The Minor Planet Center (MPC) operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, as part of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The MPC is responsible for the designation of minor bodies in the solar system: minor planets, comets, and natural satellites.

Study the images you obtained for this exercise, or those provided by your instructor. Can you detect any asteroids in your images? How can you differentiate asteroids from stars in your images? If you made additional observations, how could you improve your chances of detection?

Once your group has found the asteroids in your image field, you can use a resource provided by the MPC called the Minor Planet Checker to identify them and find any you may have missed. This tool computes the positions of asteroids at a given date and time and returns a list of those visible in a specified area of the sky.

• Go to the Minor Planet Checker site.
   
• Enter the Date, RA, and Dec of your observation in the appropriate fields.
   
• Select a search radius and a limiting magnitude.
   
• There are a large number of options for formatting the way the resulting list is displayed. In most cases, the default options are sufficient.

Identify the asteroids you found in your image, as well as any you missed. Obtain what data you can online about these asteroids. Your instructor, as well as other groups, may be able to help you find good sources of information. What conclusions can you draw from this data about the general nature of asteroids in the Main Belt?