The New MPC

Observation Format
Minor Planet Center, 2001 June 19
Modified 2003 May 1
Modified 2004 February 23
Modified 2005 July 11
Modified 2005 August 5
Modified 2006 June 20

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The New MPC Observation Format
This document describes the new MPC format for submitting astrometric
observations of minor planets, comets and natural satellites. The purpose of the
document is to enable writers of astrometric software to support the new format.
Version of 2003 May 1:
The changes from the previous version of this document are (with one exception)
minor and are marked in the text by a vertical bar in the right-hand margin:
• Added details on the new record 5
• Added details on support for minor-body satellites
• Replaced the readable designation in record 1 with additional record-
keeping information
• Altered the way reference catalogues are indicated
• Expanded and clarified some descriptions
Changes 3 and 4 were deemed necessary following work on implementing the new
format. It was determined that there would be too many problems enforcing
consistent use of the readable designation and textual reference catalogue, with the
consequent complication of code designed to use the information. In newly-
submitted observations the relevant columns will simply be blanked out by MPC
processing software, so that already-written software that generates new-format
observations will not require alteration.
Version of 2004 February 23:
The changes from the previous version of this document relate to support of
additional types of data and are highlighted in the text by a double vertical bar in the
right-hand margin:
• Added support for occultation records
• New support for comet magnitudes
The second change was required as a result of the new IAU procedures for reporting
comet magnitudes.
Version of 2005 July 11:
The description of conversion of observatory codes from the old format to the new
format was incorrect. This has been amended. Changes from the previous version
of this document are highlighted in the text by a single thick vertical bar along the
right-hand edge.
Version of 2005 August 5:
The only change in this version of the document is support for observation
timescales other than UTC. Some more explanation has been added on the
formatting of data for roving-observer locations. Changes from the previous version
of this document are highlighted in the text by a double vertical bar (one thin, the
other thicker) along the right-hand edge.
Version of 2006 June 20:
The only change in this version of the document is better support for highly-
fragmented comets (such as 73P at the 2006 return). The MPC processing pipeline
will recognize observations formatted according to the 2005 August 5 version of this
 docuement and will automatically convert them to the 2006 June 20 format.
Distribution of astrometric observations will be made only in the 2006 June 20
format. Changes from the previous version will be highlighted by a red background
for new material and a light blue background for modified material.

1: The Existing Format

The existing observation format is documented on the MPC’s website. It was
derived from a format originally developed in the 1940s, when the MPC was at
Cincinnati Observatory, for use on punched cards. The current format has been very
successful and has subsequently been extended to cope with observations of natural
satellites, observations from space-borne platforms, radar observations and roving
observers. Originally a single 80-column record, many observations (such as radar
and space-borne observations) now occupy two records.
Consideration was given to extending this dual-record 80-column format to a multi-
record 80-column format. This was rejected for a number of reasons:
• There is one feature of the current format that makes it difficult to
extend it to multiple records.
• A new format should look nothing like a previous format, so that
there is absolutely no chance of mistaking one for the other.

2: Need for a New Format

A fundamental change, such as this proposed observation format change, is not
something that is to be undertaken lightly.
Nevertheless, the need to record additional information for each observation has
become apparent recently, partly as a result of increased accuracy in the orbit
computations and partly from the vast increase in the number of observed minor
planets.
Examples of information it might be desirable to record are:
• Astrometric reference catalogue used.
• Photometric reference catalogue used.
• Estimated uncertainties in the given quantities.
The quantities that should be extended include:
• Designations.
• References to publication.
• Observatory codes.
• R.A. and Decl., to cope with sub-milliarcsecond accuracy
observations.
The current packed designation scheme copes with 619999 numbered minor planets
and 15500 new designations in any one half-month period. However, the
designations become slightly less easy to read when there are more than 99999
numbered minor planets and more than 2500 new discoveries in any one half-month
period. By extending the number of characters available for the packed designations
we can extend greatly the range of “easily-readable” packed designations.
 A similar situation exists with observatory codes, where there are 6200 observatory
codes available for use. Of these, 1000 are “easily readable”.
Currently only five characters are allocated for recording the reference. This has
been somewhat limiting, particularly with the introduction of the Minor Planet
Supplement.

3: Requirements for a New Format

The primary requirements for a new format are:
• that it is an improvement over the existing format,
• that it is extensible as future needs dictate, with the following
proviso,
• that the initial definition be sufficient to cope with any reasonable
assessement of the short- to medium-term change in the volume of
observational material.
Some features of the existing format will be retained:
• sexagesimal format for R.A.s and Decls. for all but ultra-high
precision observations,
• the use of observatory codes.
The length of the record(s) should not be excessive. It is very useful to be able to
view or edit observational records on-screen. In practical terms, this sets a limit on
the length of each record to 132 columns.

4: Extending Packed Designations and Observatory Codes

The use of packed designations will be continued. Packed designations have
advantages with respect to sorting observations (e.g., observation files can be sorted
using the inbuilt SORT command found in many operating systems).
The current lengths of the packed designations are five (for numbered minor planets,
numbered periodic comets and numbered natural satellites), seven (for unnumbered
minor planets) or eight (for unnumbered comets and natural satellites). Under the
new scheme, these lengths will be seven, nine and ten, respectively. The basic form
of each type of packed designation will be unchanged, but the extra length will
enable many more designations to be assigned. The new schemes will cope with
61999999 numbered minor planets, 999999 numbered periodic comets, 99999
natural satellites (for each planet), 1550000 designations in each half-month and
10000 observatory codes.
Observatory codes will be extended from their current three-character length to
four. Existing observatory codes in the range ‘000’ to ‘999’ will be retained with
the addition of a leading zero: e.g., Palomar will become ‘0675’. Existing codes
outside that range will be assigned new four digit codes. The list of observatory
codes maintained by the MPC will list both the old three-character code and the
new four digit code.
When submitting old-format observations, observers must use the old three-
character codes on the COD line. When submitting new-format observations a
 four-character observatory code must be specified on the COD line. This can either
be the new four-character code or the old three-character code with a leading zero.
The processing code will change the latter into the relevant four-digit observatory
code. So new-format observations from code A08 may submitted with ‘COD
0A08’ in the header, or with whatever four-character code is eventually assigned to
that site. This approach allows observers to retain use of the originally-assigned
observatory codes.

5: The New Format

The new obseration format is based on one or more 132-character records. The
format of each of these records is described below. Most of the required
information will be supplied by the observer. Some of the information will be
added by the MPC.

Note that the repetition of some material on all records is dictated by

internal MPC requirements.
Record 1
Record 1 contains the basic observational data.

Columns Format Description

1–16 A16 Packed designation(s)
17–18 A2 Fragment designation
19 ‘1’ Indicates that this is the first record for this observation.
This character will be ‘A’ for the first record of a
secondary component.
20 A1 = ‘*’ if a discovery observation, = ‘+’ if last record
21 A1 Mode of observation:
= ‘C’ for CCD observations
= ‘R’ for radar observations
= ‘T’ for transit-circle/meridian-circle observations
= ‘M’ for visual micrometer observations
= ‘S’ for satellite-based observations
= ‘P’ for photographic observations
= ‘O’ for offset observations
= ‘E’ for occultation observations
= ‘A’ for observations adjusted to J2000.0 from B1950.0
(or other equinox) [not for new submissions]
= ‘ ’ for unknown/unspecified [not for new submissions]
22–25 I4 Year of observation
26–27 I2 Month of observation
28–39 F12.9 Day of observation
40 A1 Time scale for time of observations (ASCII 32 = UTC).
Other time scales will be defined as needed.
 For optical observations:
41–53 A13 J2000.0 R.A., in HH MM [Link] form
56–68 A13 J2000.0 Decl., in ±DD MM [Link] form
OR
41–55 F15.14 J2000.0 R.A., in radians
56–71 F16.14 J2000.0 Decl. in radians

72–80 A9 Magnitude (see section 8)

For radar observations:

41–61 F21.7* Delay/µs
62–81 F20.7* Doppler shift/Hz.

For offset observations:

41 I1 Type of offset
= 1, ∆R.A. in seconds of arc, ∆Decl. in seconds of arc
= 2, ∆R.A. in seconds of time, ∆Decl. in seconds of arc
= 3, Distance in seconds of arc, P.A. in °
= 4, Distance in minutes of arc, P.A. in °
42 A1 Mode of observation (‘C’ = CCD, etc.)
43–53 F11.5* Either ∆R.A. or Distance, as defined by type of offset
55–65 F11.5* Either ∆Decl. or P.A., as defined by type of offset
67–70 I4 Equinox of offset
OR
A4 = ‘APP.’ for apparent offset
72–80 A9 Magnitude

For Occultation Observations:

See section 6 for format of occultation records

For all types of observations:

82–84 A3 Up to three alphabetic notes
85 A1 Telescope identifier (‘1’ = 1st telescope, ‘2‘ = 2nd, ...)
86–97 A12 Reference (must be blank on new submissions)
99–110 A12 Packed form of an earlier previous designation assigned to
this observation or a reference to an earlier previous
publication (this must be blank on new submissions)
112–123 A12 Packed form of a previous designation assigned to this
observation or a reference to a previous publication (this
must be blank on new submissions)
124 A1 MPC-assigned program code used to distinguish between
different programs at the same site
 125–128 A4 Transmitting site observatory code (given only for radar
observations)
129–132 A4 Observatory code (receipt observatory code for radar
observations)
The normal form of the R.A. will be HH MM [Link]. The normal form of the Decl.
will be ±DD MM SS.d. Ultra-high precision observations, those with a precision of
better than 0".001, will be given in radians.
The fragment designation will be stored as a two-character base-62 value, using the
characters ‘0’–‘9’, ‘A’-‘Z’ and ‘a’-‘z’. Fragments A through Z will be designated,
in decimal, as fragments 1–26 (and in base 62 as ‘00’–‘0Q’), AA through AZ will be
27--52 (‘0R’–‘0q’), BA through BZ wil be 53--78 (‘0r’–‘1G’), etc. Conversion
from publishable alphabetic form to internal base-62 value, or vice versa, is trivial.
Record 2
Record 2 contains uncertainty estimates and reference catalogue information.

Columns Format Description

1–40 As for record 1, except that column 19 contains ‘2’ (unless
the observation refers to a secondary component, in which
case it contains ‘B’). For most observations this will be
the record that requires the ‘+’ in column 20.

For optical observations:

41–46 F6.3 R.A. uncertainty in seconds of arc
48–53 F5.2 Decl. uncertainty in seconds of arc
OR
41–48 F8.7** R.A. uncertainty in units of 10-7 radians
49–56 F8.7** Decl. uncertainty in units of 10-7 radians

57–64 F8.5 Correlation of R.A. and Decl. uncertainties

65 A1 Uncertainty flag
= ‘F’ if quoted values are formal
= ‘X’ if quoted values are estimates (in such cases, the
correlation may not be given)
= ‘C’ if quoted values are simply the r.m.s. fit of
comparison stars (correlation should be omitted)
66–72 A7 Uncertainty in magnitude (see section 8)
73–84 F12.10 Uncertainty in date of observation/days
85–89 F5.3 log10(SNR+1), where SNR is the integrated SNR of the
imaged object, not the peak SNR
90–93 Z4 Astrometric reference catalogue
94–97 Z4 Photometric reference catalogue
98–102 F5.1 P.A. of the semimajor axis of the positional error ellipse
If these columns are non-blank, the R.A. and Decl.
 positional uncertainties will be interpreted as the n-σ semi-
major and semi-minor, respectively, axes of the positional
error ellipse
103 I1 Value of n for specifying positional error ellipse (typically
‘1’ or ‘3’)
107 A1 Astrometric user flag (see end of section 9)

For radar observations:

41–61 F21.7* Uncertainty in delay/µs
62–81 F20.7* Uncertainty in Doppler shift/Hz
82–97 F16.10* Transmitter frequency/MHz

98 A1 Type of radar return

= ‘S’ for surface bounce
= ‘C’ for (hypothetical) center-of-mass bounce

For offset observations:

41 I1 Type of offset (as for record 1)
43–53 F11.5* Uncertainty in ∆R.A. or distance, as appropriate
55–65 F11.5* Uncertainty in ∆Decl. or P.A., as appropriate
66–72 A7 Uncertainty in magnitude (see section 8)
73–84 F12.10 Uncertainty in date of observation/days
85–89 F5.3 log10(SNR+1), where SNR is the integrated SNR of the
imaged object (not the peak SNR)

90–93 Z4 Astrometric reference catalogue

94–97 Z4 Photometric reference catalogue
98–102 F5.1 P.A. of the semimajor axis of the positional error ellipse
If these columns are non-blank, the R.A. and Decl.
positional uncertainties will be interpreted as the n-σ semi-
major and semi-minor, respectively, axes of the positional
error ellipse
103 I1 Value of n for specifying positional error ellipse (typically
‘1’ or ‘3’)
107 A1 Astrometric user flag (see end of section 8)

For all types of observations:

108–115 A8 Time stamp indicating when observation was processed
(this will be blank on newly-submitted observations)
116–123 A8 Time stamp when observation was altered subsequently
(this will be blank on newly-submitted observations)
124–132 As for record 1
The astrometric and photometric catalogues are specified by a four-digit
hexadecimal code. Lists of allocated codes will be maintained on the MPC website.
Records 3 and 4
Records 3 and 4 contain details on the observing site(s), where observatory codes
are not assigned or are inadequate.

Columns Format Description

1–40 As for record 1, except that column 19 contains ‘3’ or ‘4’
(for secondary components, ‘C’ or ‘D’)
41 I1 Parallax type
= 0, geocentric J2000.0 in km
= 1, geocentric J2000.0 in A.U.
= 2, east longitude (in °), latitude (in °), altitude (in meters)
= 3, heliocentric J2000.0 in A.U.
42–59 F18.12* X component or east longitude, as appropriate (dp in 49)
60–77 F18.12* Y component or latitude, as appropriate (dp in 67)
78–95 F18.12* Z component or altitude, as appropriate (dp in 85)
124–132 As for record 1
When using parallax type 2, the longitudes should be zero padded at left to make the
integer part of the longitude occupy three characters: e.g., a longitude of 34.33° E
would be given as “034.033". Similarly, latitudes within 10° of the equator should
be given with a leading zero: e.g., a latitude of 2.895° S would be given as
“-02.895”.
Record 5
Record 5 contains up to five additional magnitudes and their uncertainties.

Columns Format Description

1–40 As for record 1, except that column 19 contains ‘5’ (for
secondary components ‘E’)
41–49 A9 Magnitude (see section 8)
50–56 A7 Uncertainty on magnitude (see section 8)
57–65 A9 Magnitude (see section 8)
66–72 A7 Uncertainty on magnitude (see section 8)
73–81 A9 Magnitude (see section 8)
82–88 A7 Uncertainty on magnitude (see section 8)
89–97 A9 Magnitude (see section 8)
98–104 A7 Uncertainty on magnitude (see section 8)
105–113 A9 Magnitude (see section 8)
114–120 A7 Uncertainty on magnitude (see section 8)
124-132 As for record 1
 General Comments
Records 1 and 2 will be given for every observation. Record 3 will be given for
satellite-based and roving-observer observations. Record 3 and 4 may be given for
radar observations, even though the radar observation sites have observatory codes,
to permit the site coordinates to be given to high precision. For radar observations,
record 3 will define the reception site (by analogy to the optical record) and record
4 will define the transmitter site. If the radar reception and transmission site are the
same only record 3 should be given. Record 5 will be given when there are
simultaneous (or nearly so) magnitude estimates in a number of different band
passes. Relevant portions of all records will be completed by the MPC.
Observer-assigned temporary designations, which may now be up to eight characters
in length, must start in column 8 and extend no further than column 15. Use of
column 16 is reserved for use by the MPC.
If no magnitude estimate is provided for a particular observation, there should be no
magnitude uncertainty estimate. Neither should there be an indication of a
bandpass.
The formats (given in the usual Fortran style) in the above descriptions define the
maximum precision with which quantities may be recorded. In practice, quantities
will be given to an appropriate precision without trailing zeroes.
In addition, some quantities (such as radar transmitter frequency) may be given
without a decimal point and decimals. These are marked in the above tables by an
asterisk in the format column and the format specifiers given there will cope with
either integer or floating-point values. Note that, e.g., a specifier of “F11.5*” is to
be interpreted as “F11.4” if there is no decimal part to be output.
Those formats marked with double asterisks refer to quantities that are stored
without explicit decimal points.
Columns not explicitly described in the tables above must contain spaces (ASCII
32).

6: Occultation Observations
There are currently two defined forms of occultation observations. They differ only
upon the form in which the coordinates of the occulted star are specified.
Record 1
Record 1 contains the offset from the comparison star to the minor planet at the
time of closest approach.

Columns Format Description

1–40 As defined for record 1 in section 5
41 I1 Type of occultation record
= 1 if comparison star coordinates are specified in
sexagesimal form
= 2 if comparison star coordinates are specified in decimal
degrees
 43–51 F9.2 Minimum separation (in milliarcseconds)
53–58 F6.2 Uncertainty in separation (in milliarcseconds)
61–67 F7.3 Position angle of minimum separation (in degrees)
70–81 F12.10 Uncertainty in time of closest approach
82–132 As defined for record 1 in section 5
Record 2
Record 2 contains the coordinates and other details of the occulted star.

Columns Format Description

1–40 As defined for record 2 in section 5
41 I1 As for record 1

43–56 A14 Equinox J2000.0/epoch of date R.A. for occulted star

(HH MM [Link] format)
58–71 A14 Equinox J2000.0/epoch of date Decl. for occulted star
(±DD MM [Link] format)
OR
43–56 F14.11 Equinox J2000.0/epoch of date R.A. for occulted star
(decimal hours)
58–71 F14.10 Equinox J2000.0/epoch of date Decl. for occulted star
(decimal degrees, sign in column 58, decimal point in
column 61)

73–76 Z4 Astrometric reference catalogue

78-82 I5 Number of chords used in solution
108–132 As defined for record 2 in section 5

7: Potential Problems
One of the major problems currently with the submission of observations via e-mail
is the breaking of the 80-column lines by the mail package used by the observer.
Many observers seem unable to force their mailers not to break the lines: this may
be a reflection of the e-mail systems rather than the observers! The use of
attachments tends to alleviate the line-breaking problem, but use of anything other
than plain-text attachments (e.g., UUENCODEd or Base-64 encoding) cause
additional overhead in the processing at the MPC. (The MPC is moving rapidly
towards totally automatic processing of incoming observation batches and the
current routines will not unpack any encoded message and will thus not recognise
that the message contains observations.) These problems will likely become worse
following adoption of a 132-column format.
 It is therefore recommended that authors of astrometric software
packages have a user-selectable option to output the observations in
either the full 132-column format or in a split-line format (see section 9) .
The transformation from 132-column to split-line format is utterly
trivial and will not cause any programming headaches.
Another problem is the additional storage space that will be required for each
observational record. With the current format, most observations occupy a single
80-column record. With the new format, most observations will occupy two 132-
column records, a three-fold increase. While this three-fold increase is not a real
problem with regard to storage on the multi-GB hard disks now available, it will
more than triple the time taken to download observational data sets from the MPC.
The continued (human) readability of the observation record is desirable, therefore it
was decided not to compress the records to the extent that they could be only be
decoded by a computer program.

8: Magnitudes, Photometric User Flag and Astrometric User Flag

The proposed magnitude format occupies nine characters. It must be remembered
that the astrometric record is not intended to record photometric observations.
However, it has the ability to record photometric-quality magnitudes. The format of
the nine-character magnitude is as follows:

Columns Format Description

72–77 F6.4* Observed magnitude
78–79 A2 Band
= ‘V’ or ‘R’ or ‘I’ or ‘B’ or ‘J’ or ‘H’ or ‘Ks’ or ‘U’, as
appropriate. Other bands will be defined if standard
conversions to V are available.
80 A1 Aperture flag for comet magnitudes. Use the flag value
that is the closest larger value to the measurement
aperture
Lowercase letters are used to represent apertures in
arcseconds: ‘a’ = 3″, ‘b’ = 6″, ‘c’ = 9″, ..., ‘z’ = 78″
Uppercase letters are used to represent apertures in
arcminutes: ‘A’ = 1′, ‘B’ = 2′, ‘C’ = 3′, ..., ‘S’ = 19′,
‘T’ = 20′, ‘U’ = 25′, ‘V’ = 30′, ‘W’ = 35′, ‘X’ = 40′,
‘Y’ = 50′, ‘Z’ = 1°
The format of the seven-character uncertainty in the magnitude is as follows:

Columns Format Description

66–70 F5.4* Uncertainty in magnitude
71 A1 Magnitude uncertainty flag
= ‘N’ if uncertainty is based only on noise in image
= ‘S’ if systematic effects have been included
72 A1 User flag (see below)
 The user flag is intended to allow the observer to convey information about possible
correlations between magnitude estimates. The single character has meaning only
for the particular object on the particular night of observation at a particular site.
Any alphanumeric character may be used. For instance, if the magnitudes of the
first three observations of a particular NEO at a particular site were obtained with
respect to the same comparison star, this column might contain ‘1’. If the next three
magnitude estimates were made with respect to another comparison star, this
column might contain ‘2’. If all magnitude estimates were made to the same
comparison star(s), this column may be left blank.
The astrometric user flag, stored in column 107 of record 2, serves a similar purpose
for the astrometric solution. The single character has meaning only for the
particular object on the particular night of observation at a particular site. If all
astrometric solutions of the object on a particular night were made with respect to
the same set of comparison stars, this column may be left blank.

9: Continued Use of the Current Format

The specification for the new format is now final and has been adopted by the MPC.
When use of this new format is introduced, it is unrealistic to expect that all
observers will immediately begin submitting observations in the new format. The
past experience of the changeover from B1950.0 to J2000.0 indicates that some
observers will continue to do things in the old way for months or years past the
changeover date. The MPC will therefore have the ability to create new-format
observational records from newly-submitted old-format observational records. The
necessary computer code will be derived from the program that will be written to do
the en-masse initial conversion of the existing astrometric data.
Additional header keywords will need to be defined to allow additional information
to be specified for old-format observations. Examples of such additional keywords
might be ‘ERR 0.08, 0.3, 0.23’ (indicating the estimated uncertainties on the R.A.,
Decl. and mag., respectively) and ‘PHO Tycho2’ (showing that the source for the
photometric reduction was the Tycho 2 catalogue). This will be somewhat
troublesome for the observer, so it should help to encourage adoption of the new
format.

10: A Split-Line Format

The split-line submission format is for those observers whose e-mail systems
continue to break long lines. Use of the split-line format must be indicated in the
observation header by the new keyword ‘FMT SPLIT-LINE’. All forms of
observations may use this split-line format. The split-line format simply breaks
each 132-column record after column 66.

11: Examples of New-Format Packed Designations

The following table shows the old and new formats for packed designations. The
columns occupied by the packed format are shown in ‘Columns’ and the type of
object in ‘Type’.
 Old New Unpacked form Columns Type
K00A00A K00A0000A 2000 AA 8–16 MP
K00A01A K00A0001A 2000 AA1 8–16 MP
K00A10A K00A0010A 2000 AA10 8–16 MP
K00AA0A K00A0100A 2000 AA100 8–16 MP
K00Aa0A K00A0360A 2000 AA360 8–16 MP
K00A9999A 2000 AA9999 8–16 MP
PLS2001 PLS002001 2001 P-L 8–16 MP
T2S2801 T2S002801 2801 T-2 8–16 MP
00433 0000433 (433) 1–7 MP
0034P 000034P 34P 1–7 Comet
CK00A010 CK00A00010 C/2000 A1 7–16 Comet
J013S J00013S Jupiter XIII 1–7 Satellite
SK00S010 SK00S00010 S/2000 S 1 7–16 Satellite
SJ99J010 SJ99J00010 S/1999 J 1 7–16 Satellite

12: Recommendations for Software Authors

The following recommendations should be followed by the authors of all software
packages that produce new-format observations:
• Make the split-line format the default output format from your code.
This requires the “FMT SPLIT-LINE” line to be given in the header,
but it should minimise problems with mail systems butchering the
132-column records.
• Ensure that the new keyword “CNT x” is given after the
observations. This specifies how many observations are in the file
and will help the MPC’s processing code to determine when badly-
formatted observations have been submitted. Examples are “CNT
3” or “CNT 18429”, indicating that the messages contain 3 and
18429 observations, respectively. If observers append together
reports for e-mailing, there can be multiple CNT keywords in the
resulting file.
Old-format observations will continue to be sent to mpc@[Link].
New-format observations will need to be sent to a new e-mail address. This
address will be announced closer to the change-over date.