Useful Links
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Observer tools
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NEO
Confirmation page (NEOCP) |
Ephemerides configurable for your observatory for newly discovered
NEOs, comets and other interesting objects.
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MPC
Ephemeris Service (MPES) |
Ephemerides configurable for your observatory for all minor planets
and comets.
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MPC
NEAObs |
NEA Observation Planning Aid from the Minor
Planet Center.
Build a customised list of NEOs by specifying a number of selection
parameters, including the current sky uncertainty, to help choose NEOs
to observe that require astrometry.
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NEODys
Risk page |
Similar listings from NEODys and JPL of currently
observable and lost NEOs with possible impact solutions, generally where
the orbital elements are not known very accurately and therefore require
further observations urgently.
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JPL Risk page
(SENTRY) |
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Minor
Planet Checker |
The Minor Planet Center provide this page for observers to check
whether an object is a previously known minor planet. Enter the RA and Dec
(or paste in a standard MPC formatted observation) and the page will list
known minor planets in the vicinity at the time (but note
that Minor Planets observed at only one opposition that have not been seen
for several years are not included, so always send in
suspects to the MPC for full checking)
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New Object Ephemeris Generator |
Another Minor Planet Center facility where anything from 2 to 100
positions of a moving object can be used to generate a preliminary
ephemeris (by the Vaisala method). This is very useful when trying to get
a second night of observations for an object that is suspected of being a
new asteroid and works well for main belt asteroids but not for fast
moving objects. Report fast movers to the MPC immediately!
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NEO Rating Page |
Given two or more observations of a moving object this page calculates
the probability of it being a Near Earth Object. Scores of 50% or more
are required for an object to be included on the NEO Confirmation Page (NEOCP).
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Community
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Asteroid/Comet Connection (A/CC)
The
Tracking News (formally
Major News about Minor Objects) |
Daily news of astrometry published by the IAU MPC from professionals &
amateur observers around the world + Risk monitoring results. Published
by Bill Allen. The Asteroid/Comet Connection News pages
published until 16 September 2007 (but still available on the A/CC site)
have given a very interesting account of issues about currently
observable objects, together with plenty of background.
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Asteroid/Comet Connection (A/CC)
Traffic Report. |
For Near Earth objects currently within 10 Lunar Distances of the
Earth a graphic is provided showing positions on the sky, together with
detailed information on each object.
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Asteroid/Comet Connection (A/CC)
Traffic Timeline. |
Various sets of graphs and statistics for close approaches to the
Earth by NEOs since 01 Jan 2007.
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Asteroid/Comet Connection
Observatory Links |
Very comprehensive listings of the web sites of
observatories involved in astrometry. Presented alphabetically and by
country.
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| Minor
Planet Mailing List (MPML)
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Discussion forum "for the active Asteroid and
Comet researcher... provides a way for researchers in this communitiy at
all levels an opportunity to share information, astrometric and
photometric techniques or to request specific observations of various
objects"
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Comets
Mailing List |
Discussion forum "for observers and anyone else
interested in comets. This includes discussion about visual,
photographic and CCD observing as well as about astrometric, orbital,
photometric, hunting or historical aspects."
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Backyard Astronomy Basics |
An interesting collection of links for beginners to astronomy
(thanks Peyton)
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Naked Eye Astronomy Guide |
For those starting in astronomy without a telescope this page brings
together some great links to get the most out of observing with the
naked eye (thanks Noah)
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Guide to Backyard Astronomy |
A broad range of useful links to more information for the beginner to
get started (thanks James)
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British
Astronomical Association |
Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890
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Reference
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Guide
to Minor Body Astrometry |
The Minor Planet Center's guide to starting an astrometric program.
Essential reading for budding astrometrists.
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Recent
MPECs |
The 20 most recent MPC Electronic Circulars (MPECs) and access to
previous MPECs, giving details of astrometry, orbital elements and
summary ephemerides of NEOs and comets
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Previous NEO Confirmation Page
Objects |
Archived contents of the MPCs
Previous
NEO Confirmation Page Objects page (which only provides details for
the last few months). The archived list contains details from 2002 to
the present (a few gaps are indicated within the list).
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IR satellite and rain image for Great Shefford |
Essential night-time viewing for rainy England
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