NASA Near-Earth Asteroids Scraper

NASA Near-Earth Asteroids Scraper

Scrape near-Earth asteroid data from NASA's NeoWs API, tracking close approaches, sizes, and hazard status. Filter by date range or browse the full catalog, and export structured asteroid records to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

NASA's public NeoWs API provides detailed data on near-Earth objects, but querying it manually requires handling pagination, date formatting, and rate limits. This actor reads the close-approach feed or the full asteroid catalog directly, filters for potentially hazardous asteroids, and returns each match in a consistent, flat schema. No API key is needed.

Who uses it	What they scrape NASA NeoWs for
Astronomy researchers	Monitoring the population and characteristics of near-Earth objects over specific time windows.
Space enthusiasts	Tracking upcoming close approaches and identifying the largest or fastest asteroids passing near Earth.
Science educators	Gathering real-world data on asteroid sizes, velocities, and miss distances for classroom projects.
Data journalists	Compiling statistics on potentially hazardous asteroids for public interest stories.

What it does

This Actor collects near-Earth asteroid data from NASA's NeoWs API by date range or full catalog browse, and returns each asteroid as a flat row.

• 📅 Close-approach feed: Query asteroids making close approaches within a specific date range, up to 7 days.
• 🌐 Browse full catalog: Paginate through the entire NASA NeoWs asteroid database, independent of approach dates.
• ⚠️ Hazard filter: Optionally restrict results to only Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs).

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with NASA NeoWs data

📈 Monitor weekly close approaches.

A researcher runs the feed mode every Monday with a 7-day window to compile a weekly report of all near-Earth asteroid flybys and their miss distances.

⚠️ Audit potentially hazardous objects.

A planetary defense analyst sets the hazardousOnly filter to true and browses the full catalog to review the physical parameters of every known PHA.

📊 Build a historical asteroid dataset.

A data scientist uses browse mode to collect the entire NeoWs catalog, then analyzes size and velocity distributions across the known near-Earth population.

🎓 Source real data for a STEM lesson.

A physics teacher scrapes the close-approach feed for the current week and has students calculate kinetic energy from the returned diameter and velocity fields.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key required	Access NASA's public NeoWs API directly without registration or authentication.
Structured output	Every asteroid is returned as a clean, flat row ready for analysis in your preferred format.
Flexible modes	Choose between time-bound close-approach feeds or a full catalog browse to fit your research scope.
Hazard filtering	Isolate potentially hazardous asteroids with a single checkbox to focus on the most impactful objects.

How it compares

This actor focuses exclusively on NASA's NeoWs asteroid data with flexible modes and no API key requirement, while the competitors listed below bundle asteroid data with APOD or add proprietary scoring layers.

Feature	ParseForge	NASA Space Intelligence	NASA Data Scraper	Nasa Neo Scraper
Close-approach feed by date range	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Yes
Browse full asteroid catalog	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Filter potentially hazardous only	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
No API key required	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
AI-powered discovery scoring	Not listed	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)	Not listed	Yes	Yes	Not listed

Configure the run

Drive the Actor by selecting a mode, setting a date range for the close-approach feed, and optionally filtering to only potentially hazardous asteroids. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10,
 "mode": "feed",
 "startDate": "2026-05-01",
 "endDate": "2026-05-07"
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200,
 "mode": "feed",
 "startDate": "2026-05-01",
 "endDate": "2026-05-07"
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.01867 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$1.87
1,000 results	$18.67
10,000 results	$186.70

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the NASA Near-Earth Asteroids Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to NASA NeoWs through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/nasa-neows-asteroids-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your startDate and endDate are within a 7-day window and use the YYYY-MM-DD format. If you are using the hazardousOnly filter, try disabling it to see if any non-hazardous asteroids are available in that range.

The run failed with an API error.

NASA's public API may occasionally return errors under heavy load. Wait a few minutes and retry the run. If the problem persists, verify that your date range is valid and does not exceed 7 days.

I only got a few asteroids but expected more.

The close-approach feed only returns asteroids that make a close approach within your specified date window. Try widening the date range or switching to browse mode to see the full catalog.

The output has different fields than I expected.

The actor returns all fields provided by NASA's NeoWs API for each asteroid. Check the dataset preview tab after a run to see the exact schema. Some fields may be null if NASA does not have that measurement for a particular object.

Can I filter by asteroid size or velocity?

The input schema only supports filtering by date range and hazardous status. To filter by size, velocity, or miss distance, export the full dataset and apply your filters in a spreadsheet or script.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need a NASA API key to use this actor?	No. This actor uses NASA's public NeoWs API which does not require authentication or an API key.
What is the maximum date range I can query in feed mode?	The NASA NeoWs API limits the close-approach feed to a maximum of 7 days per request. The startDate and endDate must be within 7 days of each other.
What does 'potentially hazardous asteroid' mean?	NASA classifies an asteroid as potentially hazardous when its orbit brings it within 0.05 astronomical units of Earth and it is larger than about 140 meters in diameter.
Can I get all known asteroids, not close approaches?	Yes. Select the 'Browse full asteroid catalog' mode to paginate through the entire NeoWs database, which includes all near-Earth objects regardless of their approach date.
What data fields are returned for each asteroid?	The actor returns a flat row for each asteroid including its name, estimated diameter, velocity, miss distance, and whether it is potentially hazardous. The exact schema is shown in the dataset preview.
How many asteroids can I collect in one run?	You can set the maxItems input up to 1,000,000. The actor will stop after collecting that many records or when the API has no more data to return.
What date format should I use for startDate and endDate?	Use YYYY-MM-DD format, for example 2026-05-01. If you leave endDate empty, it defaults to the same value as startDate.
Can I export the data to Excel or CSV?	Yes. Apify supports exporting your dataset to CSV, JSON, Excel, XML, and several other formats directly from the run results.
Is the data from this actor real-time?	The data comes directly from NASA's live NeoWs API, so it reflects the most current orbital calculations and close-approach predictions available.
Does this actor also get the Astronomy Picture of the Day?	No. This actor is focused exclusively on near-Earth asteroid data from the NeoWs API. For APOD data, you would need a different scraper.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASA. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.