The Top 25 Orbit Calculators (as of 10 Jul 2014)
Just for amusement, counts were made of the number of orbits
in the orbit catalog "master file" attributed to each WDS
reference code, as well as the percentage of those orbits
labelled as "keepers" (i.e., currently considered the best
orbit for each system). The table below lists the top 25
orbit calculators, together with the dates over which they
were active (based on dates of their earliest and most
recent papers in the WDS reference file).
These reference codes usually refer to the first author of a
paper; no attempt has been made to merge totals for groups
of authors who frequently collaborate (such as, for example,
Csa+Doc+Lin+Pri+Tam or Hrt+Msn+USN+WSI). Finally, the master
file is mostly complete for recent papers but undoubtedly
less so for earlier efforts, especially papers published more
than ~50 years ago. It is doubtful that any of those very
early orbits would be considered keepers today, however.
Top 25 by total number of orbits:
rank RefCode Dates Active Ntotal Nkeepers %keepers
--------------------------------------------------------
1 Hei 1954-2001 754 166 22%
2 Baz 1927-1994 585 41 7
3 Doc 1984- 488 185 38
4 Hrt 1984- 336 249 74
5 HIP 1997-1997 235 143 61
6 Sca 1979- 230 81 35
7 Gln 2006-2007 211 112 53
8 Sod 1998-1999 210 68 32
9 Sta 1962-1985 196 10 5
10 Msn 1993- 189 96 51
11 Ole 1970-2006 183 48 26
12 USN 1988- 181 144 80
13 Cou 1952-2002 163 31 19
14 Cve 2005- 142 66 47
15 B__ 1921-1968 132 3 2
16 Zir 2001- 126 119 94
17 Tok 1979- 125 74 59
18 Dob 1875-1934 120 0 0
19 Jnc 2005-2005 101 57 56
20 Pop 1967-2007 96 17 18
21 Lin 1983- 89 40 45
22 Zul 1967-2000 87 7 8
23 Ren 2010- 85 75 88
24 Mlr 1938-1997 73 4 6
25 Fin 1926-1978 73 2 3
all 7487 2498 33%
Top 25 (actually 27, due to tie) by total number of keepers:
rank RefCode Dates Active Ntotal Nkeepers %keepers
--------------------------------------------------------
1 Hrt 1984- 336 249 74%
2 Doc 1984- 488 185 38
3 Hei 1954-2001 754 166 22
4 USN 1988- 181 144 80
5 HIP 1997-1997 235 143 61
6 Zir 2001- 126 119 94
7 Gln 2006-2007 211 112 53
8 Msn 1993- 189 96 51
9 Sca 1979- 230 81 35
10 Ren 2010- 85 75 88
11 Tok 1979- 125 74 59
12 Sod 1998-1999 210 68 32
13 Cve 2005- 142 66 47
14 Jnc 2005-2005 101 57 56
15 Ole 1970-2006 183 48 26
16 Mut 2005- 50 42 84
17 Baz 1927-1994 585 41 7
18 Lin 1983- 89 40 45
19 FMR 1996- 61 39 64
20 Pbx 1998-2004 69 33 48
21 Kis 1988-2012 44 32 73
22 Cou 1952-2002 163 31 19
23 WSI 1997- 29 22 76
24 Alz 1996-2011 45 21 47
25 Bag 1977- 47 21 45
26 Hop 1945-1974 50 21 42
27 Nov 2005-2008 54 21 39
all 7487 2498 33%