Data Available from the Minor Planet Center

If using these or any other data files, or a webtool from the MPC, for your research publication, we would appreciate it if you could thank us in the acknowledgements section. This will help us track the use of MPC data and services in publications, which will be of interest to funding agencies. Please use the following snippet:

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

The tables below contain a partial list of data files provided by the Minor Planet Center.

Orbits

File	Description	Update frequency	Last Update (UT)	Documentation
MPCORB.DAT MPCORB.DAT.gz	Orbits for all asteroids in the MPC database	Daily	2024/11/05 12:38	Export Format for Minor-Planet Orbits Extended MPCORB Data Format Manual (PDF)
mpcorb_extended.dat.gz
mpcorb_extended.json.gz
NEA.txt	Orbits for Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs)	When new NEAs are designated (Few times a day)	2024/11/05 13:19	Export Format for Minor-Planet Orbits Extended MPCORB Data Format Manual (PDF)
nea_extended.dat.gz
nea_extended.json.gz
PHA.txt	Orbits for Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs)	When new PHAs are designated (Several times a week)	2024/11/06 02:11	Export Format for Minor-Planet Orbits Extended MPCORB Data Format Manual (PDF)
pha_extended.dat.gz
pha_extended.json.gz
DAILY.DAT	Orbits from the latest DOU MPEC	Daily	2024/11/05 12:38	Export Format for Minor-Planet Orbits Extended MPCORB Data Format Manual (PDF)
daily_extended.dat.gz
daily_extended.json.gz
Distant.txt	Orbits for TNOs, Centaurs and SDOs	Daily	2024/11/05 12:38	Export Format for Minor-Planet Orbits Extended MPCORB Data Format Manual (PDF)
distant_extended.dat.gz
distant_extended.json.gz
Unusual.txt	Orbits for asteroids with e ≥ 0.5 or q > 6 AU	Daily	2024/11/05 12:38	Export Format for Minor-Planet Orbits Extended MPCORB Data Format Manual (PDF)
unusual_extended.dat.gz
unusual_extended.json.gz
CometEls.txt	Orbits for current comets in the MPC database	When new Comets are designated (Few times a month)	2024/11/05 19:30	Export Format for Comet Orbits
cometels.json.gz	Orbits for current comets in the MPC database	When new Comets are designated (Few times a month)	2024/11/05 19:30	Export Format for Comet Orbits
AllCometEls.txt	Orbits for all comets in the MPC database	When new Comets are designated (Few times a month)	2024/11/05 19:31	Export Format for Comet Orbits
allcometels.json.gz	Orbits for all comets in the MPC database	When new Comets are designated (Few times a month)	2024/11/05 19:31	Export Format for Comet Orbits

File			Description	Update frequency	Last Update (UT)	Documentation
NEAs today + 15 days NEAs today + 14 days NEAs today + 13 days NEAs today + 12 days NEAs today + 11 days NEAs today + 10 days NEAs today + 9 days NEAs today + 8 days NEAs today + 7 days NEAs today + 6 days NEAs today + 5 days NEAs today + 4 days NEAs today + 3 days NEAs today + 2 days NEAs today + 1 days	.dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz	.json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz	Elements of NEAs for current epochs plus up to 15 days	Daily	2024/11/05 19:18	Export Format for Minor-Planet Orbits Extended MPCORB Data Format Manual (PDF)
NEAs today	.dat.gz	.json.gz	Elements of NEAs for current epochs today	Daily	2024/11/05 19:08	Export Format for Minor-Planet Orbits Extended MPCORB Data Format Manual (PDF)
NEAs today - 1 days NEAs today - 2 days NEAs today - 3 days NEAs today - 4 days NEAs today - 5 days NEAs today - 6 days NEAs today - 7 days NEAs today - 8 days NEAs today - 9 days NEAs today - 10 days NEAs today - 11 days NEAs today - 12 days NEAs today - 13 days NEAs today - 14 days NEAs today - 15 days	.dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz .dat.gz	.json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz .json.gz	Elements of NEAs for current epochs minus up to 15 days	Daily	2024/11/05 19:13	Export Format for Minor-Planet Orbits Extended MPCORB Data Format Manual (PDF)

NEO Confirmation Page (NEOCP)

File	Description	Update frequency	Last Update (UT)	Documentation
neocp.txt	Objects awaiting further observations to confirm as NEOs	When new objects or observations are submitted (Many times a night)	2024/11/06 02:16	Format of NEOCP file
neocp.json	Objects awaiting further observations to confirm as NEOs		2024/11/06 02:16	Format of NEOCP file

Identifications

The 3 individual ID files that have been available for over two decades are now also offered merged as a single JSON file. Note that the JSON file comes in two flavours: with packed designations or unpacked. Choose wisely.

File		Description	Update frequency	Last Update (UT)	Documentation
numids.txt	mpc_ids.json.gz mpc_ids_packed.json.gz	Provisional designation(s) in packed form for all numbered objects that have one (or more) extra designations	Monthly (After publication of the MPCs)	2024/07/24 01:44	Format of identification files
ids.txt		Provisional designation(s) in packed form for multi-opposition objects
dbl.txt		Provisional designation(s) in packed form for single-opposition objects

Daily Identifications

File	Description	Update frequency	Last Update (UT)	Documentation
newnumids.dat	New numbered identifications with unnumbered minor planets	Daily	2024/11/05 12:40	Format of daily identification files

newunnumids.dat	New unnumbered identifications

Observatory Codes

File	Description	Update frequency	Last Update (UT)	Documentation
ObsCodes.html	Observatory Codes appointed by the MPC	When new ObsCodes are approved (Several times a month)	2024/11/05 12:15	Format of observatory codes file
obscodes_extended.json.gz	Observatory Codes appointed by the MPC	When new ObsCodes are approved (Several times a month)	2024/11/05 12:15	Format of observatory codes file

Discoveries

File	Description	Update frequency	Last Update (UT)	Documentation
NumberedMPs.txt	Discovery circumstances of the numbered minor planets	Monthly (After publication of the MPCs)	2024/11/04 20:17	Format of discovery circumstances file
numberedmps.json.gz	Discovery circumstances of the numbered minor planets	Monthly (After publication of the MPCs)	2024/11/04 20:17	Format of discovery circumstances file

Close Approaches

File	Description	Update frequency	Last Update (UT)	Documentation
Closest.html	Closest observed approaches of asteroids to Earth	Currently Inactive	2019/05/16 12:30	Format of close approaches file
closest_extended.json.gz	Closest observed approaches of asteroids to Earth	Currently Inactive	2019/05/16 12:30	Format of close approaches file

Alterations to Observations (unpublished)

The following files are provisional files that detail the observations that will be altered and published during the next set of MPCs. Note that the files will be updated daily even if the content has not changed.

File	Description	Update frequency	Last Update (UT)	Documentation
redesigs.dat	Observations that are to be redesignated	Daily	2024/11/05 12:40	Documentation
todelete.dat	Observations that are to be deleted	Daily	2024/11/05 12:40	Documentation
removed_obs.dat	Observations removed from our public database	Daily	2024/11/05 12:40	Observation Status Codes