NOAP — SCRIPT PACKAGE FOR PLANNING AN D ANALYSIS OF NEO OBSERVATIONS

Abstract

We present a package of Python scripts NOAP (NEO Observations Analyzer and Planner) designed for the automatic planning of NEO observations, as well as analysis of already existing observations in the NEODyS-2 database. The package is divided into two parts: analyzer and planner. The analyzer automatically downloads data from the NEODyS-2 database, converts them by adding additional information, including the apparent speed of objects and observation errors along and across the track, and also provides a large amount of statistical data and graphs for the selected period. It can be done for several observatories at once. The planner also selects the objects of observation for the upcoming night and calculates their ephemeris with a given step in a fully automatic mode. The output data format of the scheduler allows its use both on semi-automatic telescopes and for fully robotic observations. NOAP has been successfully used for more than a year for planning and analysis of NEO observations by optical sensors of the National Space Facilities Control and Test Center of the State Space Agency of Ukraine.