Lists and Plots¶
The MPC maintains a variety of lists, plots, and statistics related to minor planets and comets. Most of these are auto-generated and updated regularly.
Citation policy
Users of any of these lists are reminded that the source of the data is the Minor Planet Center. The relevant URL should be cited, along with a reference to the MPC itself.
Minor Planets¶
Database Explorer¶
Links to the MPC's database explorer, which allows the user to generate customizable lists and plots of various solar system populations:
Unusual Minor Planets¶
Sortable tables:
- Atens
- Apollos
- Amors
- Centaurs and Scattered-Disk Objects
- Transneptunian Objects
- Other Unusual Objects
- Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs)
Plain ASCII format:
- Atens
- Apollos
- Amors
- Centaurs and Scattered-Disk Objects
- Transneptunian Objects
- Other Unusual Objects
- PHAs
Other:
- Dates of Last Observation of Unusual Minor Planets
- NEO Designations Assigned in Past Year
- Trojan Minor Planets
Close Approaches¶
- Forthcoming Close Approaches to the Earth
- PHA Close Approaches to the Earth
- Closest Approaches to the Earth
- Interactive Geocentric Apparent Motion Diagrams
Solar System Plots¶
Distribution and Other Data¶
- Minor Planet Distribution
- Minor Planet Names
- Absolute Magnitude (H) to Diameter Conversion
- Lightcurve Parameters
Discovery Statistics¶
- Discoverers by Number of Discoveries
- Discoverers Alphabetical
- Most Prolific Discovery Sites
- Discovery Circumstances of Numbered Minor Planets
- Numbered Discoveries by Year
- Provisional Designations
Comets¶
- Dates of Last Observation of Comets
- Comet Discoveries/Recoveries in the Past Year
- Forthcoming Close Approaches to the Earth
- Closest Approaches to the Earth by Comets
- Plot of the Outer Solar System
- Periodic Comet Numbers (numerical order)
- Periodic Comet Numbers (alphabetical order)
Other¶
Technical Lists and Statistics¶
The links below contain low-level information generated during MPC operations and are not formatted for casual viewing.
- Break down of amateur discoveries
- Yearly break down of observations
- Status of designated objects (by year and half-month)
- Statistics on residuals from observations of minor planets, by observatory code
- Statistics on residuals from observations of numbered minor planets, by observatory code
- Magnitude-weighting file
- Astrometry-weighting file