Observations API¶

The Observations API returns observational data for solar system objects from the MPC database.

Endpoint¶

https://data.minorplanetcenter.net/api/get-obs

Method: GET

Parameters¶

Parameter	Type	Required	Description	Default
`desigs`	List of one single string	Yes	Name, permanent or provisional designation	None
`output_format`	List of strings	No	Output format(s): `XML`, `ADES_DF`, `OBS_DF`, `OBS80`	`XML`
`ades_version`	String	No	ADES version: `2017` or `2022`	`2022`

Note

You may use any designation format supported by the Designation Identifier API. Currently, the Orbits API is limited to single object queries.

Valid `output_format` specifications¶

Format	Type	Description
`XML`	String	Observations in ADES XML format
`OBS80`	String	Observations in MPC1992 80-column format
`ADES_DF`	List of dicts	Dictionary representation of ADES values
`OBS_DF`	List of dicts	Dictionary representation of 80-column format

Multiple formats can be requested. E.g., ["XML", "OBS80"]

Examples¶

Python - XML Format¶

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://data.minorplanetcenter.net/api/get-obs",
    json={"desigs": ["2023 AB"], "output_format": ["XML"]}
)
response.raise_for_status()
xml_string = response.json()[0]['XML']

Python - 80-column Format¶

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://data.minorplanetcenter.net/api/get-obs",
    json={"desigs": ["Bennu"], "output_format": ["OBS80"]}
)
response.raise_for_status()
obs80_string = response.json()[0]['OBS80']

Output obs80 string:

A1955J99R36Q* C1999 09 11.40624 01 37 54.90 -27 04 27.5          15.1  aa6197704
A1955J99R36Q  C1999 09 11.42149 01 38 00.18 -27 03 59.6          15.1  aa6197704
...

Python - Pandas DataFrame¶

import requests
import pandas as pd

response = requests.get(
    "https://data.minorplanetcenter.net/api/get-obs",
    json={"desigs": ["Bennu"], "output_format": ["ADES_DF", "OBS_DF"]}
)
response.raise_for_status()
ades_df = pd.DataFrame(response.json()[0]['ADES_DF'])
obs_df = pd.DataFrame(response.json()[0]['OBS_DF'])

cURL¶

curl -X GET -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"desigs": ["13270"]}' \
  https://data.minorplanetcenter.net/api/get-obs