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MINOR PLANET SOFTWARE |
Sergio Foglia s.foglia@libero.it F. Bisleri 11 I-2048 Milano |
Minor Planet Software (MPS) is a set of computer programs to help minor planet observers in their researches. MPS runs under DOS and it works good also with Windows 95/98 operating systems. MPS contains some executable programs and system files, each routine is a single executable program. All programs are written using C language.
Orbital elements database consists of two files: ASTEROID.ELE and ASTEROID.IDX. They should be upgraded anytime using MPCORB.DAT or MPCORBCR.DAT from the Minor Planet Centre.
Perturbations are not used in the ephemeris calculation and highly accurate results cannot be obtained more than one or two years from the epoch of osculation of the elements. You should be able to obtain accurate ephemeris using The Minor Planet Ephemeris Service of the Minor Planet Centre at the following URL:
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html
In the MPS.ZIP archive you will find the following files:
ASTEROID.ELE orbital elements database (first 200 objects)
ASTEROID.IDX orbital elements database index (first 200 objects)
HELVB.FON graphical font
LOCATION.DAT observer’s location file
MPCLASS.EXE ephemeris of groups
MPCORB.EXE upgrade orbital elements routine
MPCORBCR.EXE upgrade orbital elements routine
MPEL.EXE orbital elements
MPELREF.DOC reference for orbital elements
MPEPH.EXE ephemeris
MPFILED.EXE objects in a selected sky region
MPNIGHT.EXE height and azimuth
MPORBIT.EXE orbit
MPS.EXE Minor Planet Software
MPSETUP.EXE set user’s location
MPS_8.DOC user’s guide (this file)
PLANET.DAT orbital elements of major planets
TMSRB.FON graphical font
UPGRADE.EXE upgrade orbital elements
Computed ephemeris are topocentric and the first step after installation is the observer’s location setting. LOCATION.DAT file contains the geographic coordinates of the observer’s location. Using MPSETUP.EXE users should change default data and their information will be permanent stored in the LOCATION.DAT file.
MPS.EXE is the Minor Planet Software manager. Running this program it will appear:
a choice: Ephemeris
this option runs MPEPH.EXE program; it computes ephemeris for selected minor planets stored in an output file. Ephemeris are referred to J2000.0 equinox and are topocentric. Output file is format as follows:
MPEPH: Minor Planet Ephemeris v.6.1
2000, S.Foglia, Serafino Zani Observatory
Ephemeris for Lumezzane
Longitude: -10.240694 Latitude: 45.666361 Altitude: 830.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date R.A.2000 Decl.2000 Delta r Phase Mag Elong.
year mo day hh mm.mm dd pp.p A.U. A.U. ° V °
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
13147 Foglia
2003 11 1 2 59.34 +12 32.1 1.890 2.874 3.1 17.2 171.0W
2003 11 11 2 50.96 +11 53.7 1.885 2.872 2.1 17.1 174.0E
2003 11 21 2 42.89 +11 19.6 1.909 2.869 5.7 17.4 163.1E
…
b
choice: Orbital Elementsthis option runs MPEL.EXE program; it reads orbital elements of minor planets located in ASTEROID.ELE file. Output file is MPEL.TXT file that contains orbital elements of selected minor planets.
c choice: Height and Azimuth
MPNIGHT.TXT is the output file containing height and azimuth of Sun and Minor Planet for the selected period.
d choice: Orbit
this option runs MPORBIT.EXE program; it shows the orbit of a selected minor planet for a time given by user, also major planets orbit are shown. Bright line in minor planet orbit means positions upper the ecliptic plane; dark line in minor planet orbit means positions under the ecliptic plane. Planet's position at fixed time are given by bright circles. Also vernal equinox direction is shown. HLEVB.FON and TMSRB.FON are the fonts files of this program. PLANET.DAT contains the orbital elements of major planets.
e choice: Objects in a selected Sky region
this option runs MPFIELD.EXE program; it computes ephemeris for all minor planets listed in ASTEROID.ELE file that are in selected sky field at a time given by user. MPFIELD.TXT is the output file that contains ephemeris referred to J2000.0 equinox and are topocentric.
f
choice: Ephemeris of Groupsthis option runs MPCLASS.EXE program; it is very useful to produce ephemeris of an entire class of objects for a given period.
it is also possible to enclose conditions in magnitude limit and declination minima
MPS is freely-available on the World Wide Web at the following URL:
Enter the forum and ask your questions to the author!