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Minor Planet Center

Query asteroids by orbit, size and value via Asterank

🔭 Science & SpaceUNMONITORED
AUTH NONECORS ✓AGENT ?HTTPS ✗COMMERCIAL ?

Asterank wraps Minor Planet Center and JPL orbital data behind a keyless query API. Send a MongoDB-style filter and get back asteroids with diameter, orbital elements, albedo and Asterank's estimated mining value as JSON.

—HOW IT'S SCORED ⓘ
Docs ↗
Status badge · for your READMEshipapis health badge: — · unmonitored
ON PROBE SCHEDULE

We probe a documented GET and expect 2xx JSON — full uptime and health score. Open provider docs ↗

Uptime historystarts after first probe

On our probe schedule. Uptime charts appear after the first check lands.

Example responsefrom provider docs — not verified by us
GET http://www.asterank.com/api/asterank?query=%7B%7D&limit=1

[
  {
    "full_name": "1 Ceres",
    "diameter": 939.4,
    "albedo": 0.09,
    "neo": "N",
    "pha": "N",
    "per_y": 4.6082017811786,
    "spkid": 2000001,
    "id": "a0000001"
  }
]
Call itcurl · fetch · python
curl "http://www.asterank.com/api/asterank?query=%7B%7D&limit=1"
const res = await fetch("http://www.asterank.com/api/asterank?query=%7B%7D&limit=1");
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);
import requests

res = requests.get("http://www.asterank.com/api/asterank?query=%7B%7D&limit=1")
print(res.json())

BROWSER CALLS BLOCKED (NO CORS/HTTPS) — USE THE CURL SNIPPET

Endpoints · 6On scheduleFULL DOCS ↗
On schedule — GET /api/asterank?query=%7B%7D&limit=1 awaits first probe
GET/api/asterank?query=%7B%7D&limit=1PROBED

Query asteroids by orbit, size and value via Asterank

GET/api

Api — documented GET route.

GET/api/1

Api details by ID (example: 1).

GET/api?limit=10

Api — documented GET route.

GET/api/search?q=test

Search by query parameters.

GET/api/asterank?limit=5

Asterank — documented GET route.

Machine-readable spec

We probe a documented GET and expect 2xx JSON — full uptime and health score. Export includes every documented route below.

Response-shape history

Not tracked yet. Shape-change history starts once this API joins our probe schedule.

Minor Planet Center: common questions

Is Minor Planet Center free to use?

Yes — Minor Planet Center is a free science & space API. Free tier: Free — limits not published. Whether the free tier allows commercial use is unclear — check the provider docs.

Does Minor Planet Center need an API key?

No — Minor Planet Center needs no API key or signup. You can call it straight away; rate limits still apply (Unpublished).

Can I call Minor Planet Center from the browser?

Not directly — Minor Planet Center doesn't send browser-friendly CORS headers, so call it from a server or proxy instead. Copy the curl or Python snippet on this page to get started.

Is Minor Planet Center up right now?

Minor Planet Center is catalogued but not yet on our probe schedule, so we don't publish a live status for it. Check the provider's own status page or docs for its current state.