[vsnet-chat 2232] Asteroid/comet identification

[bas@lowell.Lowell.Edu (Brian Skiff)]

     Just to make clear an easy and direct way of getting identifications
for suspect asteroids or comets in the fields of variables, the Minor Planet
Center has a look-up utility that includes all objects with a reasonably
determinate orbit:

http://cfaps8.harvard.edu/~cgi/CheckSN.COM

Note that the input deate defaults to the time you connect to the page, but
can be changed to any date within two years of the present.  This list will
be more up-to-date than commercial software packages, but for most purposes
involving bright asteroids, either approach will work.

\Brian

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