The Minor Planet Bulletin BULLETIN OF THE MINOR PLANETS SECTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY OBSERVERS
Click on image to zoom
The Minor Planet Bulletin is the journal for almost all amateurs and even some professionals for publishing
asteroid photometry results, including lightcurves, H-G parameters, color indexes, and shape/spin axis models.
It is considered to be a refereed journal by the SAO/NASA ADS.
All MPB papers are indexed in the ADS.
Print subscriptions are no longer available to individuals. Institutions (e.g., college libraries) can still
obtain print copies via a special subscription. See details in MPB 37-4 or contact the editor, Richard Binzel.
Annual voluntary contributions of $5.00 or more in support of the publication are welcome.
Please send a check, drawn on a U.S. bank and payable in U.S. funds, to "Minor Planet Bulletin" and send it to:
Minor Planet Bulletin
c/o Melissa Hayes-Gehrke
UMD Astronomy Department
1113 PSC Bldg 415
College Park, MD 20742
Authors Guide and Word Templates
(v.3.0: updated 2024 February 2)
The ZIP file contains the Authors Guide PDF as well as a "starter" paper in Word 2007+ (DOTX).
Those using Word 97 (DOC/DOT) are encouraged to download
OpenOffice and convert their files to
the most recent Word format (DOCX). Please read this updated guide since there are a number of changes from previous guides.
A new, optional, table is available for those wanting to include physical and
discovery information
in a more accessible way.
See the announcement in Minor Planet Bulletin51-2.
The Pts column is no longer required and has been removed from the template for the standard
table
to allow more room for the other columns.
The phase column should have only two values: for the first and last date in the range.
If the phase reaches an extrema between those dates, put an asterisk before the first value.
For example,
*7.2,13.7.
Use semicolons to separate names in the references section. For example:
Smith, J.J.; Jones, A.A. (2019).
This also applies if using several references to the same author in the text. For example:
"This asteroid was observed at three previous apparitions (Jones, 2015; 2017; 2018)..."
Issues for the upcoming quarter-year are released on about the 21st of March, June, September, and December.
Full issues and individual papers from vol 1 (1973) to present are available via links on this page.
Important: If the ADS bibcode and "Download PDF" links are missing for the latest issue, it is because the ADS has
not processed the files. The links will be made available after the ADS processes the files.
If the "Download PDF" link is visible and there is no PDF available, clicking the link will download an arbitrary
page. We are working with ADS to make sure all papers are available and, if not, being able to diasable the link.
The "Download Full Issue" link does retrieve the correct file.
Vol 1-7 run Jul-Jun. Vol 8-present run Jan-Dec. Only papers indexed in the ADS are included.
Earlier volumes often contain more papers than listed here. It's recommended to download the
full issue in vol 1-9.
A Photometric Geodesy Program For Main Belt Asteroids
Pages 31-33 Levy, David H.; Davis, Donald R.; Weidenschilling, Stuart J.; Chapman, Clark R.; Greenberg, Richard 1984MPBu...11...31LDownload PDF
This article describes a long-term program to measure the lightcurves of several main belt asteroids, to test whether they have shapes similar to fluid bodies in equilibrium.
Visual magnitude estimates of 18 Melpomene were made throughout its 1981 apparition. Analysis of the observations made at phase angles > 7 degrees yield a linear phase coefficient of 0.028 ± 0.002 mag/deg, in excellent agreement with the mean value for S-type asteroids. Linear extrapolation to zero degrees phase angle implies a V magnitude of 6.88.
In the past, photoelectric photometry was an art practiced only by professional astronomers who had access to expensive, custom-made equipment. Recently, however, relatively inexpensive photometers have appeared commercially, thereby providing amateurs the opportunity to obtain photometric observations of various astronomical objects. The professional, however, has a thirty year head-start over the amateur, and many amateurs may wonder if there is anything left for them to do with a photometer on a small telescope. If this is the case for you, then this is the book for you! The book is loaded with discussions of just what opportunities remain for amateur photoelectric photometry of solar system objects.
The table below lists asteroids which come to opposition during the months of November 1984 - January 1985 that represent useful targets for photoelectric photometry observations. Observations are needed because the asteroid has either an unknown or ambiguous rotational period or because the asteroid will be observable at a very low phase angle.
To aid in photographing asteroids, a computer program is used to generate finding charts for the selection of guide stars. The data base contains all asteroids with a given minimum magnitude and the stars from the Yale catalogue down to 7th magnitude.
I enjoyed reading "William Herschel and the First Two Asteroids" (MPB v. 11 p. 3), but author Cunningham failed to tell you an interesting fact about the meeting of Herschel and Piazzi. According to Isaac Asimov, (Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology) when Piazzi visited England "... he had the doubtful privilege of falling off the ladder at the side of Herschel's great reflector and breaking his arm."
