Getting started¶
Install rocks¶
rocks is available on the python package index as space-rocks:
$ pip install space-rocks
The minimum version requirement for python is 3.8. After
installation, you have the rocks executable available system-wide.
In addition, you can now import the rocks python package.
$ rocks
Usage: rocks [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
CLI for minor body exploration.
Options:
--version Show the version and exit.
--help Show this message and exit.
Commands:
docs Open the rocks documentation in browser.
id Resolve the asteroid name and number from string input.
info Print the ssoCard of an asteroid.
parameters Print the ssoCard structure and its description.
status Echo the status of the ssoCards and datacloud catalogues.
who Get name citation of asteroid from MPC.
>>> import rocks
We are actively developing rocks and new versions come out
frequently. If you encounter a bug, a first step to resolve it is to
clear your cache directory and to update to the latest
version using
$ pip install -U space-rocks
Optional: Interactive Search¶
rocks provides an interactive search dialogue using the fzf fuzzy-finder which is triggered if
commands that expect an asteroid identifier as argument are
called without argument.[1]
The fzf tool needs to be installed separately from rocks. On most
systems (Linux + MacOS), this requires a single command on the terminal, as
explained in the fzf documentation
Hint
Terms highlighted in light red in the text show the term definition when placing the cursor on top.
Footnotes