You cannot know who the previous owner was. At least not through any code.
As for seeing where they are there is a show on galaxy map and some other stuff like that that should show where they are. If they are not lying on a planets surface (which would give you exact co-ords) then you will probably have to go to the Traders Lounge and ask to see if anyone knows where, or who owns the entity your stuff is docked inside.
Speaking of which, I have a question about buying on the market.
according to the rules, if someone dies their stuff can "go to the market, after a random delay between 7 and 31 days for each asset."
My question is, what exactly is that delay?
Is is a whole number, exactly 7,8,9 10 days? Or a number like 7.4627 days?
Can anything show up at any given time? or is it updated every 30 minutes?
Everything on the market shows up at 17:00 SWC time, or that was when it used to. Anything that is planned to go to market will show up at that time of day.
hm... 17:00 swc time is like 2am in the morning in europe. That basically means that you can never be the first on something when not living in the US. <.<
Thats morning for us living in aussieland. Anyway Jevon, I have a sneaky suspicion that that regularity was something that was changed. Apparently it wasn't random enough in when stuff went to the market, which could be that it went at the same time of day, but on different days. So its possible that it has since been changed to show up at a random time of day as well as actual day.
But don't quote me on that, I am just guessing unless others have evidence to the contrary (or supporting).