplement (MPO) (issued three to twelve times per year), the Minor Planet Circulars Supplement (MPS) (issued three or four times a month) and the Minor Planet Electronic Circulars (issued as necessary, generally at least once per day).

• Search the MPC site.

• Site Map. [Added 2007 July 12]

• MPC publications and services.
  • How do I report material to the MPC? Notes and technical details.
    • Information we need from observers in order to start using the new observation format
  • Subscription information.
    • Secure On-Line Order Form
  • On-line MPECs.
  • Web access to the computer services.
    • Brief descriptions of and information on how to access the various Web-based services, including PS/PDF versions of the MPCs, MPOs and MPSs.
    • Computer Service quick-links:
      • IAUMail
    • Extended Computer Service quick-links:
      • MPCAT
      • MPCAT-OBS
      • MPCUPDATE
      • MPC Archive
      • MPCOBS [Added 2007 June 14]

• MPC Financial Supporters
  • Details on institutions and individuals who are contributing to the MPC are now available.
  • Support for computer equipment used by the MPC is provided by the Tamkin Foundation.

• Services for Observers
  • The NEO Confirmation Page
    • The NEO Confirmation Page (in R.A. order)
    • NEA candidate last added/updated (or page modified) on July 4.41 UT.
    • There are two NEA candidates in need of confirmation at the present time (July 4.41 UT).
  • Get NEO ratings for your observations. [Added 2007 May 27]
  • The NEO Page.
    • The NEA Observations Planning Aid.
    • Date of Last Observation of NEOs not seen in a while, with easy access to ephemerides.
    • Lists of bright and faint recovery opportunities for old one-opposition objects.
  • Minor Planet & Comet Ephemeris Service
    • Generate current ephemerides for an arbitrary list of (up to 100) minor planets and comets.
    • Generate an HTML page that you can put on your own web site to encourage others to follow-up your discoveries.
      • A collection of links to follow-up pages
  • Natural Satellites Ephemeris Service [Added 2004 July 2]
    • Generate ephemerides for the outer irregular satellites of the giant planets.
  • New Object Ephemeris Generator
    • Generate ephemerides for "new" discoveries before assignment of official provisional designations.
  • Identifying objects
    • MPChecker, checks possible new minor planet suspects against known objects.
    • NEOChecker, checks possible new NEO suspects against known objects.
    • CMTChecker, checks possible new comet suspects against known objects.
    • NEOCMTChecker, checks possible new NEO and comet suspects against known objects.
  • MPC Orbit Database (MPCORB)
    • Download the freely-accessible MPC Orbit Database (MPCORB)
  • The Distant Artificial Satellites Observation page, allowing you to observe artificial objects that may (or have been) confused with natural objects.
  • Guide to Minor Body Astrometry Notes for new or potential astrometric observers [Updated 2008 June 25]
  • Dates of Last Observation of Distant Objects
    • An MPES-aware listing of the dates of last observation of Centaurs, TNOs and SDOs.
  • A page allowing you to prepare customized versions of the observable-object lists.
  • Sky coverage
    • See which parts of the sky have been searched recently and add your own coverage information.
  • On-line access to the observation summary pages from each batch of MPCs.
    • Summary pages from 2008 June 18 issue now available.
    • Newly-available batches are normally put on-line several days after the ECS files are released.
    • Link to preliminary version of Observer Summary pages for checking purposes
  • Ephemerides and orbital elements for comets, NEOs, distant objects and bright minor planets.
  • The MPC Status Page. This page lists the enhancements that have been made to various MPC services, as well as listing known problems with pages/scripts on this site and their resolution.
    • Page listing known problems with contacting certain e-mail addresses.
  • Links to mirror copies of many of the MPC web pages.

• Documentation

• Astronomical headlines from recent circulars.
  • Press Information Sheets [Updated 2000 July 21]

• Various lists and plots.
  • Look here for all sorts of tabulations and plots, including NEO tables and lists of minor planet names.
  • The Animations Page: A collection of various animations prepared at the MPC.

• Index to the CBAT/MPC/ICQ pages.
  • List of new features on these pages. [Updated 2008 May 6]
  • Details on stellar occultations by minor planets from IOTA.
  • Minor Planet Lightcurve data [Updated 2006 Mar. 28]

• Credits (and awards) and a user-feedback form.

SAO CBAT ICQ