Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
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The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) is the official international clearing house for information relating to transient astronomical events.
The CBAT collects and distributes information on comets, natural satellites, novae, supernovae and other transient astronomical events. CBAT also establishes priority of discovery (who gets credit for it) and assigns initial names to new objects.
On behalf of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the CBAT distributes IAU Circulars (IAUCs). From the 1920s to the 1990s, the CBAT sent telegrams in urgent cases although most circulars were sent via regular mail. Since the mid 1980s the CBAT and the related Minor Planet Circular (MPC) have been available electronically.
The first Central Bureau, founded in the 1880s in Kiel, was moved to Copenhagen University Observatory in World War I. In 1922, the IAU made the Central Bureau in Copenhagen its official Bureau Central des Télégrammes Astronomiques (Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams). On January 1, 1965, the CBAT moved to the Harvard College Observatory. It has remained in Cambridge, Massachusetts to this day.
The CBAT is a non-profit organization but charges for its services to finance its continued operation.
