Asteroid Positions

What is the Asteroid Positions endpoint?

You need the natal positions of major asteroids and dwarf planets that sit outside the standard ten-body set. The Asteroid Positions endpoint takes birth data and returns fourteen bodies (Chiron, Eris, Makemake, Haumea, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Pholus, Gonggong, Hygiea, Quaoar, Sedna, Orcus), each with sign, exact ecliptic degree, house, element, and modality.

This endpoint is part of the Natal Chart API.

Why does this endpoint exist?

You are building advanced or modern astrology features that go beyond the Sun, Moon, and ten classical planets. Computing positions for asteroids and dwarf planets needs extended ephemeris data, since these bodies sit outside the standard planetary set. This endpoint exposes fourteen of the most-used asteroid bodies in modern Western astrology in one call.

What inputs does it need?

You pass standard birth data: API key, full name, date components, time components, gender, place, decimal latitude and longitude, and timezone offset from UTC. The same house_system parameter you use elsewhere applies here. Authentication uses a Bearer token in the Authorization header alongside the body's api_key field.

What does the response data look like?

You get an envelope with status, code, message, and data. The data array carries fourteen asteroid objects, each shaped identically to the celestial body objects returned by Planetary Positions: name, exact degree, sign, house, element, and modality. The same renderer you use for planets handles this response without changes.

What does a real response look like?

Below is a slice of the response for a sample birth (24 May 2023, 14:40:43 IST, New Delhi). The full response includes fourteen bodies; this slice shows the four most commonly cited asteroids in modern astrology (Chiron, Ceres, Pallas, Juno) for readability.

{
  "status": "success",
  "code": 200,
  "message": "Request successful",
  "data": [
    {
      "name": "Chiron",
      "full_degree": "18.4950277",
      "sign": "Aries",
      "sign_no": 1,
      "longitude": "18:29:42",
      "house": 7,
      "element": "Fire",
      "modality": "Cardinal"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ceres",
      "full_degree": "70.1234567",
      "sign": "Gemini",
      "sign_no": 3,
      "longitude": "10:7:24",
      "house": 9,
      "element": "Air",
      "modality": "Mutable"
    },
    {
      "name": "Pallas",
      "full_degree": "150.5678901",
      "sign": "Virgo",
      "sign_no": 6,
      "longitude": "0:34:4",
      "house": 12,
      "element": "Earth",
      "modality": "Mutable"
    },
    {
      "name": "Juno",
      "full_degree": "210.9876543",
      "sign": "Scorpio",
      "sign_no": 8,
      "longitude": "0:59:16",
      "house": 2,
      "element": "Water",
      "modality": "Fixed"
    }
  ]
}

What can you build with this endpoint?

You use Asteroid Positions whenever your product targets modern, evolutionary, or feminist astrology features that work with bodies beyond the classical ten-body set. The shared object shape with Planetary Positions means a single chart renderer handles both arrays.

1. Asteroid-aware chart panels. Render Chiron and the four main asteroid goddesses (Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta) as a sub-section in your chart UI.
2. Chiron-focused content. The "wounded healer" placement is one of the most-cited asteroids in modern astrology. Build dedicated Chiron-in-sign and Chiron-in-house readings.
3. Trans-Neptunian dwarf-planet UI. Surface Eris, Makemake, Haumea, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, and Orcus for advanced practitioners and modern-astrology learners.
4. Asteroid aspect overlays. Combine with the Aspect Table to compute and render aspects between asteroids and standard planets.

How accurate is the calculation?

You are computing positions for bodies that move slowly (Pholus, Sedna) or quickly (Chiron) compared to the classical planets. All fourteen positions come from Swiss Ephemeris with NASA JPL ephemeris data underneath, the same precision the rest of the Natal Chart catalog uses.

Slow-moving bodies like Pluto, Eris, and Sedna shift only fractionally per day, so positions stay stable across small birth-time errors. Faster-moving bodies like Chiron and Ceres need accurate birth times for reliable house placement, since they can cross house cusps within hours rather than days.

How does this relate to the parent API?

You are extending the standard ten-body birth chart with asteroids and dwarf planets. This endpoint complements the Natal Chart API by providing fourteen non-classical bodies in the same response shape Planetary Positions uses.

Combine the two endpoints when your UI surfaces a complete advanced chart. Planetary Positions covers the classical set; this one fills in the asteroid layer.

Summary

The Asteroid Positions endpoint returns fourteen asteroids and dwarf planets (Chiron, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Eris, Makemake, Haumea, and others) with the same object shape as standard planet bodies. It runs on Swiss Ephemeris with NASA JPL ephemeris data and supports the same parameters as the rest of the catalog. Use it for advanced, modern, or evolutionary astrology features that go beyond the classical body set.