Superb product. I have always made extensive use of SkySafari both in and out of the observatory. My main observatory work involves measuring the position and magnitude of various Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and other Asteroids/Comets for the Minor Planet Centre (Observatory MPC Code Z52). It would be of great help if the various published MPC Critical, Unusual, and Comet object lists could be accessed and all listed objects brighter than a specified magnitude plotted in SkySafari. Many thanks, Stephen.
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Votes
4 comments
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Bill Tschumy Stephen,
In SS6 we have totally revamped how we pull asteroid and comet data from the MPC. We now pull the entire MPCORB.DAT file daily and process it on our servers to pre-digest it before making it available to SkySafari. So, you should have every asteroid that the MPC is tracking.
You can always set a Solar System magnitude limit and turn on Asteroids to see every asteroid brighter than a specific magnitude.
You can also use the Planner to search for asteroids meeting certain criteria (magnitude, distance, declination, etc) and make an observing list of them. Then you can highlight the list to have them all easily pointed out in the chart.
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Stephen Percy Thanks, but the MPC also publish lists of asteroids that are in need of being monitored. Near Earth Objects etc.. It’s these lists that would be helpful so that all ‘critical’ listed asteroids can be examined on the chart and then appropriate objects selected for observation that evening. Stephen
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Stephen Percy Perhaps allow users to select all Near Earth Objects (NEOs), Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), or asteroids matching a particular class, e.g. all Amor, Aten, Apollo class asteroids, Dwarf Planets etc. Stephen
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Bill Tschumy We can consider this. Yours is the first request we've had for this feature so it may not have the highest priority. I agree it would be a nice thing to have.
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