The Minor Planet Bulletin BULLETIN OF THE MINOR PLANETS SECTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY OBSERVERS
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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.
Photoelectric observations of the asteroids 121 Hermione, 264 Libussa and 354 Eleonora were made from Estacion de Altura MEl Leoncito of Felix Aguilar Observatory during the 1989 apparition. The synodic rotational period, lightcurve amplitude and average B-V color found for 121 Hermione are: P = 8.97 ± 0.07 hr., Δm = 0.12 ± 0.01, B-V = 0.699 ± 0.014. For 354 Eleonora the previously reported 4.277 hr. period is confirmed and the observed amplitude and colors are: Δm = 0.16 ± 0.01. B-V = 0.931 ± 0.014. For 264 Libussa the synodic rotational period is not less than 8 hr., with lightcurve amplitude >0.22 mag. and average B-V = 0.838 ± 0.014.
The following precise astrometric positions have been measured from photographs obtained with a Newtonian reflector of 41 em aperture, 1.943 meter focal length, and hypersensitized KODAK TP 2415 film. The location of the observatory is: Longitude 4°12'34" E; Latitude 45°22'50" N; Altitude 448 meters.
The following positions of minor planets have been made photographically using a 75 mm f/9.2 achromatic photographic objective on T MAX 400 Kodak films. The reported ur time is that of mid exposure. The estimated precision for each measurement is ±1.5 arcsecond.
I was a bit surprised to find in the current issue of MPB a short article by Floyd Hutson in which he reported residuals between his astrometric observations and positions predicted by my ephemeris program. My program Is Intended only for finding objects, not reducing astrometric observations, as It does not include topocentric or aberration of llght corrections, among others. and some arithmetic Is done In single precision. The 0-C residuals he reported are, If anything, smaller than the errors I would have expected in my computations alone, so it is no surprise that the residuals are larger than his solution error estimates. Indeed, it is entirely possible that his observations, if measured against a higher precision ephemeris, might yield much smaller residuals.
I am attending the Corporation for Research Amateur Astronomy Baja '91 Symposium at La Paz. Mexico, around the time of the solar eclipse July 11, 1991. Here I shall present a paper, The Minor Planets Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers.· I shall appreciate the support of any Minor Planets Section members who can also attend. Even if you cannot attend the Symposium, please contact me about any of your activities which you wish for me to include. I shall peruse the last 2 years' issues of the Minor Planet Bulletin, plus those to be published up to the time of the Symposium, for as complete a range of our undertakings as I can find.
Harris (1990) gives a list of favorable oppositions of minor planet 944 Hidalgo between the years 1900 and 2050. We were rather surprised to read that for this purpose an unperturbed orbit was used, With the statement that the opposition dates •far from the current epoch may be off by a day or so·. This ·current epoch· itself Is not mentioned in the article, and we fear that the author has been too optimistic. Indeed, our Table II shows that, of the 22 opposition dates given by Harris, only five are less than two days in error. For many others, the error amounts to several months, with the consequence that the corresponding data are completely meaningless.
The table below lists asteroids which come to opposition during the months of November through January 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.
Through the August 6 batch of Minor Planet Circulars, 51 asteroids were newly numbered since the last installment of News Notes, bring the numbered total to 4559.
