WMOPS MPC File (December 7, 2009) [mop06 WSDC D-I174, vsn 1.0] Interface Name: WMOPS initial orbit-fit (MPCIOD) elements file (.els) Type of Interface: ASCII text file (fixed column entries) Written By: WMOPS(MPCIOD,wmopsqa)_________________J. Dailey(CogE), J. Bauer (Lead-Sci), T. Grav(Sci), G. Williams (MPC) Read By: WMOPS(wmopsqa)________________________J. Dailey, J. Bauer, T. Grav QA____________________________________D. Kirkpatrick DESCRIPTION: The WMOPS ELS file contains the per-tracklet output from the MPCIOD sub-routine in the wmopsqa software. The MPC Initial Orbit Determination (MPCIOD) routine was provided gratis by G. Williams and T. Spahr of the Minor Planet Center. It was provided in executable format for the express purpose of vetting candidate object tracklets (COTs) and providing distance estimates for the fitted COTs. The output file contains information regarding each fit's r.m.s. residual, orbital elements, and number of attempts and solutions. An augmentation to the original routine by the MPC provides WMOPS with Sun-object(R) and observer-object (Detla) distances in units of AU for the object at the mid-time of the observations. The output for each COT is for the best fit as determined by the routine, which selects the fit with the lowest residual values for non-pathological orbit solutions. The WMOPS Quality Assurance software, wmopsqa, uses the orbit output as one of the major criteria to evaluate COTs in the automated QA vetting for "sound" tracklets, i.e. COTs which may be reported to the MPC without the added eyes-on review, from "anomalous" tracklets. The wmopsqa also uses the .els file output in the prediction of the candidate object's visible-wavelength brightness. The .els file is in a fixed-column format with one line per COT fit. If MPCIOD is able to converge upon a solution, it returns a line with the fit information. [Note in the example below, W000004, W000007, and W000008, are missing owing to the fact that mpciod was unable to converge to a non-pathological fit solution for these COTs.] Description of Columns: Columns Use 1 - 7 WMOPS preliminary Designation ID 8 - 17 String literal "COM" 18 - 33 Perihelion distance [AU] 34 - 49 Eccentricity 50 - 59 Inclination/deg, J2000.0 60 - 72 Longitude of the ascending node/deg, J2000.0 73 - 85 Argument of perihelion/deg, J2000.0 86 - 103 Time of perihelion/MJD 104 - 109 Absolute magnitude 110 - 118 Epoch of orbit/MJD 119 - 124 Solution number 125 - 126 Number of solutions available 127 - 129 -1 (Earth MOID, not computed) 130 - 142 Orbit computer id 143 - 149 Residual r.m.s. 150 - 153 Number of observations 156 - 161 Number of solutions found 162 - 164 Orbit Fitting Method ("M5") 165 - 176 Heliocentrc Distance from object [AU] (or spaces if the fit is pathological) 177 - 185 Observer distance from object [AU] ( " " ) ----- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 123456789 EXAMPLE: ----- W000001 COM 0.514771339 0.314679338 35.3954254 299.4313815 352.8295950 55326.0516682 13.07 55210.0 1 5 -1 MPC-IOD-WISE 0.097 7 0.926 M5 W000002 COM 0.955124343 0.077042478 0.7862870 31.6299364 131.3367811 55260.2910535 19.34 55210.0 1 5 -1 MPC-IOD-WISE 0.317 9 0.860 M5 2.7651 2.6099 W000003 COM 0.360353998 0.684472430 15.6446266 176.7589302 65.1727192 55020.5275044 13.01 55210.0 1 5 -1 MPC-IOD-WISE 0.363 11 0.992 M5 2.7898 2.6364 W000005 COM 0.981303514 0.351563301 12.6244602 275.7603049 186.4997337 55198.0678574 15.63 55210.0 1 5 -1 MPC-IOD-WISE 0.290 6 0.794 M5 2.7316 2.5741 W000006 COM 0.949213968 0.062288351 0.6008352 230.7588538 173.7449500 55140.8259621 18.52 55210.0 1 5 -1 MPC-IOD-WISE 0.246 8 0.728 M5 2.3049 2.0372 W000009 COM 0.928443870 0.108160555 0.4776652 19.0925177 155.3552754 55272.1415846 18.29 55210.0 1 5 -1 MPC-IOD-WISE 0.440 10 1.124 M5 1.3116 0.8212 W00000a COM 0.954455137 0.048554493 0.0319458 208.1679710 331.8737862 55276.1690165 20.01 55211.0 1 5 -1 MPC-IOD-WISE 0.564 11 1.124 M5 W00000c COM 0.986422040 0.292647794 4.0757622 192.4970589 199.8485844 55042.0449318 14.01 55211.0 1 5 -1 MPC-IOD-WISE 0.357 6 0.794 M5 2.6477 2.4137