Observations SBN (mpc_sbn.obs_sbn)

Description

The obs_sbn table is a replica of the MPC internal PostgreSQL table. It contains exactly the same information that the MPC stores internally. Fields are either ADES (Astrometric Data Exchange Standard) or MPC_ops (MPC internal operations).

When ADES appears in a column description, the field is part of the ADES standard. When MPC_ops appears, the field is used by MPC internal operations.

See the official schema for known issues (duplicates, near-duplicates, invalid values) and usage guidance.

Attribution

This research has made use of data and/or services provided by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center.

Columns

Name Type UCD Unit Description
id int meta.id
meta.main

MPC_ops: PostgreSQL automatically generated identifier.
trksub char meta.id

ADES: Observer-assigned object identifier, unique within a submission batch.
trkid char meta.id

ADES: Globally unique tracklet identifier assigned by the MPC.
obsid char meta.id

ADES: Globally unique observation identifier assigned by the MPC.
submission_id char meta.id

MPC_ops: Unique MPC-assigned submission ID.
submission_block_id char meta.id

MPC_ops: Unique MPC-assigned submission block ID.
obs80 char meta.record

MPC_ops: 80 or 160-character observation string.
status char meta.code

MPC_ops: Processing status. Allowed values: P = officially published in a circular (DOU, mid-month, monthly), p = accepted and waiting for publication in the next circular, I = ITF observations.
ref char meta.bib

ADES: Standard reference field used for citations.
healpix long pos.healpix

MPC_ops: Convenience value mapping (Ra,Dec) to a HEALPix patch (nside=32768, nested). See https://astropy-healpix.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coordinates.html (pixel scale ~6.4 arcsec).
permid char meta.id

ADES: IAU permanent designation (e.g. IAU number for a numbered minor planet).
provid char meta.id

ADES: Unpacked MPC-assigned provisional designation (see MPC provisional designation definition).
artsat char meta.id

ADES: Artificial satellite identifier.
mode char meta.code

ADES: Mode of instrumentation (see MPC valid-ades-values for mode).
stn char pos.earth.obs

ADES: Observatory code assigned by the MPC for ground-based or space-based stations (see MPC valid-ades-values for stn).
trx char meta.code

ADES: Station codes of transmitting antenna for radar observations.
rcv char meta.code

ADES: Station codes of receiving antenna for radar observations.
sys char pos.frame

ADES: Coordinate frame for roving or space-based station coordinates (see MPC valid-ades-values for sys).
ctr int pos.frame

ADES: Origin of the reference system given by the coordinate frame (sys). Use public SPICE codes (e.g. 399=geocenter); see NAIF IDs.
pos1 double pos.cartesian.x

ADES: Position of the observer (component 1). See ADES_Description.pdf.
pos2 double pos.cartesian.y

ADES: Position of the observer (component 2). See ADES_Description.pdf.
pos3 double pos.cartesian.z

ADES: Position of the observer (component 3). See ADES_Description.pdf.
poscov11 double stat.covariance

ADES: Element (1,1) of the upper triangular part of the covariance matrix for the observer position (same units as position coordinates). Missing fields are presumed zero.
poscov12 double stat.covariance

ADES: Element (1,2) of the upper triangular part of the covariance matrix for the observer position (same units as position coordinates). Missing fields are presumed zero.
poscov13 double stat.covariance

ADES: Element (1,3) of the upper triangular part of the covariance matrix for the observer position (same units as position coordinates). Missing fields are presumed zero.
poscov22 double stat.covariance

ADES: Element (2,2) of the upper triangular part of the covariance matrix for the observer position (same units as position coordinates). Missing fields are presumed zero.
poscov23 double stat.covariance

ADES: Element (2,3) of the upper triangular part of the covariance matrix for the observer position (same units as position coordinates). Missing fields are presumed zero.
poscov33 double stat.covariance

ADES: Element (3,3) of the upper triangular part of the covariance matrix for the observer position (same units as position coordinates). Missing fields are presumed zero.
prog char meta.code

ADES: Program code assigned by the MPC.
obstime timestamp time.epoch

ADES: UTC date and time of the observation.
ra double pos.eq.ra
meta.main 		deg

ADES: Right Ascension in decimal degrees in J2000.0 reference frame.
dec double pos.eq.dec
meta.main 		deg

ADES: Declination in decimal degrees in J2000.0 reference frame.
rastar double pos.eq.ra deg

ADES: For occultation, only when stn=244, Right Ascension in J2000.0 in decimal degrees of the occulted star.
decstar double pos.eq.dec deg

ADES: For occultation, only when stn=244, Declination in J2000.0 in decimal degrees of the occulted star.
obscenter char meta.id

ADES: Origin of offset observations (full name of a planet or permID or provID for a small body).
deltara double pos.eq.ra
arith.diff 		arcsec

ADES: Measured DeltaRA*cos(Dec) in arcsec in J2000.0 for offset measurements of a satellite wrt obsCenter, or for occultation observations wrt the star (stn=244).
deltadec double pos.eq.dec
arith.diff 		arcsec

ADES: Measured DeltaDec in arcsec in J2000.0 for offset measurements of a satellite wrt obsCenter, or for occultation wrt the star (only if stn=244).
dist double pos.angDistance arcsec

ADES: Measured distance in arcsec in J2000.0 for offset measurements of a satellite wrt obsCenter, or for occultation wrt the star (only if stn=244).
pa double pos.posAng deg

ADES: Measured Position Angle in degrees in J2000.0 for offset measurements of a satellite wrt obsCenter, or for occultation wrt the star (only if stn=244).
rmsra double stat.error
pos.eq.ra 		arcsec

ADES: Random component of the RA*cos(Dec) uncertainty in arcsec as estimated by the observer.
rmsdec double stat.error
pos.eq.dec 		arcsec

ADES: Random component of the Dec uncertainty in arcsec as estimated by the observer.
rmsdist double stat.error
pos.angDistance 		arcsec

ADES: Random component of the distance uncertainty in arcsec as estimated by the observer.
rmspa double stat.error
pos.posAng 		arcsec

ADES: Random component of the position angle uncertainty in arcsec as estimated by the observer.
rmscorr double stat.correlation
pos.eq

ADES: Correlation between RA and Dec or between distance and position angle. Derived from covariance: off-diagonal = rmsCorr x rmsRA x rmsDec (for RA/Dec), or rmsCorr x rmsdist x rmspa (for dist/pa).
delay double time.duration s

ADES: Observed radar time delay in seconds.
rmsdelay double stat.error
time.duration 		µs

ADES: Delay uncertainty in microseconds.
doppler double em.freq Hz

ADES: Observed radar Doppler shift in Hz.
rmsdoppler double stat.error
em.freq 		Hz

ADES: Doppler shift uncertainty in Hz.
astcat char meta.catalog

ADES: Star catalog used for astrometric reduction or, for occultation, for the occulted star (see MPC valid-ades-values for astCat).
mag double phot.mag
meta.main 		mag

ADES: Apparent magnitude in specified band.
rmsmag double stat.error
phot.mag 		mag

ADES: Apparent magnitude uncertainty in magnitudes.
band char phot.band

ADES: Passband designation for photometry (see MPC valid-ades-values for band).
photcat char meta.catalog

ADES: Star catalog used for the photometric reduction (see MPC valid-ades-values for astCat).
photap double phys.angSize arcsec

ADES: Photometric aperture radius in arcsec.
nucmag short meta.code

ADES: Nuclear magnitude flag for comets (primarily archival). 1=True for archival cometary nuclear magnitude, 0=False. photap used in new standard.
logsnr double stat.snr
phot

ADES: The log10 of the signal-to-noise ratio of the source in the image integrated on the entire aperture used for astrometric centroid.
seeing double instr.obsty.seeing arcsec

ADES: Size of seeing disc in arcsec, measured at Full-Width Half-Max of the target point spread function.
exp double time.duration s

ADES: Exposure time in seconds.
rmsfit double stat.rms
pos.eq 		arcsec

ADES: RMS of fit of astrometric comparison stars in arcsec.
com short meta.code

ADES: Flag that observation is reduced to center of mass. 1=True, 0=False (measurement to peak power position).
frq double em.freq MHz

ADES: Carrier reference frequency in MHz.
disc char meta.code

ADES: Discovery flag (see MPC documentation).
subfrm char pos.frame

ADES: Originally reported reference frame for angular measurements. subfrm does not reflect the ADES frame (always J2000.0). E.g. B1950.0 = letter A in column 14 of 80-column format.
subfmt char meta.code

ADES: Format in which the observation was originally submitted to the MPC, filled by MPC (see MPC valid-ades-values for subfmt).
prectime int time.resolution 1e-6 day

ADES: Precision in millionths of a day of the reported observation time for archival MPC1992 observations and earlier data.
precra double stat.error
pos.eq.ra 		s

ADES: Precision for archival MPC1992 or earlier data in seconds for RA.
precdec double stat.error
pos.eq.dec 		arcsec

ADES: Precision for archival MPC1992 or earlier data in arcsec for Dec.
unctime double stat.error.sys
time.epoch 		s

ADES: Estimated systematic time error in seconds (presumed level of systematic clock error).
notes char meta.note

ADES: One-character note flags for observing circumstances (see MPC valid-ades-values for notes).
remarks char meta.note

ADES: A comment provided by the observer.
deprecated char meta.code

ADES: Deprecated observation preserved for history. Do not use in orbit fitting. Only allowed value is X.
localuse char meta.note

ADES: Container for subelements carrying ancillary information not in the standard.
nstars int meta.number

ADES: Number of stars in the astrometric fit.
prev_desig char meta.id

MPC_ops: Previous designation for a redesignated observation (see obs_alteration_redesignations table).
prev_ref char meta.bib

MPC_ops: Previous publication references.
rmstime double stat.error
time.epoch

ADES: Random uncertainty in time as estimated by the observer.
created_at timestamp time.creation

MPC_ops: Date and time of initial row insert.
updated_at timestamp time.modification

MPC_ops: Date and time of latest row update.
trkmpc char meta.id

ADES: MPC-internal object identifier.
orbit_id char meta.id

MPC_ops: Unique identifier for the orbit calculation. This field is not currently used.
designation_asterisk boolean meta.code

MPC_ops: Equivalent of asterisks marking initial tracklets for component provisional designations. One object can have multiple discovery_asterisks.
all_pub_ref char meta.bib

MPC_ops: Array of publication references that contained any information about the observation.
shapeocc boolean meta.code

ADES: For occultation, flag that reduction assumes shape-based plane-of-sky cross-section. 1=True, 0=False (circular cross section assumed).
obssubid char meta.id

ADES: Observation identifier, optionally included by the observer in the submission, unique to a given observing program.
replacesobsid char meta.id

MPC_ops: Observation identifier of the old published observation replaced by this one. This field is not currently used.
group_id char meta.id

MPC_ops: Observation group identifier for grouping duplicate/near-duplicate observations. This field is not currently used.
vel1 double phys.veloc
pos.cartesian.x

Observer velocity component (MPC schema; no formal description in current documentation).
vel2 double phys.veloc
pos.cartesian.y

Observer velocity component (MPC schema; no formal description in current documentation).
vel3 double phys.veloc
pos.cartesian.z

Observer velocity component (MPC schema; no formal description in current documentation).
fltr char meta.code

Filter or related code (MPC schema; no formal description in current documentation).
obstime_text char time.epoch

Observation time as text (MPC schema; no formal description in current documentation).