Recent NEAs
σ > 10" Or
Phase < 1°
Low dV

Tool Descriptions

UpObjects
Interactive table of observable NEOs.

AstEph
Asteroid and observatory-specific ephemeris generator.

AstFinder
Build finder chart for a given asteroid and time.

AstInfo
Return orbital and physical properties for a given asteroid

AstObs
Observability chart for asteroids and observatory.

MOID List
Asteroids whose orbits are near one or more of the major planets.

Critical List of Asteroids
Asteroids in need of observation due to large ephemeris uncertainty.

Asteroid Orbital Elements
Access to, and information about, the astorb orbital elements database.

Lowell Observatory offers these tools to assist with asteroid observation planning and to facilitate data mining across multiple surveys. Orbital solutions are calculated in-house based on Minor Planet Center observations.

This website is in the process of being upgraded and as such is in beta status; some tools may experience bugs. If a bug is particularly important, please direct concerns to asteroid@lowell.edu.

Recent Updates

Date Update
2019-03-16 AstFinder now includes a SkyBot cone search feature for finding asteroids within the field.
2019-02-24 Color survey data is now included, when available, on the AstInfo page.
2018-11-01 Inclusion of any available lightcurve data on AstInfo
2018-10-14 Introduction of the Asteroid observability charting tool. This tool assists in the planning of asteroid observations
2018-09-14 Database server hardware upgrades that will improve reliability.
2018-08-03 Significant improvements to UpObjects query response times. MPECs tickers is now recent NEAs ticker.
2018-02-22 Better DevOps and testing that should improve stability.
2017-09-29 Dynamical type is now included in the database. UI overhaul. New important lists tickers on home page. New updates page with full history of updates. UpObjects plots. Bug fixes.
2017-01-09 Reorganized home page. Updates to backend database hardware and schema. Fixed asteph date rounding errors. Observatory list now pulls from database. Minor aeshthetic/organizational updates.
2016-11-29 Improved Asteph page. Moved to new backend ephemeris tool. Now includes lunar elongation and airmass. Streamlined form fields. Made table generation faster. Removed multiple object option. UpObjects page now has dynamically adjusting table based on changing form fields.
For the full history of updates see the updates page.