The Asteroid Institute, a program of B612 Foundation, has launched ADAM::Ephemeris, a hosted service for computing predicted positions of asteroids, comets, and other small bodies. The service runs on Google Cloud, is built on the open-source `adam-core` library, and is available now through both the ADAM Online Platform and a programmatic API.

ADAM::Ephemeris is built for the cases that interactive, single-object ephemeris tools weren’t designed for: thousands of orbits and many observers in a single submission, returned in formats convenient for downstream analysis, with full reproducibility through an open-source foundation that users can inspect, audit, or run themselves. The tool also produces magnitude estimates for ephemerides and light curves when an absolute magnitude is provided for objects.

Common use cases the service is designed for include:

  • Planning observation campaigns across many targets and many sites at once

  • Checking whether an object was, or will be, observable from a particular set of observatories – useful when searching archival data. Alt/az outputs can help predict if an object will be above the horizon for a ground based observer.

  • Predicting whether a set of objects will be bright enough to be detected by observatories at various points in its arc.

 

Lightcurve of 2024 YR4 during its 2024 and 2029 close approaches. Ephemeris and predicted magnitude were computed daily from 2019-10-10 to 2027-01-11. The sharp dip seen early in the lightcurve represents a moment where the phase angle approached 180°.

Orbits can be entered into the form, uploaded as a CSV, or resolved by name against JPL’s Small-Body Database. Observers can be supplied by Minor Planet Center observatory code for ground-based sites, plus supported space platforms – currently Hubble, JWST, and TESS, with kernel coverage validated automatically at submit time. Each job propagates with the open-source ASSIST integrator, which is the primary propagation backend for the propagation model in `adam-core`; when orbit covariances are supplied, the ephemeris is reconstructed using the sigma point method. Our open source tools allow for monte carlo for a more precise covariance.

KEY CAPABILITIES

• Bulk by design. A single submission can handle thousands of orbits across many observers and years of time.

  • Flexible I/O. Input orbits inline, by file, or by name; download results as CSV, parquet, or ADES PSV (the IAU standard for astrometric reporting).

  • Spacecraft observers. Predict positions as seen from Hubble, JWST, or TESS using validated SPICE kernel coverage.

  • Full covariance propagation. Orbit uncertainties carry through to the generated ephemeris, and an orbit is provided in spherical coordinates.

  • Reproducibility and API access. Every job preserves its resolved input orbits as a downloadable parquet. The entire stack – integrator, propagator, ephemeris machinery – is available on GitHub and PyPI, and everything in the web UI is also accessible through our API.

## Other ADAM Services

ADAM::Ephemeris joins ADAM::Precovery, ADAM::Impact Probability, and ADAM::Trajectory. Existing ADAM users will see the new service in the sidebar (you may need a page reload to see the new service). All four services run on Google Cloud and share the same open-source `adam-core` foundation.

ADAM::Ephemeris is available at https://b612.ai/platform/ephemeris/. You will need an account on ADAM to use it, or to generate an API key. For larger-scale access, contact us at https://b612.ai/contact/.
 

 

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Nate Tellis is an Asteroid Institute software engineer working on developing and scaling ADAM services on the cloud, as well as providing clean and clear web and API interfaces for use by the astronomical community. Nate spent several years as a staff scientist with the UC Berkeley Department of Astronomy and holds his Bachelor of Science in Physics and Computer Science from McGill University, Montreal.

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