Asteroids & Minor Planets
Observations and research concerning asteroids and minor planets.
Asteroids & Minor Planets
This section is dedicated to the astrometric and photometric observation of asteroids and other minor bodies of the Solar System, with particular interest in faint objects, NEOs, newly discovered candidates and targets requiring observational follow-up.
MPC/MPEC Sky Map: latest observation — functions and use
Purpose
MPC/MPEC Sky Map: latest observation is a web-based tool developed for Spuntosoft Research and OANS Observatory MPC S04. It retrieves recently issued Minor Planet Electronic Circulars (MPECs) from the Minor Planet Center, extracts available astrometric observations and produces a sky map in Right Ascension and Declination.
The tool provides a rapid visual overview of recently reported minor planets, comets, A/ Objects and natural satellites. It is not an orbit-determination service and does not replace official Minor Planet Center data and circulars.
Main functions
- Retrieval of MPECs issued within the selected interval.
- Private local caching of downloaded MPECs so archived circulars are not downloaded again.
- Extraction of astrometric Right Ascension and Declination positions.
- Object identifiers shown near the latest plotted observation.
- Magnitude colour coding with an on-chart legend.
- Object tracks and a motion arrow on the latest segment when at least two observations are available.
- Table with name/designation, fractional date, RA, Dec, magnitude and reference MPEC.
- Filters for all objects, minor planets, comets, A/ Objects and natural satellites.
- Selectable windows of 1, 2, 7, 15, 30, 180 and 365 days.
How to use it
- Select the object type.
- Select the time interval; the default is 2 days.
- Display an already generated result or request a new calculation.
- The program checks the private MPEC archive first and downloads only missing circulars.
- Inspect the RA/Dec map and object table; the MPEC reference links back to the Minor Planet Center circular.
Automatic generation
The standard public product is regenerated automatically by the server using all objects and a 2-day window. Manual update remains available.
Source and limitations
Source data are the MPECs made available by the Minor Planet Center. The map is a graphical representation of extracted observations; for scientific use, the official MPC/MPEC source remains authoritative.