The MPEC Sort program allows you to easily download, sort, and print a report of the current MPEC data from the Minor Planet Center web site. With a few simple clicks of the mouse the MPEC Sort program will go out and find the newest MPECs, download the data, and import it in to a local database. You can then enter RA, Declination, and Magnitude limits to further narrow down the results of objects visible from your location. Once you have narrowed it down to the list of objects you can view, run the report that you can print out and reference during your viewing session.

The Comet Ephemerides tab. Now you can calculate comet ephemerides at any time. The program downloads the comet orbital element file from the Minor Planet Center. Just select a comet from the list, specify some parameters (or leave them as default), and click calculate. That’s it. You are presented with that comet’s ephemerides in both RA / Declination and Alt. / Az. A big thanks to Bill Schwittek for sharing his CMTWIN32 application source code.

New in version 4 - A new location for downloading the MPEC data. With the help of the MPC we now have a new location to obtain our MPEC data. This new data is updated on a nightly basis instead of the monthly update the program was using previously. Many thanks to the Minor Planet Center for their cooperation and hard work.

*Internet connection required to download MPEC data.

Currently the MPEC Sort application is able to download the following circulars:

    AMORS

    UNUSUAL MINOR PLANETS

    PHAS

    ATENS and APOLLOS

    ATIRA

    COMETS

If you use the CHARON and Guide8 applications, the MPEC Sort program will also create the data files needed for those programs.