astronomy-mcp-server

Tools

Seven tools — five form the keyless, offline, deterministic core (always registered); two are network-backed extensions that register only when their config gate is enabled.

This server computes geometry — where a body is, when an event happens — not astrophysics. The core wraps astronomy-engine (sub-arcminute accuracy, ≈1900–2100), so given the same (body, time, observer) every core tool returns identical output with no network, no rate limit, and no API key. It does not geocode: resolve a place name to latitude/longitude upstream (e.g. via an OpenStreetMap server) and pass an IANA timezone to receive observer-local times alongside UTC.

astronomy_get_sky_position

Apparent topocentric position of one solar-system body or a named bright star.

• Equatorial (RA/Dec), refraction-corrected horizontal (altitude/azimuth), and ecliptic coordinates in one call

• Distance, apparent magnitude, angular diameter, phase angle, illuminated fraction, and the constellation the body falls in

• Parallax- and aberration-corrected for the observer; default elevation 0 m, default time now

• Supply star (e.g. "Sirius", "Polaris") instead of body to target a catalog star; star takes precedence over body

• null magnitude / angular diameter / phase fields where the engine cannot compute them — never fabricated

astronomy_get_rise_set

Rise, set, and culmination times, with twilight for the Sun.

• Searches forward from start and returns the next count cycles (default 1, max 31)

• For body: "sun", bundles the three twilight pairs (civil −6°, nautical −12°, astronomical −18°) so a single call answers "when does the sun set and when is it truly dark"

• Circumpolar / never-rises situations are reported as null rise/set fields with an explanatory note rather than an error — the fact is the answer

• Optional observer-local times when an IANA timezone is supplied

astronomy_find_events

Forward search across nine event classes under one event enum.

• solar_eclipse, lunar_eclipse, equinox, solstice, moon_quarter, opposition, conjunction, max_elongation, perigee_apogee

• Solar eclipses require an observer (latitude/longitude) and report local visibility and contact times; lunar eclipses are geocentric and need no location

• The body-relative events (opposition, conjunction, max_elongation, perigee_apogee) require a body; max_elongation is defined only for mercury and venus

• Returns the next count occurrences (default 1, max 20)

astronomy_list_visible

The workflow flagship — one call returns a ranked, condition-gated "what's up" list.

• Iterates every naked-eye solar-system body (and, with include_stars, the bundled bright stars), keeps those above the horizon, and ranks them brightest-and-highest first

• Attaches a plain-language visibility_note to each body, computed from real magnitude and altitude — no synthetic score

• Returns the whole-sky condition (daylight / civil_twilight / nautical_twilight / astronomical_twilight / dark) and the Sun's altitude alongside the list

• time is a single evaluation instant, not a window — for "tonight" pass a time after astronomical dusk (use astronomy_get_rise_set on the Sun to find it)

• Use min_altitude to skip objects grazing the horizon

astronomy_get_ephemeris (gated extension)

Time-series ephemeris for a small body or spacecraft via the keyless JPL Horizons API. Registered only when ASTRONOMY_ENABLE_HORIZONS is set.

• Covers asteroids, comets, and spacecraft the in-process major-body engine cannot see

• The designation is passed to Horizons verbatim and must resolve to a single record:

  • Numbered asteroid — trailing-semicolon record lookup: "433;" (Eros), "1;" (Ceres)

  • Periodic comet — DES + closest-apparition flag: "DES=1P;CAP" (Halley), "DES=2P;CAP" (Encke)

  • Spacecraft — negative SPK-ID: "-48" (Hubble)

  • A bare name like "433 Eros" or "1P/Halley" returns no match or an ambiguous record list and is rejected. Look up designations at ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html.

• start/stop are ISO 8601 UTC; step is a Horizons step string ("1d", "1h", "10m")

• Supplying observer latitude/longitude yields topocentric coordinates and adds alt/az

• Large spans truncate inline at 200 rows with a disclosure — widen the step to reduce rows

astronomy_get_satellite_passes (gated extension)

Visible passes of a satellite over an observer. Registered only when ASTRONOMY_ENABLE_SATELLITES is set.

• Fetches the current TLE from CelesTrak by NORAD catalog number (e.g. 25544 for the ISS) and propagates it with SGP4 in-process

• Returns each pass's rise, peak, and set times with azimuths and the peak elevation

• Only naked-eye-plausible passes are returned — the satellite must be sunlit at peak while the observer's sky is dark

• NORAD catalog numbers are found at celestrak.org or heavens-above.com

• Searches the next days (default 7, max 10); optional observer-local pass times

Related MCP server: Precision astronomical ephemeris and planetary positions via the Swiss Ephemeris.

Resources and prompts

All resource data is also reachable via tools — astronomy_get_sky_position returns the same body metadata inline — so tool-only clients lose nothing. Design reference: docs/design.md.

Features

Built on @cyanheads/mcp-ts-core:

• Declarative tool, resource, and prompt definitions — single file per primitive, framework handles registration and validation

• Unified error handling — handlers throw, framework catches, classifies, and formats

• Pluggable auth: none, jwt, oauth

• Swappable storage backends: in-memory, filesystem, Supabase, Cloudflare KV/R2/D1

• Structured logging with optional OpenTelemetry tracing

• STDIO and Streamable HTTP transports; the keyless core is Cloudflare Workers-portable (pure JS, no native deps)

Astronomy-specific:

• Keyless, offline, deterministic core — astronomy-engine is the source of truth for positional astronomy; no network, no rate limit, no API key for the five core tools

• Both UTC and observer-local time on every output when a timezone is supplied; the server never guesses a timezone from coordinates

• Bundled bright-star catalog so astronomy_list_visible and astronomy_get_sky_position answer for named stars

• Two gated extensions (off by default) reach beyond the major-body set — JPL Horizons small bodies and CelesTrak satellite passes — each with its own timeout/retry boundary; they degrade loudly and never silently fall back to the core

Agent-friendly output:

• Preserves uncertainty — magnitude, angular diameter, phase, and illumination are null (not 0, not omitted) when unavailable, and format() renders "unavailable" rather than inventing a value

• Server-computed visibility notes are deterministic prose from real magnitude and altitude — no synthetic confidence scores

• Typed error contracts with recovery hints (out-of-range time, missing observer/body, unresolved designation) so callers can correct and retry

• format() is content-complete on every tool — content[]-only clients see the same data as structuredContent clients

Getting started

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file. The five core tools need no configuration; set ASTRONOMY_ENABLE_HORIZONS and/or ASTRONOMY_ENABLE_SATELLITES to true to register the gated extensions.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "astronomy-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@cyanheads/astronomy-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with npx (no Bun required):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "astronomy-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cyanheads/astronomy-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with Docker:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "astronomy-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=stdio", "ghcr.io/cyanheads/astronomy-mcp-server:latest"]
    }
  }
}

For Streamable HTTP, set the transport and start the server:

MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=http MCP_HTTP_PORT=3010 bun run start:http
# Server listens at http://localhost:3010/mcp

Prerequisites

• Bun v1.3.0 or higher (or Node.js v24+).

• No API key required — both the offline core and the two keyless extensions (JPL Horizons, CelesTrak) need no credentials.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/astronomy-mcp-server.git

2. Navigate into the directory:

cd astronomy-mcp-server

3. Install dependencies:

bun install

Configuration

All configuration is optional and validated at startup via Zod schemas in src/config/server-config.ts. The core runs with no configuration at all.

See .env.example for the full list of optional overrides.

Running the server

Local development

• Build and run:

  # One-time build
  bun run rebuild
  
  # Run the built server
  bun run start:stdio
  # or
  bun run start:http

• Run checks and tests:

  bun run devcheck   # Lint, format, typecheck, security
  bun run test       # Vitest test suite
  bun run lint:mcp   # Validate MCP definitions against spec

Docker

docker build -t astronomy-mcp-server .
docker run --rm -e MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=stdio astronomy-mcp-server

The Dockerfile defaults to HTTP transport, stateless session mode, and logs to /var/log/astronomy-mcp-server. OpenTelemetry peer dependencies are installed by default — build with --build-arg OTEL_ENABLED=false to omit them.

Project structure

Development guide

See CLAUDE.md for development guidelines and architectural rules. The short version:

• Handlers throw, framework catches — no try/catch in tool logic

• Use ctx.log for request-scoped logging, ctx.state for tenant-scoped storage

• Register new tools and resources in the createApp() arrays in src/index.ts

• Normalize raw engine/API values to the domain type; preserve uncertainty as null and never fabricate missing fields

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Run checks and tests before submitting:

bun run devcheck
bun run test

License

Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE for details.