Describe the bug
Objects with an eccentricity >~0.9 need to be stored and submitted to the LCO/OCS scheduling system as MPC_COMET type due to the need to ultimately use a different mathematical method to calculate positions in the low-level SLALIB library. Ingesting comets with high eccentricity such as C/2021 G2 (ATLAS) through the JPL Horizons Harvester results in an Target created with an orbital element scheme of MPC_MINOR_PLANET. This results in a submittal failure when attempting to schedule observations.
To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
- Go to 'Targets->Create Targets->Catalog Search'
- Select 'JPL Horizons' as the Service and enter 'C/2021 G2' in the Term box
- Click search
- Observe eccentricity is >1 and scheme is 'MPC Minor Planet'
Expected behavior
Objects with an eccentricity >= 0.9 should have scheme set to 'MPC Comet' and the presence of a non-zero/null value for the epoch of perihelion should be verified
Screenshots
Attached

Desktop (please complete the following information):
- OS: Rocky Linux 9.5
- Browser: Firefox
- Version: 128.7.0esr (64-bit)
- Python Version: 3.11.9
Additional context
Describe the bug
Objects with an eccentricity >~0.9 need to be stored and submitted to the LCO/OCS scheduling system as
MPC_COMETtype due to the need to ultimately use a different mathematical method to calculate positions in the low-levelSLALIBlibrary. Ingesting comets with high eccentricity such as C/2021 G2 (ATLAS) through the JPL Horizons Harvester results in an Target created with an orbital element scheme ofMPC_MINOR_PLANET. This results in a submittal failure when attempting to schedule observations.To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
Expected behavior
Objects with an eccentricity >= 0.9 should have scheme set to 'MPC Comet' and the presence of a non-zero/null value for the epoch of perihelion should be verified
Screenshots
Attached
Desktop (please complete the following information):
Additional context