The Top 25 Orbit Calculators (as of 9 Mar 2010)


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 - these are the ones that appear in the
online catalog). 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 Bdl+Hrt+Msn+Sey+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     748      210       28% 
      2     Baz       1927-1994     582       49        8 
      3     Doc       1984-2010     325      140       43 
      4     Hrt       1984-2010     241      195       81 
      5     HIP       1997-1997     235      156       66 
      6     Gln       2006-2007     211      122       58 
      7     Sod       1998-1999     210       87       41 
      8     Sta       1962-1985     197       16        8 
      9     Sca       1979-2010     192       75       39 
     10     Ole       1970-2006     164       70       43 
     11     Cou       1952-2002     163       38       23 
     12     Sey       1999-2002     142      123       87 
     13     Msn       1993-2010     131       90       69 
     14     B__       1921-1968     130        3        2 
     15     Dob       1875-1934     120        0        0 
     16     Jnc       2005-2005     101       81       80 
     17     Pop       1967-2007      96       23       24 
     18     Zul       1967-2000      82        7        9 
     18     Cve       2005-2010      82       47       57 
     20     Fin       1926-1978      71        6        8 
     20     Egg       1945-1982      71        3        4 
     22     Pbx       1998-2002      68       37       54 
     22     See       1892-1911      68        0        0 
     24     Mlr       1938-1997      66        5        8 
     25     Nov       2005-2008      54       27       50 
     25     Lin       1983-2010      54       27       50 
            all                    6416     2166       34%



Top 25 by total number of keepers:

    rank  RefCode   Dates Active  Ntotal  Nkeepers  %keepers
    --------------------------------------------------------

      1     Hei       1954-2001     748      210       28%
      2     Hrt       1984-2010     241      195       81 
      3     HIP       1997-1997     235      156       66 
      4     Doc       1984-2010     325      140       43 
      5     Sey       1999-2002     142      123       87 
      6     Gln       2006-2007     211      122       58 
      7     Msn       1993-2010     131       90       69 
      8     Sod       1998-1999     210       87       41 
      9     Jnc       2005-2005     101       81       80 
     10     Sca       1979-2010     192       75       39 
     11     Ole       1970-2006     164       70       43 
     12     Baz       1927-1994     582       49        8 
     13     Cve       2005-2010      82       47       57 
     14     Zir       2001-2010      49       45       92 
     15     Cou       1952-2002     163       38       23 
     16     Pbx       1998-2002      68       37       54 
     17     Bdl       2006-2007      33       31       94 
     18     Lin       1983-2010      54       27       50 
     18     Nov       2005-2008      54       27       50 
     20     Hop       1945-1974      50       26       52 
     20     WSI       1997-2008      29       26       90 
     22     Alz       1996-2009      44       25       57 
     23     Pop       1967-2007      96       23       24 
     23     Mnt       1994-2006      51       23       45 
     25     Bag       1977-2007      44       20       45 
            all                    6416     2166       34%