At the Spring 2025 Asteroid Institute Hackathon in Seattle, researcher Dr. Joachim Moeyens and Head of Software Engineering Alec Koumjian presented our suite of open-source tools to the LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing (LINCC). These tools are designed to help researchers, students, and developers work with asteroid orbit data more easily and effectively.

Here’s a quick look at what’s available:

adam_core: The Foundation

Our foundational package, adam_core, includes core functionality for orbital dynamics. It’s lightweight, extensible, and can be customized to your needs with optional extras:

pip install “adam_core[plots]”
pip install “adam_core[assist]”

These modules form the basis for advanced workflows like orbit propagation, discovery linking, and simulation—whether you’re building a research tool or exploring asteroid data for the first time.

Built-In Access to Astronomical Services

The toolkit includes wrappers for several major orbital data services, so you can integrate them directly into your workflow:

• JPL’s Small-Body Database – for basic orbital elements
• Horizons – for high-precision ephemerides
• Scout – JPL’s NEO candidate confirmation page
• ESA NEOCC – Orbits from the Near Earth Orbit Coordination Center

With just a few lines of Python, you can query these systems and bring data into your local environment for analysis.

If you’re interested in contributing, exploring, or building on this work, visit our GitHub repositories or reach out—we’re always excited to connect with new collaborators.

 

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The Asteroid Institute, a program of the B612 Foundation, brings together scientists, engineers, and researchers to develop tools that help us understand, map, and track objects in our solar system. By combining advances in computer science, instrumentation, and astronomy, we’re making asteroid discovery and analysis more accessible. Support our mission by making a donation today.