The JPL Small-Body Database (SBDB) is an

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

about

small Solar System bodies A small Solar System body (SSSB) is an object in the Solar System that is neither a planet, a dwarf planet, nor a natural satellite. The term was first IAU definition of planet, defined in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as fo ...

. It is maintained by

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

(JPL) and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

and provides data for all known

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s and several

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

s, including

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

al parameters and diagrams, physical diagrams, close approach details, radar astrometry, discovery circumstances, alternate designations and lists of publications related to the small body. The database is updated daily when new observations are available. In April 2021 the JPL Small-Body Database started using planetary ephemeris ( DE441) and small-body perturber SB441-N16. Most objects such as asteroids get a two-body solution (Sun+object) recomputed twice a year. Comets generally have their two-body orbits computed at a time near the perihelion passage (closest approach to the Sun) as to have the two-body orbit more reasonably accurate for both before and after perihelion. For most asteroids, the

epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided b ...

used to define an orbit is updated twice a year. Orbital uncertainties in the JPL Small-Body Database are listed at the 1-sigma level. On 27 September 2021 the JPL Solar System Dynamics website underwent a significant upgrade. orbits were computed in August 2021 and in the 12 months to August 2021, more than 3.3 million orbits were computed.

Orbit viewer

In the past, one could view a 3D visualization of the body's orbit using a

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

applet. As of mid-2023, one could see something similar using JPL's Orbit Viewer tool, which was implemented using

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...

, Three.js and WebGL. The orbit viewer uses unreliable two-body methods, and hence should not be used for accurately determining the time of perihelion passage or planetary encounter circumstances. For accurate ephemerides use the JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System that handles the n-body problem using

numerical integration In analysis, numerical integration comprises a broad family of algorithms for calculating the numerical value of a definite integral. The term numerical quadrature (often abbreviated to quadrature) is more or less a synonym for "numerical integr ...

.JPL Note
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References

External links

Small-Body Database Lookup

{{authority control Observational astronomy Jet Propulsion Laboratory Astronomical catalogues JPL online services

Orbit viewer

See also

References

External links