The **Minor Planet Center (MPC)** is the official global organization responsible for collecting, verifying, and publishing observational data related to minor planets, such as asteroids, comets, and other small bodies in the Solar System. Operating under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) since its founding in 1947, the MPC is hosted by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory as part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian[1][2]. The MPC’s core mission is to process data from professional and amateur astronomers worldwide, calculate precise orbits, and disseminate this information through publications like the *Minor Planet Circulars*. It maintains the most comprehensive and up-to-date catalogue of minor planet orbits, freely accessible to the public. This data is critical for tracking near-Earth objects (NEOs), which may pose collision risks to Earth, and for coordinating follow-up observations to confirm potential threats[1][2]. Historically, the MPC has evolved alongside advances in astronomical observations and technology, continuously upgrading its processing infrastructure to handle growing data volumes from sky surveys. It is preparing for future missions such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) and NASA’s NEO Surveyor mission, which will vastly increase detection rates of small Solar System bodies[3]. A notable aspect of the MPC is its engagement with citizen scientists, exemplified by collaborations like NASA’s Daily Minor Planet project, where volunteers help identify asteroids from images, contributing to discoveries of hundreds of main belt and near-Earth asteroids[4]. Today, the MPC stands as a vital technological and scientific hub in planetary defense and Solar System research, enabling timely alerts for potentially hazardous objects and supporting a global network of observers dedicated to understanding our dynamic cosmic neighborhood[1][2][3].