Astrospheric has announce the availability of Astrospheric Data APIs to allow programmatic access to the weather models and astro-variables used on the company’s service.
As the Astrospheric publisher’s note, “We’ve been surprised (and excited) that a the Astrospheric Data APIs has been one of the most requested features from our users so that they can integrate weather data into their workflows and dashboard. We’ve put together a website of documentation and examples: API documentation. Please note that a Pro membership to Astrospheric is required to call these APIs. At this point we’re making most of the data from we use from the RDPS model plus Astrospheric’s Transparency and Seeing data available.”
They continued, “Don’t hesitate to send questions our way. We’ve already gotten a good amount of feedback and requests for additional data which we’ll be adding over the summer (additional cloud models as well as smoke data are next on the list). If you’ve got an interesting example on how you use the data please let us know at daniel@astrospheric.com. We’ve had a few pro-observatories show us how they integrate the data into their workflows which has been pretty exciting to see.”
Astrospheric’s primary purpose is to offer an advanced weather forecasting service for North American astronomers. Using the astronomy data produced by the Canadian Meteorological Center, NOAA, NCEP, and more, Astrospheric quickly produces a highly accurate 48 hour forecast for any location in the United States or Canada.
In addition to the availability of the Astrospheric Data APIs, Astrospheric also recently announced a new set of features they have been building specifically for astronomy clubs. The new service is called “Subspace” which gives astronomy clubs the ability to communicate, share information and plan events.
The new Subspace service is completely free to use. Simply go to the Astrospheric website or app and sign up for an existing club group or create a new one. The service offers the ability to show up on Astrospheric’s map for all users to see; stay in touch with your friends and fellow society members with chat and image sharing and create public events visible to all Astrospheric users.
Perhaps one of the most interesting features is the ability for astronomy clubs to offer free Astrospheric weather alerts for all of their members – letting the entire club know about upcoming good observing conditions.
You can learn more about the Astrospheric Data APIs here.
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