Astronomy:Critical-list minor planet

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Short description: Numbered minor planet with uncertain position and orbit


A critical-list minor planet (critical list numbered object or critical object) is a numbered minor planet for which existing measurements of the orbit and position are especially in need of improvement.[1]

The IAU's Minor Planet Center (MPC) regularly publishes a list of these critical objects in their Minor Planet Electronic Circular.[2] The list typically contains asteroids that have been observed at a small number of apparitions, especially on opposition, or that have not been adequately observed for more than 10 years, while other observatories create their own, customized lists.[3] The MPC also lists currently observable critical objects on their website,[4] providing differently formatted lists of orbital elements to the worldwide astrometric community.[5]

Lowell Observatory publishes their own critical list, distinctly different from the MPC, instead focusing on objects with high ephemeris uncertainty. Specifically, objects with computed ephemeris uncertainty greater than 2 arcseconds over the next 10 years, and objects whose orbits degrade significantly when temporally isolated observations are ignored, are included in the list.[3]

List

(As of August 2023), the MPC includes 1,494 objects in their critical list. This list contains all critical objects within the first 50,000 numbered minor planets:[6]


See also

References

  1. ↑ Monet, A. K. B. (December 1994). "CCD Astrometry of "Critical List" Minor Planets". American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts 185: 43.11. Bibcode: 1994AAS...185.4311M. 
  2. ↑ "Minor Planet Electronic Circulars – Sample MPECs". Minor Planet Center. https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/services/MPEC.html. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Critical Lists of Asteroids". Lowell Observatory. https://asteroid.lowell.edu/critlists/legacy/. 
  4. ↑ "Observable Critical-List Minor Planets". Minor Planet Center. https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/Ephemerides/CritList/index.html. 
  5. ↑ "Orbital Elements: Critical-List Minor Planets". Minor Planet Center. https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/Ephemerides/CritList/SoftwareCritList.html. 
  6. ↑ "Data Available from the Minor Planet Center – MPCORB.DAT". Minor Planet Center. 26 June 2020. https://minorplanetcenter.net/data.  (doc)

External links



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