This Python script fetches information on near-Earth asteroids within a specified date range using NASA's Near Earth Object Web Service (NeoWs). NeoWs is a RESTful web service for near earth Asteroid information.
My CLI application takes the start_date and end_date as arguments and outputs the name, Asteroid ID as well as NEO Reference ID of the asteroid(s) within the specified date range.
It also takes optional arguments -s or --size that gives us information about the asteroid's size and the -d or the --distance optional argument that outputs the information on distance between the Earth and the Asteroid.
- Python 3.x
- Access to the internet
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Clone the repository
Clone the repository to your local machine.
git clone <repository_url>
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Navigate to the cloned directory
Change your current directory to the directory containing the script.
cd <directory_path>
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Set up the environment variable
The script uses an environment variable
ASTEROIDS_APIto store the API key. You need to set this environment variable in your system.-
On Unix or Linux:
export ASTEROIDS_API=your_api_key -
On Windows:
setx ASTEROIDS_API "your_api_key"
Replace
your_api_keywith your actual API key. -
Run the script with the start and end dates as arguments. You can also use the -s flag to display the size of the asteroids and the -d flag to display the distance of the asteroids from Earth.
python asteroids.py start_date end_date -s -d