Comets and Asteroids

SUMMARY
Deepsky provides access to a database of  8000 asteroids and all currently visible comets.  Orbital elements are provided and can be changed in Deepsky as they are refined.

IMPORTANT TIPS

•	Remember to set the start date before requesting an ephemeris.  
•	To display an ephemeris for a comet or asteroid, find the object in the spreadsheet and click the ROW HEADER so that the entire row becomes highlighted.  Then click the EPHEMERIS  button.  
•	Links to orbital elements on the interenet are provided at the bottom of the comet and asteroid screens.  Here you can find the latest elements for currently visible comets and asteroids.
•	You can specify how object labels appear on star charts.  Just select the buttons at the top of the screen according to how you want the object labeled.
•	On the asteroid screen, you can filter the list by entering a search criteria under the ASTEROID label.  To find asteroid 1990 Pilcher, just enter "ANUMB = 1990" and press ENTER.  The important thing to remember is that you enter the column description then either =, <, >, <=, >= and then the value.  This feature works for other columns as well.  You could for example enter "e < .5" to see asteroids whose eccentricity is less than .5