Processing(Info)

Format For Astrometric Observations Of Comets, Minor Planets and Natural Satellites

Astrometric observations of comets, minor planets and natural satellitessubmitted for publicationin theMinor Planet Circulars (MPCs),Minor Planet Electronic CircularsandIAU Circulars are represented byone or more 80-column records. The format differs depending on whetherthe observation is optical (photographic, CCD or visual), radaror satellite-based.

• Optical
  • "Roving Observer" format
• From satellite
• Radar

Related links:

• References
• Packed provisional designations
  • Packed designations for cometsdiscovered/recovered in the past year
• Alphabetic notes for observations
• Observatory codes
• You should also ensure that you have read thisGuide to Minor-Body Astrometry

Observations formatted according to the schemes detailed above mustbe sent via e-mail toobs@cfa.harvard.edu.Observations must be sent unencoded as plain text. In particular, usersof MIME-compliant mailers are askednot to use BinHex/Base64encoding! Encoded messages are not decoded by the automated processingroutines (a deliberate design decision), so any encoded observation batcheswill not be recognized as containing observations and will be deleted.