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
      ASTNAMES and DISCOVER 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
      2003 March 18 batch of Minor Planet Circulars, and includes
      58092 entries.
 
      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]
 
      Errata
      ======
 
      The May 1 2003 batch of MPCs had two errata pertinent to the
      asteroid names in this file.  First, the name associated with
      asteroid number 13366 (Khege) has been transferred to asteroid
      number 12565.  Secondly, the name associated with asteroid 24609
      (Evgenij) has been changed to Evgenaleks.
 
      Modification History
      ====================
      The discover data set is a combination of the data originally
      provided in the astnames and discover data sets.  Astname was first
      introduced into PDS at the April 1993 asteroid data sets review,
      and has been updated yearly since that time.  Discover 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).

Review
      ======
      This data underwent external peer review on May 29, 2003.
 
      Limitations
      ===========
      Only asteroids numbered as of March 18, 2003 are included.