Publishable Notes For Observations Of Minor Planets and Comets
Alphabetic note shown with some of the observations are defined
according to the scheme below. Non-alphabetic codes are used to differentiate
between different programs at the same site and such codes will be defined in the
headings for the individual observatories in the
Minor Planet Circulars.
A earlier approximate position inferior
a sense of motion ambiguous
B bright sky/black or dark plate
b bad seeing
c crowded star field
D declination uncertain
d diffuse image
E at or near edge of plate
F faint image
f involved with emulsion or plate flaw
G poor guiding
g no guiding
H hand measurement of CCD image
h observed through cloud/haze
I involved with star
i inkdot measured
J J2000.0 rereduction of previously-reported position
K stacked image
k stare-mode observation by scanning system
M measurement difficult
m image tracked on object motion
N near edge of plate, measurement uncertain
O image out of focus
o plate measured in one direction only
P position uncertain
p poor image
R right ascension uncertain
r poor distribution of reference stars
S poor sky
s streaked image
T time uncertain
t trailed image
U uncertain image
u unconfirmed image
V very faint image
W weak image
w weak solution
The following codes are also defined. These codes are either restricted in
their use (as indicated in the description below) or MUST NOT be used on
newly-submitted observations.
C correction to earlier position
Q "quality" observation not measured using survey reduction code (used only for code E12)
Z astrometry from F51, F52, G96 (deprecated), I41, 703 (deprecated) reported by a non-survey measurerer/pipeline
Observations of sungrazing and other comets from spacecraft use the following note codes:
A SOHO-LASCO coronagraph C2 (2)
B SOHO-LASCO coronagraph C3 (3)
G STEREO-SECCHI HI1-A (4 for code C49)
H STEREO-SECCHI COR2-A (5 for code C49)
O STEREO-SECCHI HI1-B (4 for code C50)
P STEREO-SECCHI COR2-B (5 for code C50)
Note that pre-2013 observations have numeric notes to indicate the detecting instrument. These
numeric notes are listed in parentheses in the list above.