API Documentation

This page provides documenation for the SSOIS application programming interface (API). Using the API allows you make programmatic queries to the SSOIS system without using the search form. This API documentation assumes you've read the regular documentation. But probably the best way to figure out the API is to issue a few test queries, look at the URL that gets generated and then change format from html to tsv.

The basic form of is:

  • search: Search type, one of the following:
    • bynameCADC: Search by name CADC. Requires object to be specified.
    • bynmaeMPC: Search by name MPC. Requires object to be specified. Avoid using as it makes an external call to the MPC who have complained in the past.
    • bynameLowell: Search by name Lowell. Requires object to be specified. Avoid using as it makes an external call to the Lowell ephemeris generator which is low powered.
    • bynameHorizons: Search by name Horizons. Requires object to be specified. Avoid using as it makes an external call to JPL Horizons. We've caused a DOS attack in the past.
    • bern: Search by arc Bernstein. Requires obs to be specified
    • mpc: Search by arc MPC. Requires obs to be specified
    • orbel: Search orbital element. Requires epoch, a, e, i, longi, peri, anom to be specified
    • userephem: Search by ephemeris. Requires ephem to be specified. You are probably better off using a POST instead of GET for a long ephemeris.
  • object: Object name. All upper case is usually more reliable.
  • obs: Observations in MPC format
  • epoch: Epoch of orbital elements
  • a: Semi-major axis
  • e: Eccentricity
  • i: Inclination
  • longi: Longitude of the ascending node
  • peri: Argument of perihelion
  • anom: Mean anomaly at epoch
  • epoch1: Starting epoch of search
  • epoch2: Ending epoch of search
  • eelipse: Error ellipse size
  • eunits: Units for error ellipse
  • extres: Resolve to extension if set to "yes"
  • xyres: Resolve to x,y if set to "yes"
  • ephem: The ephemeris
  • fitobs: Not an usuable option.
  • telinst: Telescope/instrument(s). Specifiy multiple times if you want to search multiple instruments. Wildcards are allowed: use "*" (asterisk) or "%" (percent sign)
  • format: "html" or "tsv" (for Tab-Separated Value, which is almost certainly what you want)
  • usedms: Give coordinates in DD:MM::SS if set.
  • lang: en (English) or fr (French) only matters for html format
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