Prospects in astrometry and orbital determination of minor bodies

Abstract

The astrometry of asteroids and comets is undergoing a significant progress, both in accuracy and number of observations, as a consequence of the introduction of CCD devices and the availability of stellar catalogues dense enough to cope with CCD relatively small fields of view. Further, substantial progress in accuracy is expected from the availability of Hipparcos catalogues. We review briefly the main consequences of these changes and the new requirements they pose on the procedures for collecting, processing, archiving and distributing astrometric observations and on the software to be used for astrometric reduction and orbital analysis.