I'm a programmer and data analyst with a background in science and engineering. A recurring theme in almost all of my work is the illumination of otherwise invisible information via aggregation, tracking and analysis. I have a resume and am likely to get emails sent to ben.engebreth@gmail.com. I live in Portland Oregon. Here are some of my projects.

Dynamic Sky

(re)Discovering Solar System objects via image processing. [process description]

• 2021: sbident: A Python package for querying the JPL Small Body Identification API • Optimal Sedna • Process Update: June 2021
• 2020: A 21.3 Magnitude TESS TNO: (493480) 2014 YZ₄₉ • Towards a naive Moving Object Processing System • Sedna Revisited: Orbit Determination • TESS TNO: (455502) 2003 UZ₄₁₃ • TESS TNO: Sedna • TESS TNO: (208996) 2003 AZ₈₄
• 2019: TESS TNO: (55565) 2002 AW₁₉₇ • TESS TNO: Orcus • TESS Field Study: 172 Asteroids Detected • Detecting Asteroids with TESS: a Preliminary Study (Terpsichore, Philomela, Leontina) • Ceres • Jupiter • Uranus • Juno • Mars

Department of Numbers

Light analysis of publicly available datasets from the Census, BLS and other public sources. Datasets include income, unemployment, rent and more. In March of 2020 I started tracking daily COVID-19 case and testing statistics by state to try to understand the US outbreak better.

camelcamelcamel

Widely regarded as the premier Amazon price tracker, camelcamelcamel had over 13 million pageviews in December of 2017. Mentions: New York Times, Wall Street Journal

sbident

sbident is a Python package for querying the JPL Small Body Identification API. JPL released version 1.0 of this API in early 2021 to replace the legacy ISPY system. The API provides astrometric coordinates (e.g. RA and DEC) for Solar System Objects so that observers can identify these moving bodies in their observations. I use this tool heavily in my Dynamic Sky project. When I discovered the new API no one had released a library for it yet, so I wrote sbident.

camelodge

A hotels.com price tracker. We've taken the camelcamelcamel concept and applied it to hotels. It turns out that hotel prices change all the time too. It also turns out that hotels are not as willing to share this data anymore and the site is on indefinite hiatus.

HousingTracker

This site no longer exists, but I'm still quite proud of it. HousingTracker compiled housing inventory and price trends during the housing bubble by aggregating online real estate listings. The site was widely cited during the housing bubble and after the Great Recession. Housingtracker existed from 2005 to 2014. Mentions: New York Times, CNN, CalculatedRISK

Photos & Trip Reports

• 2020: PCT Miles in Oregon & Washington
• 2019: Skurka RMNP • PCT Oregon Section: Elk Lake to Timberline Lodge
• 2018: Hikes • Skurka SEKI
• 2010: Lake City Colorado
• 2009: Glacier National Park