ADES Astrometry Parser

ADES

Astrometry Data Exchange Standard. Describes how information can be formatted to allow position and brightness information of an astronomical object to be stored in for instance, a simple text file. Supersedes and is more flexible than the previous format used by the Minor Planet Center, known as the 80-column MPC1992 format. See the MPC's July 2018 ADES announcement and their ADES Data submission page, together with the Concise Description of the ADES standard document.

Astrometrica

A Windows program by Herbert Raab providing professional quality astrometric reduction, track & stack, automated moving object detection functionality and more. 

Versions of Astrometrica up to 4.11 generate astrometry data files in MPC1992 format, but from version 4.12 onwards generate ADES PSV formatted text files only.

The latest ADES version is available from the Astrometrica Downloads page.

Find_Orb

A program by Bill Gray provides a number of different orbital determination methods to calculate orbital elements from astrometric observations in either MPC (MPC1992 and ADES) or NEODys format. See here.

JPL SBDB

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) Small-Body Database Lookup. The SBDB web page at https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/ gives access to asteroid and comet orbital elements, orbit diagrams, physical parameters, close approach details and more. The SBDB is used to retrieve object and orbit type information displayed in the list of permanent and provisional object designations.

JPL Sentry

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Sentry impact monitoring system at https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/sentry/ performs long-term analyses of possible future orbits of hazardous asteroids, searching for impact possibilities over the next century.

MPC

The Minor Planet Center is the single worldwide location for receipt and distribution of positional measurements of minor planets, comets and outer irregular natural satellites of the major planets.

MPC1992

A format for storing astrometry data, defined by the Minor Planet Center in 1992 and still in use today, though gradually being replaced by the ADES format. Individual lines are limited to a length of 80 characters.

MPC DB Search

The MPC Database Search service allows astrometry for designated Minor Planets and Comets to be retrieved from the MPC's database, not for objects on the NEOCP or PCCP. It can also be used to search for objects by object type or by orbit properties.

MPC packed format

In MPC1992 formatted astrometry, the identifiers used for permanently numbered objects or objects with provisional designations are converted into "packed" format to save space in the fixed 80-column astrometry line. See the MPC Packed Provisional and Permanent Designations page and the Pack and Unpack MPC Designations application overview.

NEOCP

The MPC's Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page, where unconfirmed newly discovered unusual asteroids are listed, so that observers can attempt to confirm and follow-up by submitting positional measurements

NEOfixer

A web service developed by the Catalina Sky Survey team, Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona. NEOfixer aims to help optimize the discovery and follow-up of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) by providing observers with targeting recommendations, specific to their site. Observers can contribute by sending status information about the objects they are targeting to NEOfixer. See the NEOfixer FAQ page.

PCCP

The MPC's Possible Comet Confirmation Page, where unconfirmed newly discovered comets are listed, so that observers can attempt to confirm and follow-up by submitting positional measurements

PSV

Pipe-Separated Value file format. A format allowing many different data elements to be stored within a line of text, each value being delimited by a pipe (vertical line) character, e.g.

J95 |2021-08-16T23:25:26.10Z|  1.83574  | +2.25755  |0.18 |0.21 

PSV text files are normally given a .psv file extension, e.g. ADESReport.psv

trkSub

An observer-assigned tracklet identifier, unique within a submission batch. Typically NEOCP and PCCP objects are identified by the trkSubs assigned by their discoverers. A maximum of 8 alphanumeric characters can be specified in ADES submissions, but the MPC1992 format only allows for 7 characters.

Where Are My Observations? (WAMO)

A service provided by the Minor Planet Center allowing an observer to check on the status of astrometry submitted to the MPC. See the MPC's WAMO page https://minorplanetcenter.net/wamo/ for further information. See also the Great Shefford Observatory WAMO Viewer application.