Re: 'In Development' update posted

andrew_j_walker Aug 23, 2013

http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K13/K13Q24.html

2013 QW1 might be a good example of an object the extra accuracy would be useful for!
(Small arc so far but said to orbit the earth/moon, possibly artificial)

--- In find_orb@yahoogroups.com, Bill Gray <pluto@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I've posted yet another 'in development' update at
>
> http://www.projectpluto.com/pluto/devel/find_orb.htm
>
> Two new improvements are mentioned: a fix to the impact lat/lon
> bug that Filip Fratev pointed out on this list recently, and the
> ability to use the new JPL DE-431 ephemeris.
>
> The new ephemeris is about a 2.7 GByte download, and is not
> especially useful to most of us. However, it covers the years
> -12000 to +17000, so it can be _very_ useful if you're interested
> in the very long-term behavior of an object. In particular, Tomas
> Vorobjov asked about the MOID for the TNO 2012 HH2. As Leonid
> Elenin pointed out, you can get MOIDs for eight planets (*) by
> looking at the file 'elements.txt'. (Find_Orb always computes
> all eight MOIDS, but only displays those that are suitably
> small. For Neptune, any MOID greater than one AU is deemed to
> be "uninteresting".)
>
> Anyway. With DE-431, it would be possible to see if any
> close approaches occur over the time span -12000 to +17000,
> and to see just how stable the motion would be over that time
> frame. This can also be useful if you're wondering if a given
> object is really a Neptune or Uranus Trojan, for example.
>
> If you're interested in DE-431 but find a 2.7 GByte download
> to be a problem, please contact me privately. I may burn some
> DVDs and mail them out if there's interest. The "payment"
> requested would be that, after receiving and copying the
> disk, you mail it to the next person who wants a copy.
>
> -- Bill
>
> (*) I'm not especially interested in "how many planets" there
> "really" are.
>