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%