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.
Minor planet 1994 PC1 was discovered at Siding Spring on frames taken by R. H. McNaught on the night of Aug. 9, 1994. The discoverer was also able to find previous single night observations from 1974, 1977 and 1980 allowing G.V. Williams at the Minor Planet Center to compute a quite accurate orbit. (Williams, 1994). The orbital elements suggested that 1994 PC1 was an Apollo-type object with a period of 1.56 years. In the last apparition, early this year, the minor planet reached the minimum distance from us on Jan.20 (0.065 AU) and with more additional precise positions a definitive number was assigned (Williams, 1997). Indication about possible close approaches of asteroids and comets to the planets can be obtained computing the minimal distances between the orbits (Sitarski, 1968).
Photometric Observations of Minor Planet 402 Chloe
Photometric observations of minor planet 402 Chloe were made in January through March of 1997 to determine its rotational period and lightcurve amplitude. A period was not determined. The amplitude of the lightcurve for this opposition was found to be less than 0.1 magnitudes, less than expected. The reduced magnitude for zero phase anglwas determined to be 8.45 ± 0.l0 magnitudes, brighter than expected.
Asteroid Photometry Opportunities: November-January
The table below lists asteroids that come to opposition during the months of November through January that represent useful targets for photoelectric or CCD photometry observations. Observations are typically needed because the asteroid has either an unknown or ambiguous rotational period. The table gives (in order of opposition dates) the asteroid number and name, opposition date, opposition V magnitude, the rotational period (in hours), the estimated lightcurve amplitude (in magnitudes), and the designation PER if observations are needed to determine the rotational period. AMB implies that previous period determinations have given ambiguous results and these alternate periods are listed in the table. Question marks are used to denote uncertain or unknown values.
