Singletons and Archival Observations Committee (SARC)¶
In recent years there has been an increase in the scale and accessibility of public data archives, as well as in the availability of new software tools to search and extract data from said archives. This has significantly lowered the barriers to finding, extracting and submitting archival data to the MPC.
While this represents a huge opportunity for the community to better utilize extant data, and for the MPC to improve the orbit catalog, it also presents the MPC and the community with some challenges related to ensuring that the quality of the submitted measurements remains high.
One concern is that occasional erroneous measurements of images from public archives might be submitted by third party users. Single measurements can be especially problematic when reported for an opposition for which no other observations are available. These single observations have the power to change the orbits and, especially in the case of objects that are already on the Sentry risk list, they can influence the impact probability computation.
The MPC has long implemented a number of measures to weed out inaccurate observations. For example, we maintain a list of users who are allowed to submit single measurements, as well as requiring the submission of a sample of observations of known objects before assigning an observatory code. We also maintain an updated documentation on the criteria we use for accepting or rejecting identifications. Some of these criteria include checks on the number of nights and on the arc length of the submitted identification. In general, the MPC's submission policy expects the data submitters to do their due diligence before submitting the observations, but we also understand that sometimes it can be difficult for users to establish the validity of the extracted observations.
To address the issues, the MPC and the MPC User Group (MUG) have formed a committee of impartial external experts to help review individual cases, and to develop policy recommendations for vetting and publishing singletons and archival observations. The initial committee consists of the following members:
- Tyler Linder, chair of the committee
- Steve Chesley from JPL
- Larry Denneau from ATLAS
- Mario Juric from the Vera Rubin Observatory / LSST
- Joe Masiero from WISE/NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor
- Rob Weryk from PanSTARRS
- David Rankin from Catalina Sky Survey
- Marco Micheli from the ESA NEO Coordination Centre
Additional experts can always be added on a case-by-case basis.
The committee and the peer-review process will only provide recommendations to the MPC: the MPC will always have the ultimate decision.
Up until now, the committee has been called to express their opinion on a few different submissions of archival observations, but in the near future the committee will be more involved in how the MPC will plan to assign (or re-assign) program codes. For further information, please see our program codes documentation page.
List of Public Archives and Corresponding SARC Contact¶
The following is a list of public archives that have been identified as common sources of archival observations, along with the corresponding SARC contact person. If you are planning to submit archival observations from one of these archives, please contact the corresponding SARC member before submitting the data to the MPC. The SARC member will be able to provide guidance on how to best extract and vet the data, and will also be able to help review the submission before it is sent to the MPC.
Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and that other archives may be added in the future as needed. If you are planning to submit archival observations from an archive that is not on this list, please contact the MPC directly for guidance.
Please note that the SARC members are volunteering their time to help the community and the MPC, and the time of response may vary depending on the availability of the SARC members. If you need or if you are planning to submit archival observations, please reach out to the corresponding SARC member well in advance of your planned submission date.
| Archive | Observatory codes | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Asiago Observatory, Cima Ekar | 098, 209 | SARC Chair |
| ATLAS | M22, R17, T05, T08, W68 | Larry Denneau |
| Catalina Sky Survey | 703, G83, G96, I52, V06 | David Rankin |
| Cerro Tololo | 807 | Tyler Linder |
| DECAM | W84 | Tyler Linder |
| ESA various telescopes | 033, 204, 246, B63, J04, J75, L80, Q12, W57, W98, Z33, Z58, Z84 | Marco Micheli |
| Euclid | 273 | SARC Chair |
| European Southern Observatory | 262, 309, 809 | Marco Micheli |
| Gemini North | I11 | SARC Chair |
| Gemini South | T15 | SARC Chair |
| Haleakala-NEAT/GEODSS | 566 | SARC Chair |
| Hubble | 250 | SARC Chair |
| Kitt Peak | 695 | SARC Chair |
| JWST | 274 | SARC Chair |
| La Palma | 950 | SARC Chair |
| LCO | E10, F65, K91, K92, K93, L09, Q58, Q63, Q64, T03, T04, V37, V38, V39, W85, W86, W87, W89, W97, Z17, Z21, Z24, Z31 | SARC Chair |
| Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Objects Survey | 699 | SARC Chair |
| MaunaKea | 568, T09, T10, T11, T12, T13, T14, T16, T17 | SARC Chair |
| Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) | 644 | SARC Chair |
| NEOSSat | C53 | SARC Chair |
| New Horizons | 266, 267 | SARC Chair |
| NEO Surveyor | C58 | Joe Masiero |
| Perth Observatory, Bickley | 323 | SARC Chair |
| SDSS | 645 | Tyler Linder |
| Siding Spring | 413 | SARC Chair |
| Siding Spring - Skymapper | Q55 | SARC Chair |
| SOAR | I33 | SARC Chair |
| SOHO / STEREO | 249, C49, C50 | SARC Chair |
| Spacewatch 0.9m Mosaic Camera Survey | 291, 691 | SARC Chair |
| PanSTARRS | F51, F52 | Rob Weryk |
| Spitzer | 245 | Joe Masiero |
| Vera Rubin Observatory / LSST | X05 | Mario Juric |
| VLT Survey Telescope (VST) | X11 | Marco Micheli |
| WISE/NEOWISE | C51 | Joe Masiero |
| ZTF | I41 | Joe Masiero |