🇬🇧 Astrophyzix Flagship Series
LIVE JPL SBDB API 3D FLOAT64

Astrophyzix Orbital Refinement & Tracking System

Real-time 3D N-body orbital refinement and tracking of any asteroid, comet, dwarf planet, or minor planet in the JPL Small-Body Database. Heliocentric ecliptic J2000 frame, Kepler propagation, depth-sorted rendering. Drag the canvas to rotate, scroll or pinch to zoom, search by name, SPK-ID number, or provisional designation number. Press 'refine' to enable N-Body for live orbital refinement. See 'Guide' tab for full details.

JPL SBDB API
ECLIPTIC J2000
3D ROTATE
UTC clock initialising...
Target Lookup
Try names (Apophis, Bennu), numbers (99942, 433), or designations (2024 YR4, 1P).
Heliocentric 3D View
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DRAG TO TILT
Status
Enter an asteroid, comet, or minor planet name to begin.
Orbital Elements
Search for a target in the Viewer tab to populate this panel. Orbital elements pulled live from JPL Small-Body Database.
Quick Start
1Type a designation in the Target Lookup field above the tabs. Names, numbers, and provisional designations all work.
2Tap Search (or press Enter). The viewer queries JPL SBDB via a fallback proxy chain and renders the orbit in the Viewer tab.
3Drag the canvas to rotate the view. Scroll or pinch to zoom. The Data tab populates with the full orbital element set.
What You Can Search
  • Asteroid names :: Apophis, Bennu, Ceres, Vesta, Eros, Ryugu, Itokawa, Pallas
  • Asteroid numbers :: 99942, 101955, 1, 433, 134340
  • Provisional designations :: 2024 YR4, 2004 MN4, 2025 FA22
  • Comets :: 1P/Halley, 2P/Encke, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, C/2014 UN271
  • Interstellar objects :: 1I/Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov, 3I/ATLAS
  • Dwarf planets and centaurs :: Pluto, Eris, Sedna, Chariklo
Interaction Reference
  • Drag on the canvas (mouse or single-finger touch) :: rotate the 3D view. Horizontal drag spins around the ecliptic pole. Vertical drag tilts.
  • Scroll wheel or pinch two fingers :: zoom in and out. Range is roughly 20x in and 20x out.
  • PAUSE / PLAY :: freeze or resume time-evolution. Frozen view still rotates and zooms.
  • RESET :: snap back to the auto-fit zoom and default tilt for the loaded object.
  • ZOOM +/- :: discrete zoom steps for finger-friendly mobile use.
  • TOP :: snap to plan view (looking straight down on the ecliptic plane).
  • TILT :: snap to a 3D oblique view that exposes orbital inclination.
  • REFINE :: run N-body precision integration in a background worker. Replaces the Keplerian ellipse with the integrated trajectory (Sun + 8 planets + 1PN GR + Sun J2). Result is cached in IndexedDB; subsequent loads of the same object are instant. See the Data tab for the force budget and provenance manifest.
  • Speed selector :: time acceleration. 1x is real time (slow). 100x is roughly 100 simulation seconds per real second; useful for watching short-period orbits play out.
Canvas Legend
Sun at origin
Mercury orbit
Venus orbit
Earth orbit
Mars orbit
Jupiter orbit
Target object (loaded)
N-body trajectory (after REFINE)
Ecliptic grid (z=0 plane)
Orbital Elements Glossary
aSemi-major axis :: half the long axis of the ellipse. Sets orbit size and period (T = a^1.5 yr for heliocentric orbits in AU).
eEccentricity :: orbit shape. 0 = circle, <1 = ellipse, =1 = parabolic, >1 = hyperbolic (unbound, e.g. interstellar objects).
iInclination :: tilt of the orbit plane relative to the ecliptic, in degrees.
OmLongitude of ascending node :: where the orbit crosses the ecliptic going upward.
wArgument of perihelion :: orientation of the orbit in its own plane (from node to perihelion).
qPerihelion distance :: closest approach to the Sun. q = a(1 - e).
QAphelion distance :: farthest from the Sun. Q = a(1 + e).
MMean anomaly :: fictitious uniform angle parametrising time since perihelion.
MOIDMinimum Orbit Intersection Distance :: closest possible passage of the orbit to Earth's orbit (not the body itself). Key planetary-defence metric.
condCondition code :: JPL uncertainty grade. 0 is best (well-determined). 9 is worst (poorly constrained).
Suggested Targets
99942 ApophisPHA :: 2029 flyby :: 31,600 km
101955 BennuOSIRIS-REx sample 2023
1 CeresDwarf planet :: largest MBA
1P/HalleyFamous periodic comet
3I/ATLASInterstellar :: hyperbolic
134340 PlutoTNO :: New Horizons target
2024 YR4Currently monitored PHA
4 VestaDifferentiated protoplanet
Troubleshooting
  • "Multiple matches" :: the JPL API returned several candidates. The status line lists up to four matching designations; try one of them exactly.
  • "Could not reach JPL API" :: all three CORS proxies failed. Usually a transient connection issue. Wait a minute and retry.
  • "Incomplete orbital elements" :: the object exists but lacks a fitted orbit (rare; usually very new discoveries). Try a different designation.
  • Orbit looks like a thin line :: high inclination viewed edge-on. Drag the canvas vertically to tilt and reveal the orbit shape.
  • Orbit doesn't fit on screen :: long-period comets or TNOs can have orbits up to 100+ AU. Use ZOOM- or REST. The viewer auto-fits on load but you can override.
N-Body Refinement (REFINE button)
  • Force model :: Sun two-body + 8 planet perturbations (direct + indirect) + 1PN general relativity from the Sun (Einstein-Infeld-Hoffmann) + Sun J2 oblateness.
  • GM constants :: JPL DE441 values in AU^3/day^2 for Sun and all 8 planets. Earth-Moon barycentre combined GM (Moon not split).
  • Planet ephemeris :: Keplerian propagation from J2000 mean elements. Accuracy ~0.001 AU over decades, well below visualisation tolerance.
  • Integrator :: adaptive Dormand-Prince 5(4) embedded RK with PI step controller. Tolerance 1e-10, step bounds [1e-4, 5] days. Float64Array state vectors.
  • Initial conditions :: converted from JPL SBDB osculating elements at the JPL epoch via standard Kepler-to-state transformation in the heliocentric ecliptic J2000 frame.
  • Threading :: integration runs in a Web Worker (inline Blob URL) so the canvas render loop is never blocked.
  • Caching :: results stored in IndexedDB keyed by SPK-ID + epoch + force-model hash. Re-loading a previously refined object rehydrates the trajectory instantly.
  • Integration span :: 1.5 orbital periods (capped at 30 years) forward from the JPL epoch. ~250 trajectory samples emitted.
  • Provenance :: full manifest in the Data tab after refinement, including force-budget per perturber so you can see which bodies dominate the dynamics.
  • Limitations :: Yarkovsky drag and solar radiation pressure not yet wired (the SBDB A2 / A/M values are parsed but unused in v1). Moon not split from EMB. For Apophis-grade precision tracking with those non-grav terms, see APO-01.
Methodology and Provenance
  • Initial conditions :: orbital elements pulled live from the JPL Small-Body Database via the sbdb.api endpoint with full-prec=1.
  • Propagation :: Keplerian (two-body) propagation in the heliocentric ecliptic J2000 frame. Newton-Raphson Kepler solver (60 iterations, 1e-12 tolerance).
  • Planet positions :: J2000 mean elements for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter advanced by their mean motion (no full N-body in this viewer).
  • Rendering :: orbit ellipses sampled in 120 points, projected through rotZ then rotX, depth-sorted back-to-front for correct occlusion.
  • Network :: three-tier CORS proxy fallback (corsproxy.io, allorigins.win, thingproxy) with a direct attempt first.
  • For higher-accuracy N-body propagation of named PHAs, see the APO-01 Apophis Tracker which uses adaptive Dormand-Prince 5(4) with 26 bodies, GR, and Yarkovsky drag.
ASTROPHYZIX :: ORB-01 JPL SBDB :: KEPLER :: 3D
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Redistribution, mirroring, scraping, or republication of this module, its source code, embedded datasets, scientific methodology, or any derivative thereof is not allowed without the express written consent of Astrophyzix.org.
Data sources: JPL SBDB API :: JPL SSD :: closest objects