Critical-list minor planet
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[update], 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]
- 1915 Quetzálcoatl
- 3362 Khufu
- 5335 Damocles
- 5381 Sekhmet
- (5590) 1990 VA
- 6489 Golevka
- 7066 Nessus
- (7236) 1987 PA
- 10370 Hylonome
- (15504) 1999 RG33
- (15788) 1993 SB
- (15807) 1994 GV9
- (15809) 1994 JS
- (15836) 1995 DA2
- (15883) 1997 CR29
- (16684) 1994 JQ1
- (19255) 1994 VK8
- (19299) 1996 SZ4
- 19521 Chaos
- (20108) 1995 QZ9
- (20161) 1996 TR66
- (20425) 1998 VD35
- 20461 Dioretsa
- (24952) 1997 QJ4
- (24978) 1998 HJ151
- (26379) 1999 HZ1
- 28978 Ixion
- (29981) 1999 TD10
- (31662) 1999 HP11
- (33001) 1997 CU29
- (35670) 1998 SU27
- 38083 Rhadamanthus
- (40314) 1999 KR16
- (45802) 2000 PV29
- 49036 Pelion
- (49673) 1999 RA215
See also
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Minor Planet Electronic Circulars – Sample MPECs". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ^ a b "Critical Lists of Asteroids". Lowell Observatory. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
- ^ "Observable Critical-List Minor Planets". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ^ "Orbital Elements: Critical-List Minor Planets". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ^ "Data Available from the Minor Planet Center – MPCORB.DAT". Minor Planet Center. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2023. (doc)
External links
- MPEC 1998-G21 : CRITICAL-LIST MINOR PLANETS, Minor Planet Circular (1998)
- Asteroid orbit determination using Bayesian probabilities, Karri Muinonen, Edward Bowell (1993)
