AsteroidPy

AsteroidPy is a command-line tool for astronomers to schedule and manage asteroid observations. It integrates with the Minor Planet Center and other astronomical data sources to provide ephemerides, NEO confirmation candidates, weather forecasts, and observing aids—all from an interactive terminal UI built with Textual.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Requirements
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Configuration
• FAQ
• Data Sources
• For Contributors
• Release History
• License

Features

Requirements

• Python 3.11 or later (supported: 3.11, 3.12, 3.13 and 3.14)
• pip (or another Python package manager)

AsteroidPy runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

The 3.11 floor comes from the dependency stack, not the application code: astropy 7 and later require Python 3.11 or newer, and platformdirs and requests require 3.10. Pinning the floor at 3.11 guarantees every supported interpreter resolves the same versions of the scientific stack, instead of silently falling back to a several-years-old astropy on older interpreters.

On Windows, use Windows Terminal (recommended) or another modern terminal for the Textual UI. The first pip install may take several minutes because scientific dependencies (astropy, lxml, and related packages) download platform-specific wheels. A current python.org build is the most reliable choice on Windows.

Installation

From PyPI

With Python 3.11+ and a virtual environment activated (recommended):

pip install asteroidpy

See the package on PyPI.

On Windows, after installation the asteroidpy command is available in your virtual environment's Scripts folder (for example .venv\Scripts\asteroidpy.exe).

From source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/ziriuz84/asteroidpy.git
   cd asteroidpy
   

2. (Recommended) Create and activate a virtual environment:

   python -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate   # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
   

3. Install in editable mode:

   pip install -e .
   

   Or in normal mode:

   pip install .
   

Quick Start

Run the application:

asteroidpy

On first launch, AsteroidPy creates a config file with default settings. Use the Configuration menu to set:

• Observatory: coordinates, altitude, site and observer names, MPC code
• Virtual horizon: minimum altitude per cardinal direction
• General: interface language

The Observation scheduling menu offers weather, MPC observing target list, NEOcp list, object ephemeris, twilight times, and best upcoming night.

Configuration

Configuration is stored in a single INI file named .asteroidpy, in the application config directory returned by platformdirs (for example ~/.config/asteroidpy/ on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/asteroidpy/ on macOS, and %LOCALAPPDATA%\asteroidpy\ on Windows). Legacy installs may still have a copy at ~/.asteroidpy, which is migrated automatically on first run.

Use the in-app Configuration menu to change:

The same values can be edited by hand in the INI file. It has three sections:

Missing options are filled from the built-in defaults on every load, so a partial or older file stays usable. The [Planner] weights are read from the file only — there is no in-app screen for them yet; they control the Best upcoming night score, whose only inputs are cloud cover, seeing, transparency and Moon illumination. Nights with any precipitation are discarded outright.

FAQ

Where do I find my MPC observatory code?
The Minor Planet Center publishes the list of observatory codes. If your site is not listed, use XXX or another temporary code until you register it with the MPC.

Why do ephemerides differ from Stellarium or other tools?
Small differences can arise from different orbital elements, epoch dates, or time handling. AsteroidPy uses MPC data directly; ensure your observatory coordinates and time (UTC vs local) match across tools.

The application fails to start or shows errors.
Check that all dependencies are installed (pip install asteroidpy from PyPI, or pip install . from a source checkout), that the config directory is writable (see Configuration for the platform-specific path), and that you have internet access (required for weather and ephemeris queries). If the config file is corrupted, remove .asteroidpy from that config directory and let the app recreate it on next run.

Which languages are supported?
English (default), Italiano, Deutsch, Français, Español, Português. Change the language in Configuration → General → Language. PyPI wheels ship with compiled .mo catalogs for all supported languages. When working from a source checkout, only locales with compiled .mo files are listed as selectable; if a folder under asteroidpy/locales/ has only a base.po, the UI may show a notice when opening the language screen—compile with msgfmt so the locale appears as a proper option.

Data Sources

AsteroidPy relies on:

• 7Timer — meteorological forecasts (cloud cover, seeing, transparency)
• Minor Planet Center (MPC) — ephemerides and NEO Confirmation Page data

For Contributors

Contributions are welcome — bug fixes, new features, documentation, and translations all count. Please read the Code of Conduct first.

The full contributor guide lives in CONTRIBUTING.md:

• Development setup and the lint gate
• Code style
• Project architecture
• How to add a translation
• Continuous integration (Jenkins)
• Release process

New to the project? Start with the open issues and the bug report / feature request templates.

Release History

See CHANGELOG.md.

TODO

• NEOcp alert integration
• Observation registration
• In-app editor for the [Planner] best-night weights (currently INI-only)
• Build the Sphinx docs in CI (the Jenkinsfile has no docs stage, so doc drift goes unnoticed)
• A CI matrix that actually exercises every claimed supported Python (3.11–3.14); the Jenkinsfile currently runs a single unpinned python3

License

AsteroidPy is licensed under the GPL-3.0 license.