The Pod Bay

you know, i've totally been avoiding real work since i got back from the beach, so i'm going to resist saying 'oh, i could make something reasonably good in a day'...

PearsonArtPhoto

LOL

I probably can too.

kim holder

in fact, i think i'm off the hook about the community ad, because i can't find that file...

ah, that's good then

PearsonArtPhoto

Next task: Figure out how to load Horizons directly.

kim holder

i wouldn't be surprised if i find myself asking if you would do some contract work for Moonwards at some point...

PearsonArtPhoto

12:16 AM

Huh. It can be emailed. Hmmm...

I would consider that.

kim holder

duly noted :]

PearsonArtPhoto

Of course, I would probably have to charge more then I would really want to charge you for it to be worth it...

kim holder

oh, please - if it gets to that, i've found funding :D

PearsonArtPhoto

Oh, in that case:-)

kim holder

no, my volunteers have been great, but it's time to pay for things properly

PearsonArtPhoto

12:19 AM

BTW, I figured out how to change the caching properties of the website. It should now only cache for up to 2 minutes.

The image will cache for much longer.

Sigh. I really wish Horizons had a standard rest type API...

I'm somewhat tempted to do an email system. To do that, I'd have to set up an email server, but... I guess it would only have to run once a day or so for an hour.

Edlothiad

@kimholder I realise you can no longer find the file, but I’m sure it would get some interest! Although people have been tough this year! I would definitely try and promote it!

kim holder

actually, i've found the files for the tee shirt, but it is only the tee design, i thought i also had what Tildal had made for the community ads.

the tee design might well work, but i need to see if T is okay with that first.

nah... it doesn't really work at the ad size...

11 hours later…

uhoh

11:53 AM

A: Is it possible to track an object as small as the Tesla Roadster around the Solar System

tl;dr: When the Roadster is about 1 AU away from both the Earth and the Sun, it will have an apparent magnitude $m$ equal to its absolute magnitude $M$ or +28. According to Wikipedia Hubble's limiting magnitude is +31, and for large Earth-bound observatories which need to contend with skyglow the...

Best GIF so far in the Space.com article Observatory Spots Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster Zooming Through Space (Video)

PearsonArtPhoto

12:53 PM

Trying to figure out the Horizons web interface. Once I have that, and a script that can process the data from the email, I'll move on to my fully automated system.

I guess I'm going to learn Google App Engine finally after all.

1 hour later…

PearsonArtPhoto

2:10 PM

ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons_batch.cgi

Yeah, web interface!

uhoh

2:44 PM

A: Python API for JPL Horizons?

There is one now! I've just run across the python package callhorizons in github and Python Package Index. There is more information in readthedocis.io which helps explain how to do queries if you are looking for asteroids/minor bodies, for which there are zillions and the names can be people's ...

@PearsonArtPhoto which links to github.com/mommermi/callhorizons

...but it's Python, and so...

2 hours later…

PearsonArtPhoto

4:21 PM

@uhoh Python isn't an issue, I'm actually writing this code in Python.

But I'm not really needing a full API, just needed to figure out the one piece of actually requesting the file.

uhoh

@PearsonArtPhoto ok I see.

@PearsonArtPhoto I have a mod-ish quesiton. I have this answer now So Roadster will certainly be theoretically trackable optically for at least a month or two, if not many more! which is also an answer to For how long/far can we track Starman. I thought about marking that question as a duplicate, but it's not a duplicate exactly. It's just that my answer is also an answer to that question.

Other options are to copy/paste the same answer there, or to write a short answer and point to the longer answer.

Any thoughts about the best way to proceed? (no rush)

PearsonArtPhoto

4:38 PM

They aren't quite the same.

The first one is the theoretical limit.

The second is more of how long is practical.

At least, in my mind.

uhoh

Ya OK thanks!

I'll leave a "pointer"

PearsonArtPhoto

5:24 PM

Almost have this working... I'm getting 2 of the 5 files generated that I need, just have to switch format for the last ones.

And then I can get it set to automatically upload the files. I might just do a "manual" cron job once a week or so, it wouldn't be too bad really.

PearsonArtPhoto

5:47 PM

There, now have one script to generate all of the files I need. Just need to get them automatically uploaded, and the dates fixed...

Mazura

Was a rescue mission of an STS by another STS ever actually possible? How many days can you 'Orbiter' to wait for one, and how long is the wait? Refit was 2~3 months? Did we always have the next one ready to go before we launched one again? Sounds expensive ;)

2 hours later…

PearsonArtPhoto

7:29 PM

There, now I only need to figure out how to best do the close approaches...

1 hour later…

PearsonArtPhoto

8:35 PM

The Tesla Roadster will approach Mars on June 10, 2018, at a distance of 0.740 AU.
The Tesla Roadster will be at a maximum distance from Earth on February 22, 2019, at a distance of 2.445 AU.
The Tesla Roadster will approach Mars on September 17, 2019, at a distance of 0.649 AU.
The Tesla Roadster will be at a maximum distance from Earth on January 16, 2020, at a distance of 2.336 AU.
The Tesla Roadster will approach Mars on October 07, 2020, at a distance of 0.050 AU.

Now listing these a bit more automatic.

Maybe I'll come up with some kind of a better text eventually, but...

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