What is ALCDEF?	About Asteroid Lightcurves	Acknowledgements	Credits	Data and Privacy Policy

Special Annoucements Download and review the latest ALCDEF standards PDF. 2023 August 8 ALCDEF_ALL.zip updated. This is an extract of the entire ALCDEF database data tables (metadata, comps, lcdata) with a single file for each unique object in the metadata table The EPOCH keyword has been deprecated and replaced by EQUINOX. Existing programs that generate EPOCH will still work as will upload files using EPOCH. If using a custom program to read/write ALCDEF files, it should be updated to use EQUINOX.

Simple-ALCDEF Lightcurve Data Upload

Change in S-ALCDEF 2.2:
Single observations in a lightcurve block are no longer allowed. Each lightcurve block must have at least 2, preferably 5 or more, observations.
If not named and/or numbered, objects must have an MPC designation. Do not submit data for NEOCP objects or those using a custom designation.
View the ALCDEF standards documentation, which describes the data and formatting for the values associated with the keywords in the two data sections.
An appendix details the requirements for submitting "simple" data.
The fields in the Required Data section will apply to all submitted data except for the ALLOWSHARING and SUBMITPDS settings. These can be altered with metadata overrides. All other settings are fixed.
The fields in the Base Data section will be applied to all light curve blocks unless their corresponding keywords appear within a given light curve block. This allows, e.g., submitting data for multiple asteroids or filters within the same file.
Please limit files to approximately 250 KB or less in order to avoid overloading site resources.

Required Data
Allow Sharing	You must give express permission before your data can be stored and distributed.
Submit to PDS	In addition to Allow Sharing, you must give express permission before your data can be automatically submitted to the NASA PDS in periodic updates.
Contact Name	e.g., J. Q. Astronomer
Contact Info	e.g., email and/or postal address (do not include Contact Name)
Observers	Use semicolon to separate names, e.g., J. Q. Astronomer; H. I. S. Assistant
Delimiter	Data columns delimiter
JD Offset	Value required to get full JD (not MJD). See documentation.
Comment	Additional information that applies to all observations. Max chars: 400. Text will be split into COMMENT lines of up to 70 characters each.

Base Data (Can override)
Object Number	Leave blank if not numbered
Object Name	Enter MPC designation if not named. When a non-zero number and name are given, they must be for the same object, e.g., 5463 Ceres will be rejected.
Facility MPC Code	Observatory/Facility name, e.g., Center for Solar System Studies - Palmer Divide Station MPC observatory code, e.g., U82
Tools	Telescope e.g., 0.5-m f/8.1 Ritchey-Chretien		Detector e.g., CCD or FLI-1001E or Apogee Alta
Default Longitude Latitude	Longitude ±DDD.dddddd (-180.00 to +180.00) Negative for Western Hemsphere		Latitude ±DD.dddddd (-90.00 to +90.00) Negative for Southern Hemsphere
L-T Correction	If Yes, the correction at mid-time will be added to the output
Reduced Mags	If Yes, the correction at mid-time will be added to the output
Miscellaneous S'X' = SDSS A'X' = ATLAS	Filter	Mag Band	Mag System Differ Mags Diff Zero Mag	Exposure JD Exp (sec) Enter 0 if mid-time
Revised	See ALCDEF documentation before submitting revised data

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Special Annoucements

Simple-ALCDEF Lightcurve Data Upload

Required Data

Base Data (Can override)