Explanation of References on Astrometric Observations

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(MPCs)</i></a>, the <a href="/iau/services/MPS.html"><i>Minor Planet Supplement (MPSs)</i></a>, the <a href="/iau/services/MPCServices.html"><i>Minor Planet Electronic Circulars</i></a> and the <a href="/iau/services/IAUC.html"><i>IAU Circulars</i></a> have a publication reference copied onto the observational record. <p> In the <a href="/iau/info/ObsFormat">new observation format</a> this reference is easily readable, but limitations in the current format mean that the reference has to be compressed. It is this compressed format that is described here. The information should be sufficient to allow one to convert from the compressed format to a readable format. <p> The compressed reference is stored in <a href="/iau/info/ObsFormat.html">columns 73-77 of the observation record</a>. For the purpose of this description, column 73 of the observation record will be referred to as column 1 of the designation. Similarly, column 77 of the observational record is column 5 of the designation. <p><hr><p> <h2>1: Temporary References on MPECs</h2> Observations that appear on <i>MPECs</i> have in the past had an implicit reference: the circular upon which they appeared. Since observations from these circulars were often being used in the general community without attribution, an explicit reference is now added to the observations on the circular. This is a temporary reference and is replaced by a permanent reference when the observations appear in the <i>MPCs</i> or <i>MPSs</i>. <pre> Col. Purpose 1 "E" 2 Half-month of <i>MPEC</i> preparation 3-5 Circular number within the half-month. </pre> Example: observations appearing on <i>MPEC</i> 2004-P03 have the reference "EP003". Note that there is no need to store the year in the temporary designation, as acceptable observations will acquire a permanent reference upon publication in the <i>MPCs</i> and <i>MPSs</i>. <p><hr><p> <h2>2: Permanent References</h2> Permanent references refer to the <i>MPCs</i> and <i>MPSs</i>, as well as other journals. It is expected that users of observational data, where appropriate (and this would probably apply to all uses of the data on the web), refer explicitly to the publication source for each observation. <h3>A: Five Digit References</h3> Five-digit references refer to publication in the <i>MPCs</i>. <pre> Col. Purpose 1-5 MPC number </pre> Example: "24133" refers to "MPC 24133". <h3>B: "@" + Four Digit References</h3> Five-digit references refer to publication in the <i>MPCs</i> with numbers above 99999. <pre> Col. Purpose 1 "@" 2-5 MPC number excess over 100000 </pre> Example: "@0133" refers to "MPC 100133". <h3>C: "#" + Four Characters</h3> Five-digit references refer to publication in the <i>MPCs</i> with numbers above 109999. <pre> Col. Purpose 1 "#" 2-5 Base-62 encoded value of (MPC number - 110000) </pre> The Base-62 encoding uses the characters "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" to represent "digits" 0 through 61. <p> Example: "#002B" = MPC 110135. <h3>D: Lower-case Letter + Four Digit references</h3> These references refer to publication in the <i>MPSs</i>. <pre> Col. Purpose 1 Encoded value of (MPS number) DIV 10000 2-5 (MPS number) MOD 10000 </pre> The value in column 1 is encoded by converting the <i>MPS</i> number to a lower-case letter as follows: CHAR(97+INT(MPS_Number/10000)). Therefore, "a" is used for <i>MPS</i> 1-9999, "b" for <i>MPS</i> 10000-19999, etc. <p> Examples: "j8391" refers to "MPS 98391", "a0320" refers to "MPS 320" and "k0001" refers to "MPS 100001". <h3>E: Tilde + Four Base-62 Character references</h3> These references refer to publication in the <i>MPSs</i>. <pre> Col. Purpose 1 "~" 2-5 Base-62 encoded value of (MPS number - 260000) </pre> The Base-62 encoding uses the characters "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" to represent "digits" 0 through 61. <p> Examples: "~0000" refers to "MPS 260000" and "~007M" is "MPS 260456" (since "007M" = 0*62*62*62 + 0*62*62 + 7*62 + 22 = 456). <h3>F: Upper-case Letter + Four Digit References</h3> This form of the reference covers a number of journals. The first column indicates which journal, columns 2-5 indicate on which circular in that series the observations appeared. <pre> Col. Purpose 1 Journal identifier 2-5 Circular number Journal identifier H <i>Harvard Announcement Card (HAC)</i> I <i>IAU Circular (IAUC)</i> M <i>Minor Planet Circulars (MPC)</i> R <i>Planetenzirkular des Astronomischen Rechen-Institut (RI)</i> </pre> Examples: "R0034" refers to "RI 34", "I2340" refers to "IAUC 2340". <h3>G: Two or More Letters References</h3> This form of the reference covers most non-MPC journals. The journal identifier takes from two to five characters. If digits appear, these generally refer either to the volume or the circular number in which the observations were published. <pre> Journal identifier AA V <i>Astronomy and Astrophysics</i> AB C <i>Bulletin des Astrophysikalischen Observatoriums Abastumani</i> AC C <i>Astronomisches Zirkular der Akademie der Wissenschaften der UdSSR</i> AE V <i>Astronomical Papers prepared for the use of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac</i> AJ V <i>Astronomical Journal</i> AN V <i>Astronomische Nachrichten</i> AP V <i>Astrophysical Journal Supplement</i> APO V <i>Annales de l'Observatoire de Paris: Observations</i> AS V <i>Acta Astronomica Sinica</i> AZ V <i>Astronomicheskij Zhurnal</i> AcA V <i>Acta Astronomica</i> As V <i>Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement</i> BA V <i>Bulletin Astronomique</i> BB V <i>Bulletin Astronomique de l'Observatoire Royal de Belgique, Uccle</i> BC V <i>Bulletin of the Astronomical Institutes of Czechoslovakia</i> BG V <i>Bulletin de l'Observatoire Astronomique de Beograd</i> BN I <i>Bulletin of the Astronomical Institutes of the Netherlands</i> BP V <i>Bulletin de la Societe des amis des sciences et des lettres de Poznan</i> BZ V <i>Beobachtungs-Zirkulare der Astronomischen Nachrichten</i> CB I <i>Comet Bulletin of the Orient Astronomical Association</i> CC V <i>Observatorio Astronomico de Cordoba, Serie Contribuciones</i> CD I <i>Tsirkulyari Rasadkhonai Stalinobod</i> CK V <i>Izvestiya Krymskoj Astrofizicheskoj Observatorii</i> CM V <i>Circulaire de l'Observatoire de Marseille</i> CMC V <i>Carlsberg Meridian Circle Publications</i> CO V <i>Odesskij Gosudarstvennyj Universitet Izvestiya Astronomicheskoj Observattorii</i> CR V <i>Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires de l'academie des sciences de Paris</i> CS V <i>Soobshcheniya Gosudarstvennogo Astronomicheskogo Instituta imeni P. K. Shternberga</i> GOxxx Y <i>Greenwich Observations for the year 1xxx</i> HA V <i>Harvard Annal</i> HD V <i>Ver鰂fentlichungen der Landessternwarte Heidelberg</i> HTCDR Hipparcos-Tycho CD-ROM IHW D International Halley Watch CD-ROM Ic V <i>Icarus</i> JB V <i>Journal of the British Astronomial Association</i> JC C <i>Japan Astronomical Study Association Circular</i> JO V <i>Journal des Observateurs</i> KB V <i>Bulletin of the Kwasan Observatory, Kyoto</i> KK C <i>Kiev Komet Tsirkular</i> LB C <i>Lick Observatory Bulletin</i> LO C <i>Lowell Observatory Bulletin</i> LP V <i>Publicaciones Observatorio Astronomico de La Plata</i> MN V <i>Monthly Notices</i> NA V <i>Annales de l'Observatoire de Nice</i> NC C <i>Nihondaira Observatory Circular</i> NO V <i>Publications of the U.S. Naval Observatory, Second Series</i> NZ C <i>Nachrichtenblatt der Astronomischen Zentralstelle</i> OB V <i>The Observatory</i> PA V <i>Publicaations of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific</i> PC C <i>Poulkovo Observatory Circular</i> PD V <i>Tartu Astronoonmia Observatooriumi Publikatsioonid</i> PK V <i>Pyublikatsii Kievskoj Astronomicheskoj Observatorii</i> PO I <i>Perth Observatory Communication</i> PP I <i>Izvestiya Glavnoj Astronomicheskoj Observatorii v Pulkove</i> PT V <i>Pubblicazioni del Osservatorio di Torino</i> PZ C <i>Zirkular des Astronomischen Hauptobservatoriums Pulkowo</i> RA V <i>Ricerche Astronomiche</i> RM V <i>Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society</i> SA V <i>Monthly Notices of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa</i> SOB V <i>Observatory Bulletin</i> TB V <i>Tokyo Astronomical Bulletin</i> TC C <i>Transval Observatory Circular</i> TI V <i>Astronomia-Optika Institucio, Universitato de Turku, Informo</i> UC C <i>Circular of the Union Observatory, Johannesburg</i> WO V <i>Astronomical Observations of the U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington</i> WiA V <i>Annalen der Sternwarte der Universitäts Wien</i> pM V <i>Mitteilungen der Nikolai-Hauptsternwarte zu Pulkowo</i> </pre> where the second column is "V" for volume numbers, "C" for circular numbers, "I" for issue number, "D" for CD-ROM numbers and "Y" for years. <p> Examples: "AN080" refers to "AN 80", "MN008" refers to "MN 8".  </div> </div> </div>  <footer id="footer"> <div class="holder"> <nav class="nav"> <ul> <li><a href="/">Home</a></li> <li><a href="/about">About</a></li>  <li><a href="https://mpc-service.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portals">Helpdesk</a></li>  </ul> </nav> <a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu"> <img src="/images/CfA_Logo_Vertical_CMYK.png" width="110" height="47"></a> <p> <p> <p> <div class="copy">The Minor Planet Center is hosted by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.<center>The Minor Planet Center is funded by NASA.</center></div> </footer> <script type="text/javascript"> $(window).on('load', (function() { $("table").tablesorter(); })); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ var _tag=new WebTrends(); _tag.dcsGetId(); //]]> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ _tag.dcsCustom=function(){ // Add custom parameters here. //_tag.DCSext.param_name=param_value; } _tag.dcsCollect(); //]]> </script> <noscript> <div><img alt="DCSIMG" id="DCSIMG" width="1" height="1" src="//logs1.smithsonian.museum/dcsa7yzrmbdzpxzrosrn4tyep_5i1d/njs.gif?dcsuri=/nojavascript&WT.js=No&WT.tv=9.4.0&dcssip=www.minorplanetcenter.net"/></div> </noscript> </body> </html>

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Explanation of References on Astrometric Observations