Introduction

The package AMPLE (Adaptable Minor Planet Ephemerides) is dedicated to solving a number of problems concerning minor planets with the aid of IBM-type personal computer.

Among these problems are the following:

• Obtaining selection of orbital elements and/ or photometric parameters of minor planets in conformity with imposed restrictions.
  
  
• Ephemeris computations in various coordinate systems.
  
  
• Comparison of observed positions with computed ones (computation of O – C).
  
  
• Identification of minor planets, that is finding among numbered minor planets that (or those) whose computed positions are sufficiently close to the observed position of unknown object.
  
  
• Determination of all numbered minor planets that can be seen at certain moment within specified sky region.
  
  
• Drawing the picture of apparent motion of minor planets in the sky with respect to fixed stars.
  
  
• Visualization of orbital motion of minor planets.

The package is intended for dealing with numbered minor planets.

AMPLE is organized on the pattern of a yearbook. Yearly issue of the package is destined for operating basically within the time interval covering 16 months (from November of the year preceding to the title year of the package to February of the subsequent one (basic interval).

As AMPLE is able to reproduce virtually any table of the Ephemerides of Minor Planets published yearly by the IAA RAS, it may be considered as computer version of the EMP.

The package computes positions of minor planets by the formulae of elliptic motion using sets of osculating elements obtained in advance for a number of, generally speaking, non-uniformly distributed moments of time. The space between the moments, that is between the knots of the net formed by osculating elements, is determined in such a way as to assure the precision of spherical coordinates not worse than 0.2 arcsec within 120 day intervals centered at oppositions of each planet which fall within basic interval. For minor planets with perihelion distances less than 1.4 AU the created net of knots assures precision not worse than 0.2 arcsec during the whole basic interval. Beyond the limits of 120 day intervals the precision of computations is not ensured for the ordinary minor planets. As this takes place the actual precision of computed positions can decrease up to few minutes of arc. The computed positions whose precision can not be ensured within 0.2 arcsec are marked by asterisk.

In majority of the package sections, such as Ephemerides, O – C, Tracks, Orbits computations can be fulfilled for the moments of time lying outside of the basic interval. In this case positions are computed on the base of the fundamental set of osculating elements for standard epoch lying within title year (Julian Day of the epoch minus 0.5 is exactly divisible by 400, sometimes by 200). It is clear that precision of computed position may be very low if the moment of time is far from the fundamental epoch. The corresponding moments are accompanied by asterisks.

It is worth noting that the employed method of computations enables the time-consuming problems to be effectively solved with good precision in a matter of seconds.

It is also introduced the special option to calculate positions of minor planets at any moment (within time interval from 1800 till 2100) by numerical integration. Such option exists only in sections Ephemerides and O-C (see User Guide, sections III.8 and IV.5).

There is the opportunity in AMPLE to perform the ephemeris and O-C calculations for objects which are absent in the data base of the package. Such objects can be described by orbital elements or by initial coordinates and velocities. In each case there are two possibilities:

• calculations should be performed for single object;
  
  
• calculations should be performed for a list of objects.

In AMPLE there are opportunities performing the calculation of value of MOID (Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance) between orbit of some ordered body (major planet or minor planet) and orbits of any set of selected minor planets; calculation of criteria of Tisserand for orbits of minor planets with respect to the orbit of some ordered body (major planet or minor planet); calculation of photometric diameters of minor planets, calculating near commensurability of minor planets with respect to the orbit of some ordered body (major or minor planet); calculating the time of perihelion passage which is the nearest to the epoch of elements, calculating the times of ascending and descending nodes passages the nearest to the epoch of perihelion passage, and so on. All operations of the package section Elements can be done for objects from user text file; calculation of ephemeris in rectangular coordinates can be fullfilled for any set of major planets and minor planets with respect to the center of some ordered minor planet (section `Ephemerides).

The orbital elements of all minor planets used in AMPLE for 2015 have been determined in IAA on the ground of available observations in the catalogue of observations of the Minor Planet Center. In so doing coordinates and masses of perturbing planets are taken from DE 405.

Dealing with the package is organized in the form of dialogue. Description of job is specified through choice of corresponding menu items and by introducing values of job parameters in data fields. Usual succession of user's actions in frequently occurring situations is as follows:

• on entering the package select Tasks item in menu bar and then select one of the items (package sections) in drop–down menu.
  
  
• in case you are in one of the package sections and corresponding frame window is active (title bar is not shadowed), click menu item needed (the same as the name of the section) and select one of the suggested items in drop–down menu.
  
  
• If title bar is shadowed it means that frame window is not active and disabled because some dialog box has been activated; title bar of active dialog box has intensive color. Running the calculations discontinues until user enters data or gives answer to the posed question.
  
  
• if you want to save the result of calculations or print them, select File item in menu bar and select the appropriate item in the drop–down menu.

AMPLE works under MS Windows, and the various possibilities of the system are applicable when using the package. The Help service of AMPLE is developed with Microsoft HTML Help WorkShop, all topics are represented as html files. AMPLE distributive is created with InstallShield for Microsoft Visual C++.