Find_Orb and 1998 WT24

Bill J. Gray Sep 27, 2001

Hi Sergey,

I'd suggest grabbing the current version of Find_Orb, loading up the
astrometry you posted, and clicking on "Auto-Solve".

When Find_Orb first loads astrometry for so long an arc, it temporarily
omits the later observations. The orbit determination always begins with
a shorter, easier-to-handle arc. When you click "Auto-Solve", Find_Orb
gets a decent orbit based on that short arc. Then it gradually adds in
more observations, until it eventually is solving for the entire arc.
(It also adds in perturbing objects, if the arc is long enough to make
that seem a good idea.)

The "Auto-Solve" function doesn't _always_ work; certain nasty cases
still confuse it. But it works for the astrometry you posted.

-- Bill