Examples of MPC Format for Reporting Asteroid Positions

The MPC has format instructions on their Web site, but a few extra examples
can't hurt. There are some subtle gotchas for the unwary!

Between the blue and red bars is a sample report, except for the two "ruler" scales
I've inserted (one goes ....1...2...3..., and the other goes 12345678901...).
DO NOT INCLUDE THEM IN YOUR REPORT!

The sample report includes:

a numbered asteroid (773 Irmintraud, the one we got our observatory code on),

a discovery (FBAC08, note that your designation starts in column 6 and is six characters long - note too the discovery asterix * in column 13, it only occurs for the first observation!),

an asteroid with a provisional designation (FBAC08 became 1996 PL1, note the "packed" format),

a Survey asteroid (our 1996 PL1 was found to be the recovery of the lost
asteroid 6809 P-L, from the Palomar-Leiden Survey).

and a Comet, Comet Larsen, 1997 V1. Note the P in column 5
which stands for a Periodic comet (if it had a number, that would go right justified in the
first four columns). Also note the trailing 0 in column 12.

Note also that the ACK (acknowledgment) line has the discoverer's names on it.

COD 735
CON B. Dillon, 4703 Birkenhead Circle, Missouri City, Texas  77459, USA
CON [bdillon@houston.geoquest.slb.com]
OBS D. Borgman, W. G. Dillon, R. Pepper, K. Rivich
MEA D. Borgman, K. Rivich 
TEL 0.46-m reflector + CCD
NET GSC
ACK FBAC08 Discovery!  Discoverers: Borgman, Dillon, Pepper, Rivich DON'T SEND!!
         1         2         3         4         5         6         7         8
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
00773         C1996 03 12.12535 03 52 29.11 +34 26 10.2                      735
     FBAC08 * C1996 08 11.21458 19 59 05.05 -22 09 59.4          19.0 R      735
     FBAC08   C1996 08 11.23958 19 59 03.96 -22 10 02.7          18.7 R      735
     J96P01L FC1996 09 08.17431 19 52 21.65 -22 24 32.2          19.7 R      735
     PLS6809  C1996 10 07.05556 20 12 54.28 -21 14 54.6          19.1 R      735
    PJ97V010  C1997 11 30.26927 00 15 16.55 +10 17 45.4          15.9 R      735