Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Astronomical objects/Infoboxes

message: I feel that the standard infobox for moons above is inadequate for the irregular satellites given typically limited amount of available data, very perturbed orbits, numerous assumptions etc. I suggest to adapt a shorter infobox for the irregulars following a few simple guidelines
*Data must be referenced!
**Use mean orbital elements preferably, if known (helps the grouping; the osculating elements are changing in very short timescales)
**Use best fit elements otherwise
*Avoid self-calculated items (they are based on assumptions, anyway).
**The orbital period for mean elements is given from the integrations (irregular satellites orbits are not Keplerian)
**Peri/apo centres can be given in the main text if they are exceptional
*Physical characteristics are limited to what is typically measured
**magnitude (absolute,V or R)
**albedo (typically assumed), 
**diameter (inferred from the albedo)
**colour (measured for a number of moons)
**spectral (asteroid) classification (infrared spectra are known in many cases)
**light curve i.e. rotation period (known for a few)
**drop mass-related parameters as they are based on the double assumptions of the density and albedo
For a sample please see here. I’d like to apply it first to the Neptune’s irregulars currently without infoboxes anyway. Eurocommuter 13:19, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: A few questions/criticisms:
*Try to fold the "to the ecliptic" part in with "Inclination".
*I usually see year abbreviated as "yr".  I have even used "yr" in my publications.
*Can you find a better phrase for "Is a satellite of"?  I would put "Planet".
*How is color specified?  Is it something that will be familiar to the general public (and not something like B-V)?
*I hate quantities inferred from other uncertain quantities in an encyclopedic reference.  The diameter should be tagged with a footnote if inferred from the albedo.
*Is the spectral type something that will be useful for the general public?
*Does this differ substantially from the infobox for larger moons (the Galilean satellites, Titan, Triton, the Earth's moon)? I would prefer they all be the same.
*Do you have advice on which references to use?
George J. Bendo 14:06, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Infoboxes for irregular satellites 

message: There is usually a "discover" section in the comet infobox, but it isn't displayed. Why isn't it showing? Also, why isn't there a section for argument of perihelion, etc? Thanks. AstroHurricane001(Talk+Contribs+Ubx) 00:24, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  What happened 

message: The minor planets example is out of date. All or almost all the most significant ones (hundreds) now use :Template:Infobox Planet instead. Deuar 16:51, 30 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  minor planets example is out of date 

message: *can we merge these two articles so they are one? (:O) -Nima Baghaei talk · cont · email 17:10, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merge 

message: Almost none of the infobox data for the 8 planets show any citations. More often than not the data disagrees with NASA statistics from the External Links, even when the "epoch 2000" is accounted for. Where do the data come from, and how can we check for typos? From my amateur's point of view, it looks as if we need to get the basic facts straight before we worry about comets, asteroids and such. Art LaPella 06:27, 3 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Too true. It's a paradox - the small bodies no-one apart from a fanatic has ever heard of are well referenced, for larger moons referencing tends to be patchy. For planets, it's a debacle. Similar trends are often seen in other subject areas.  Deuar 21:56, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Infobox data for planets

message: User:Sardanaphalus has proposed moving Template:Infobox Planet to Template:Infobox Nonstellar body (or some other generic term). Please join the discussion at Template talk:Infobox Planet#Template's name. --Ckatzchatspy 05:49, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Move proposal - Template:Infobox Planet 

message: I added a the template Template:mpcat which you can use like this:
or like this
I put it into a few infoboxes in some of the articles I have been working on recently.  I am suggesting we begin switching all of the infoboxes over to this new system, as well as ammend the the instructions on the infbox page to include these.  Here is a list of articles which use this new system I am proposing: 4660 Nereus, 1862 Apollo,1999 UJ7, as well as about 15 others (check my user page for a list of asteroids using this template).  Let me know if you have any ideas to improve the template.  -AndrewBuck (talk) 06:30, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  New minor planet template 

message: I notice that Inforbox planet has a line for "mean anomaly", and maybe others do as well. But what does that mean? At what epoch? The mean anomaly of an object is constantly changin'. If we're gonna put this line, then we should specify the epoch. Eric Kvaalen (talk) 04:35, 31 July 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Mean anomaly