Minor Celestial Bodies

What is the Other Minor Bodies endpoint?

You need positions for hypothetical Uranian planets and other minor astrological points outside the standard planet and asteroid sets. The Other Minor Bodies endpoint takes birth data and returns 19 such points (the eight Uranian "Hamburg School" hypothetical planets, several historical Neptune and Pluto candidates, Vulcan, Selena, Waldemath, and the Vertex) each with sign, exact ecliptic degree, house placement, element, and modality.

This endpoint is part of the Natal Chart API.

Why does this endpoint exist?

You are building Uranian astrology, Hamburg School, or specialty-research features that work with hypothetical bodies most APIs do not expose. Each Uranian planet has a defined orbital element set rather than observed coordinates. Computing their positions needs the same Swiss Ephemeris stack with extended ephemeris data. This endpoint exposes 19 of these points in a single 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.

What does the response data look like?

You get an envelope with status, code, message, and data. The data array carries 19 minor body objects, each shaped like the celestial body objects returned by Planetary Positions and Asteroid Positions: name, exact degree, sign, house, element, and modality. The same renderer you use for planets and asteroids handles this response.

The 19 bodies cover the eight Uranian planets, three hypothetical trans-Plutonian points, four historical Neptune and Pluto candidates, plus Vulcan, Selena, Waldemath, and the Vertex.

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 19 entries; this slice shows the four most-cited Uranian planets (Cupido, Hades, Zeus, Kronos) for readability.

{
  "status": "success",
  "code": 200,
  "message": "Request successful",
  "data": [
    {
      "name": "Cupido",
      "full_degree": "276.4915569",
      "sign": "Capricorn",
      "sign_no": 10,
      "longitude": "6:29:30",
      "house": 4,
      "element": "Earth",
      "modality": "Cardinal"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hades",
      "full_degree": "112.8765432",
      "sign": "Cancer",
      "sign_no": 4,
      "longitude": "22:52:35",
      "house": 10,
      "element": "Water",
      "modality": "Cardinal"
    },
    {
      "name": "Zeus",
      "full_degree": "89.4321098",
      "sign": "Gemini",
      "sign_no": 3,
      "longitude": "29:25:55",
      "house": 9,
      "element": "Air",
      "modality": "Mutable"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kronos",
      "full_degree": "215.7654321",
      "sign": "Scorpio",
      "sign_no": 8,
      "longitude": "5:45:55",
      "house": 2,
      "element": "Water",
      "modality": "Fixed"
    }
  ]
}

What can you build with this endpoint?

You use Other Minor Bodies whenever your product caters to Uranian astrology practitioners, Hamburg School learners, or specialty research features that need access to non-standard hypothetical points. The shared object shape with Planetary Positions and Asteroid Positions means a single renderer handles all three sets without code branching.

1. Uranian astrology charts. Render the eight Hamburg School hypothetical planets as a dedicated panel alongside the standard chart for Uranian-method interpretation.
2. Vertex highlights. The Vertex is widely cited in modern astrology as the "fated encounter" point. Surface it as a standalone feature.
3. Selena content. Selena (White Moon) appears in modern Russian and Eastern European astrology. Build content around its sign and house placement.
4. Research toolkit. Expose the full 19-body set behind an "advanced bodies" toggle for advanced practitioners and astrology researchers.

How accurate is the calculation?

You are computing positions for hypothetical bodies, several of which are mathematical constructs rather than observed objects. The Uranian planets follow defined orbital elements proposed by the Hamburg School. The Vertex is computed from chart geometry. Selena uses a defined hypothetical-Moon orbit. All positions come through Swiss Ephemeris.

Treat hypothetical-body positions as theoretical computations rather than observational measurements. They are stable and reproducible, but they describe astrological constructs, not directly observed celestial objects.

How does this relate to the parent API?

You are extending the standard birth chart with a layer of hypothetical and specialty-tradition points. This endpoint complements the Natal Chart API by providing 19 bodies that fall outside both the classical planet set (covered by Planetary Positions) and the named-asteroid set (covered by Asteroid Positions).

Combine all three endpoints when your UI surfaces an exhaustive advanced chart. The shared object shape across all three means a single renderer handles every array.

Summary

The Other Minor Bodies endpoint returns 19 hypothetical and specialty points (the eight Uranian planets, hypothetical trans-Plutonian and Neptune/Pluto candidates, Vulcan, Selena, Waldemath, and the Vertex) with the same object shape as standard planet bodies. It runs on Swiss Ephemeris. Use it for Uranian astrology, Hamburg School features, or any specialty UI that needs hypothetical-body positions.