70 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
70 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF MINOR PLANET DISCOVERY
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Frederick Pilcher
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Illinois College
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Jacksonville, IL 62650 USA
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This file of minor planet discovery data has been prepared in machine
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readable form for NSSDC and in hardcopy for ASTEROIDS II, (1988), ed. R. P.
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Binzel, T. Gehrels, and M. S. Mathews (Tucson: Universiy of Arizona Press).
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The machine readable list contains complete data for all numbered minor planets.
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The hard copy contains complete data only for planets 2125 and forward, and
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notes pertaining to these planets. Those for the preceding planets were listed
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by the writer in ASTEROIDS, (1979), ed. T. Gehrels (Tucson: University of
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Arizona Press), pp 1130-1154. A few mistakes in the first book have since been
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found and corrected in the machine readable version, and the reader will note
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small changes in the numbering of some of the NOTES. Diacritical marks for the
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names of planets, increasingly omitted from machine readable lists, have been
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added by hand to the hardcopy.
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The first column, 4 characters, contains the permanent number; the second,
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l6 characters, the official name; the third, for planets 330 and forward, the
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provisional designation attached to the discovery apparition; the fourth, the
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year, month, and day of discovery according to criteria explained below; the
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fifth, the name of the discoverer, discoverers, or institution of discovery;
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the sixth, the discovery place. The seventh column is used when needed for
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notes referencing two or more discoverers with names of combined length too
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great to fit in the discoverer column, to give a more complete description of
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programs involving several persons, and to reference cases in which two
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numbered planets were subsequently discovered to be identical and the number
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and name of one of these was reassigned to a newly-discovered planet. Notes
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have also been used to reference conflicting discovery claims and list
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important independent discoveries which are no longer regarded as official.
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The discovery date is in local mean time prior to 1 January 1925, and
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in UT thereafter, and refers to the time of mid-exposure for planets discovered
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by photographic means. In many cases the permanent number was assigned only
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when several unnumbered planets observed in different years were found to be
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identical, often many years after the discovery photographs were made. In
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these cases the discovery date is the first of that series of photographic
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observations from which the preliminary orbit was computed, and the provi-
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sional designation is that associated with this particular set of observations.
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Often earlier observations exist, but they are considered prediscoveries.
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In some cases the discovery and subsequent observations permitted images to be
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found on photographs obtained at the same observatory earlier in the discovery
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apparition; these earlier observations are considered prediscoveries.
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The following literature has been examined comprehensively to determine
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the discovery data:
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STRACKE, G., Identifizierungsnachweis der Kleinen Planeten (Berlin, 1938).
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HERGET, P., Names of Minor Planets (University of Cincinnati Observatory,
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1957, 1967).
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Astronomische Nachrichten.
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Astronomische Nachrichten Indices.
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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Rechen-Institut Circulars.
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Beobachtungs Zircular.
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Minor Planet Circulars.
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Lick Research Surveys on Minor Planets.
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Turku Informo.
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Acknowledgments. The authors wish to thank the following people for valuable
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contributions to this work. B. Marsden has arduously searched the literature,
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resolved various errors and discrepancies, and has passed judgment on con-
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flicting discovery claims. J. Meeus and M. Combes have prepared an earlier
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list of discovery data from which the present list was adapted and expanded,
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and J. Meeus has provided a complete list of diacritical marks of names of
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minor planets. K. Kelly and J. LoGuirato have proofread the material, and
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provided coninuing advice and counsel.
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