Minor Planet Physical Properties Catalogue – Asteroid Database
The MP3C catalogue
- Version: 3.2.1-beta.1 (2024-08-12)
- 1,335,502 minor bodies
- 4,365,414 measured properties
- 3,266 distinct bibliographic sources
MP3C
The Minor Planet Physical Properties Catalogue (MP3C) collects and consolidates in a single database
properties of asteroids and dwarf planets published by different sources.
It currently offers a web interface to different types of queries such as search for a body “ID
card” with our best estimates of its properties, search for all measurements known for that body, or
filtering on all minor bodies and all measurements by various criteria. Individual measurements are provided
with their bibliographic reference. Most results can be exported as raw tabular text files easy to import in
various software.
To query the database, simply choose a type of search in the top “Search” menu or enter an asteroid in the search bar.
Acknowledgements
If you use MP3C to prepare a publication, please add in the acknowledgments: “This work is based on data provided by the Minor Planet Physical Properties Catalogue (MP3C) of the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur”.
Who uses MP3C?
We maintain here a list of references that have used MP3C.
Team
MP3C is a service developed, hosted and maintained at the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, as part of the “Action Nationale d'Observation” INSU ANO5.
The MP3C team members are: Marco Delbo (PI, ), Guillaume Verbiese (developer), Thomas J. Dyer (developer), Nicolas Bruot (former developer), Chrysa Avdellidou (data provider), Dimitrios Athanasopoulos (data provider), Marjorie Galinier (data provider), Eric Slezak (advisor) and Christophe Ordenovic (former developer).
Credits and partners
MPC3 is supported by the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur (OCA), through the DOMINO expertise center, and the Institut national des sciences de l'univers (INSU) of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) through the ASOV-France project (Action Spécifique Observatoire Virtuel), the Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR, ORIGINS project).
MP3C is based on tools and protocols, developed thanks to the efforts of the international astronomical community, through the International Virtual Observatory alliance (IVOA), which led to the construction of the Virtual Observatory (VO). We are thankful, in particular, for the technical and human assistance brought by the European Virtual Observatory (EURO-VO) project and the Centre de Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS).