Data Set Overview
  =================
  This data set includes names, designations, and discovery
  circumstances for the numbered asteroids, sorted in order of number.
  This data set supersedes past versions of both the
  EAR-A-5-DDR-ASTNAMES and the EAR-A-5-DDR-DISCOVERY asteroid data
  sets.  It represents an extension of a file originally prepared by
  Pilcher (1979) [PILCHER1979] for the Tucson Revised Index of
  Asteroid Data (TRIAD) and updated in Pilcher (1989) [PILCHER1989]
  for the Asteroids II database.  The data for asteroids numbered 4045
  and greater were either provided by the Minor Planet Center or
  extracted from the Minor Planet Circulars, which are published by
  the Minor Planet Center on behalf of Commission 20 of the
  International Astronomical Union.  In some cases, an institution or
  survey is credited with the discovery rather than an individual.
  No attempt has been made to correct the inconsistencies in the
  presentation of names (that is, some names are given with initials
  and some are not), or in the way locations are specified (for
  example, Pilcher distinguishes between the Lowell Observatory and
  Anderson Mesa locations in Flagstaff).
 
  Due to the limitations of the ASCII character set, diacritical marks
  are lost in this machine-readable form.  No adjustment has been made
  in the spelling of the names to correct for the loss of diacritical
  marks.  This choice was made to enable users to
  search on a known spelling of the name.
 
  This version of the data set contains the names, designations, and
  discovery circumstances for all asteroids numbered as of the April
  20, 2008 batch of Minor Planet Circulars.
 
  References
  ==========
 
  Pilcher, F. 1979.  Circumstances of minor planet discovery.  In
  Asteroids (T. Gehrels, Ed.),  pp. 1130-1154.  Univ. of Arizona
  Press, Tucson. [PILCHER1979]
 
  Pilcher, F. 1989.  The circumstances of minor planet discovery.  In
  Asteroids II (R. P. Binzel, T. Gehrels, and M. S. Matthews, Eds.),
  pp. 1002-1033.  Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson.  [PILCHER1989]
 
  Modification History
  ====================
  The discover data set is a combination of the data originally
  provided in the astnames and discover data sets.  Astnames
  (EAR-A-5-DDR-ASTNAMES) was first introduced into PDS at the April
  1993 asteroid data sets review, and has been updated yearly since
  that time.  Discover (EAR-A-5-DDR-DISCOVERY) was first introduced at
  the April 1994 asteroid data sets review, and has also been updated
  yearly since then.  At the March 1996 review, for the first time the
  two data sets were combined into a single data set.  Updates of both
  the astnames and discover components consists of adding entries for
  asteroids numbered since the last update.  The 'discnote' file, with
  notes on individual asteroids, represents notes prepared by Pilcher
  for his original version, and has not been updated since the first
  PDS version of this data set.
 
  Parameters
  ==========
  The data table includes fields for asteroid catalog number, name,
  principal provisional designation, discovery date, discovery
  location, and the name(s) of the discoverer(s).

Confidence Level Overview
  =========================
    Only asteroids numbered as of April 20, 2008 are included.