HORIZONS Web API
A RESTful-style API for NASA’s HORIZONS system, written in Clojure.
Introduction
The HORIZONS system provides a model for the solar system. Through it, queries can be made to find the positions of planets, asteroids, comets, and other astronomical bodies. This kind of data base is sometimes called an ephemeredes (singular ephemeris).
The JPL HORIZONS on-line solar system data and ephemeris computation service provides access to key solar system data and flexible production of highly accurate ephemerides for solar system objects ( 728955 asteroids, 3451 comets, 178 planetary satellites, 8 planets, the Sun, L1, L2, select spacecraft, and system barycenters ). HORIZONS is provided by the Solar System Dynamics Group of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The only ways to access HORIZONS are through telnet, email, and
a CGI web interface intended for end-user access.
I want to provide a modern REST-style JSON interface to this system.
This application is written in Clojure, and uses Liberator to handle the details of RESTful representations.
Local Usage
This application is built using Leiningen and Ring, so you can easily start a development server using the lein-ring plugin:
lein ring server
The server will start up on port 3000 by default, and will present you with an index page giving you a list of the currently-supported planetary bodies.
See the documentation on lein-ring for details.
