[comets-ml] Dead Databases from MPC
Does anyone out here have any resource for direct transfer of an UPDATED comet
database for specific planetarium programs (i.e., Guide, etc.) that is current?
I am concerned that the MPC very useful databases of the past are simply not going to
be posted for a long time, if at all; everything seems to be up and running at MPC
except specific databases that should (unless I am seeing this differently than most
computer operational programming). Efforts to obtain a simple time frame and/or
explanation have been virtually brushed over. Believe me, I do understand how
demanding the outage in early June was for MPC and I think that we have all been
patient in awaiting the revival of essential databases.
My concern is that MPC updates of observable comets and confirmed new data for newly
discovered comets is assuming the ill-fated efforts of the ICQ; the agency is a
service organization for all observers and the observers in turn contribute back to
MPC and their affiliates. The comet data is an essential part of that, along with
missing updated daily data for NEOs, etc. for virtually all programmable applications
since June 6.
What are others doing in terms of acquiring and individually loading each and every
comet manually via Horizons, etc.? I do not need any chest thumping about ICQ - I
gave up on that operation a long time ago. What observers need is access to real
data for both comets and asteroids.
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Dr. Clay
