<p>As barrycarter commented, <a href="https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/generic_kernels/spk/asteroids/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">codes_300ast_20100725</a>
has ephemerides for 300 large asteroids, generated in 2010 and supposedly valid from 1800 to 2199.
For other asteroids, a <a href="http://forum.celestialmatters.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&amp;t=629" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Celestia developer forum</a> shows how to how to request an SPK from HORIZONS's telnet interface.
However, they appear to use the SPK for ephemeris only, adding albedo in Celestia's own SSC file format.
In SPICE documentation, neither the tutorials nor the "required reading" seems to mention albedo.</p>

<p>A more direct approach to your goal might be the JPL <a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb_query.cgi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Small Body Database Search Engine</a>.
For example, if you query for numbered NEO asteroids with absolute magnitude H &lt; 16, you get a table of 169 rows.
Diameter and albedo are known for some asteroids but not others, even though their orbits and rotational periods may be well established.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T19:15:17.863Z
2018-05-02T19:15:17.863Z
Mike G
<p>I am new to using SPICE and the <a href="https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/toolkit.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SPICE Toolkit</a>.  My goal is to extract body radius, albedo, and distance from the sun of a number of solar system objects.  The tools provided by NAIF are great and I have been able to get the information items I need from HORIZONS.  I would like to use mice and the right selection of kernels to construct a table of body information.  I am unable to locate the geometric albedo.  It must be in there somewhere since HORIZONS reports it in its body summary (example below).  Please point me to which kernel(s) the information in the example is extracted from.</p>
<pre><code>Horizons&gt; 500
*******************************************************************************
JPL/HORIZONS                500 Selinur (1903 LA)          2018-Apr-26 15:32:09
Rec #:     500 (+COV) Soln.date: 2018-Apr-05_11:16:59   # obs: 1803 (1903-2018)
 
IAU76/J2000 helio. ecliptic osc. elements (au, days, deg., period=Julian yrs): 
 
  EPOCH=  2455485.5 ! 2010-Oct-16.00 (TDB)         Residual RMS= .28963        
   EC= .1453222754778464   QR= 2.232822954662918   TP= 2455876.0720004463      
   OM= 290.0072894804399   W=  75.13840817439457   IN= 9.764544808931515       
   A= 2.612473556522465    MA= 268.8351702646443   ADIST= 2.992124158382012    
   PER= 4.22266            N= .233413627           ANGMOM= .02750885           
   DAN= 2.46541            DDN= 2.65631            L= 4.9371039                
   B= 9.434865500000001    MOID= 1.25316           TP= 2011-Nov-10.5720004463  
 
Asteroid physical parameters (km, seconds, rotational period in hours):        
   GM= n.a.                RAD= 20.414             ROTPER= 8.0111              
   H= 9.3                  G= .150                 B-V= n.a.                   
                           ALBEDO= .202            STYP= n.a.                  
 
ASTEROID comments: 
1: soln ref.= JPL#41, OCC=0
2: source=ORB
*******************************************************************************
 Select ... [A]pproaches, [E]phemeris, [F]tp,[M]ail,[R]edisplay, [S]PK,?,&lt;cr&gt;: 
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-27T15:59:46.217Z
Information on SPICE can be found at https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/toolkit.html
Ames
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-29T15:38:43.667Z
Thank you for the ideas, the discussion list may provide some help.  I've thought about directly contacting one of the JPL POCs as well.
Ames
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-05-01T21:29:11.357Z
@barrycarter Add the spk/asteroids README's "[write your own SPK](https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/toolkit_docs/Tutorials/pdf/individual_docs/42_making_an_spk.pdf)" and that's an answer.
Mike G
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-09T12:17:51.740Z
@barrycarter thanks for the "write your own SPK" idea, it seems a PCK kernel is appropriate for body physical properties, I am considering that as a possible solution once I've build the set of data I want ready access to.  The NASA HORIZONS System [link] https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?horizons has batch interfaces via email and telnet.  I'm working on a bulk query/download through HORIZONS, extracting the data from the output and building a PCK kernel.
Ames
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-05-26T16:23:54.787Z
Note that for major bodies, the body data display "values are drawn from published literature for information purposes only and generally will not be used in subsequent calculations". (From the Horizons tutorial). Even the GM values shown can differ from the values used in computing the ephemerides, which are listed at https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/astro_par.html
PM 2Ring
<asteroids><ephemeris><albedo>
Which kernel does HORIZONS get the Geometric Albedo from?
Ames
# Which kernel does HORIZONS get the Geometric Albedo from?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-04-27)

I am new to using SPICE and the SPICE Toolkit.  My goal is to extract body radius, albedo, and distance from the sun of a number of solar system objects.  The tools provided by NAIF are great and I have been able to get the information items I need from HORIZONS.  I would like to use mice and the right selection of kernels to construct a table of body information.  I am unable to locate the geometric albedo.  It must be in there somewhere since HORIZONS reports it in its body summary (example below).  Please point me to which kernel(s) the information in the example is extracted from.
Horizons> 500
*******************************************************************************
JPL/HORIZONS                500 Selinur (1903 LA)          2018-Apr-26 15:32:09
Rec #:     500 (+COV) Soln.date: 2018-Apr-05_11:16:59   # obs: 1803 (1903-2018)
 
IAU76/J2000 helio. ecliptic osc. elements (au, days, deg., period=Julian yrs): 
 
  EPOCH=  2455485.5 ! 2010-Oct-16.00 (TDB)         Residual RMS= .28963        
   EC= .1453222754778464   QR= 2.232822954662918   TP= 2455876.0720004463      
   OM= 290.0072894804399   W=  75.13840817439457   IN= 9.764544808931515       
   A= 2.612473556522465    MA= 268.8351702646443   ADIST= 2.992124158382012    
   PER= 4.22266            N= .233413627           ANGMOM= .02750885           
   DAN= 2.46541            DDN= 2.65631            L= 4.9371039                
   B= 9.434865500000001    MOID= 1.25316           TP= 2011-Nov-10.5720004463  
 
Asteroid physical parameters (km, seconds, rotational period in hours):        
   GM= n.a.                RAD= 20.414             ROTPER= 8.0111              
   H= 9.3                  G= .150                 B-V= n.a.                   
                           ALBEDO= .202            STYP= n.a.                  
 
ASTEROID comments: 
1: soln ref.= JPL#41, OCC=0
2: source=ORB
*******************************************************************************
 Select ... [A]pproaches, [E]phemeris, [F]tp,[M]ail,[R]edisplay, [S]PK,?,:

**Tags:** asteroids, ephemeris, albedo

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Information on SPICE can be found at https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/toolkit.html  
> **username_0**: Thank you for the ideas, the discussion list may provide some help.  I've thought about directly contacting one of the JPL POCs as well.  
> **username_1**: @barrycarter Add the spk/asteroids README's "[write your own SPK](https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/toolkit_docs/Tutorials/pdf/individual_docs/42_making_an_spk.pdf)" and that's an answer.  
> **username_0**: @barrycarter thanks for the "write your own SPK" idea, it seems a PCK kernel is appropriate for body physical properties, I am considering that as a possible solution once I've build the set of data I want ready access to.  The NASA HORIZONS System [link] https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?horizons has batch interfaces via email and telnet.  I'm working on a bulk query/download through HORIZONS, extracting the data from the output and building a PCK kernel.  
> **username_2**: Note that for major bodies, the body data display "values are drawn from published literature for information purposes only and generally will not be used in subsequent calculations". (From the Horizons tutorial). Even the GM values shown can differ from the values used in computing the ephemerides, which are listed at https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/astro_par.html  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-05-02. Score: 2

As barrycarter commented, [codes\_300ast\_20100725](https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/generic_kernels/spk/asteroids/)
has ephemerides for 300 large asteroids, generated in 2010 and supposedly valid from 1800 to 2199.
For other asteroids, a [Celestia developer forum](http://forum.celestialmatters.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=629) shows how to how to request an SPK from HORIZONS's telnet interface.
However, they appear to use the SPK for ephemeris only, adding albedo in Celestia's own SSC file format.
In SPICE documentation, neither the tutorials nor the "required reading" seems to mention albedo.

A more direct approach to your goal might be the JPL [Small Body Database Search Engine](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb_query.cgi).
For example, if you query for numbered NEO asteroids with absolute magnitude H < 16, you get a table of 169 rows.
Diameter and albedo are known for some asteroids but not others, even though their orbits and rotational periods may be well established.


---

