Minor Planet Databases

Abstract

We cast a retrospective look at the mankind’s acquaintance with minor bodies of the Solar System, at the explosive growth in their discoveries resulting from the technological progress, and at gradual understanding of the danger to our very existence that some of them might actually pose. Then, we review current effort, of the astronomical community in general and of its Russian part in particular, to integrate our rapidly expanding knowledge of the potential Earth impactors and to make it readily available online.

Keywords

• astronomical databases
• minor planets, asteroids: general
• minor planets, asteroids: neos
• comets
• meteoroids
• ephemerides