IAU Minor Planet Center

MPEC 2002-Q20 : EDITORIAL NOTICE

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M.P.E.C. 2002-Q20                                Issued 2002 Aug. 22, 13:40 UT

     The Minor Planet Electronic Circulars contain information on unusual
         minor planets and routine data on comets.  They are published
   on behalf of Commission 20 of the International Astronomical Union by the
          Minor Planet Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory,
                          Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.

             Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network

                              MPC@CFA.HARVARD.EDU
          URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html  ISSN 1523-6714

                               EDITORIAL NOTICE

                   [reprinted from MPC 46173, 2002 Aug. 22]

     In an Editorial Notice on 2001 July 5, we asked observers to inform us
whether they wished to have their "one-night stands"--single-night
detections of unidentified, unlinked or otherwise unconfirmed objects--made
available by the IAU Minor Planet Center on an anonymous ftp server at the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory or "returned to the sender."  Failure
of an observer to respond by the 2001 Sept. 15 deadline was taken by the MPC
to mean that such observations would _not_ be made publicly available.  In
accordance with the contract between the IAU and the SAO, this procedure was
initiated last October for observations that were at least six months old.

     The IAU General Secretary, in consultation with the chair of the IAU MPC
Advisory Committee, notes that the contract implies that failure to respond
means that an observer's one-night stands _should_ be made available.
Accordingly, observers who have so far not responded are now being given a
second chance to respond--by 2002 Oct. 10.  Those who have
not responded by then will be presumed to accept that their one-night-stand
data will be made publicly available.

     In considering their responses, observers should understand that the IAU
officials require that _one-month-old_(or even more recent)
one-night-stand data be made available on the ftp server in the next monthly
update.  If such data are _not_ to be made available, it is required that
the MPC return them to the observers with the notification that the data will
not be used for further linkages, because they are not "public data."
Furthermore, in order to fulfill the IAU requirements, the MPC is prohibited
from accepting a resubmission of these same observations unless and until
they have been identified or linked.

Brian G. Marsden             (C) Copyright 2002 MPC           M.P.E.C. 2002-Q20

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