The command line tool vsquery calculates based on observers latitude and longitude coordinates the
- set and rise of the sun
- set, transit and set of the moon
- moons disk illumination and moon-earth distance
- begin of twilight such that it is dark enough for most amateur astronomical observations
- begin of twilight such that the sky is completely dark for professional astronomical observations
- end of twilight for professional astronomical observations
- end of twilight for most amateur astronomical observations
- rise, transit and set of arbitrary astronomical objects by online querying the sesame database
- calculating azimuth and altitude of the astronomical objects starting from sun set to sun rise
Make sure to install the development package of libnova and libcurl. Checkout out the repository and execute
./autogen.sh && ./configure
Execute vsquery with parameter --help to get a parameter and default settings overview
>./src/vsquery --help
usage: ./src/vsquery [option] <object 1> <object 2> .... <object N>
-a, --latitude <float>
Latitude coordinate in decimal degree [default: 50.146145]
-o, --longitude <float>
Longitude coordinate in decimal degree [default: 8.498569]
-d, --date <string>
Date in format yyyy-mm-dd, e.g. '2017-06-30' [default: current date]
-s, --stepjd <float>
Partition tabular data by step size in julian date [default: 0.01]
version: 0.0.2-7 © 2017 by Thomas Stibor <[email protected]>
If no options and parameters are provided, then the default settings are used and the following results are calculated
>./src/vsquery
┌───────────────────────────────────────────── observer ──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│lat,lng 50.146145, 8.498569│
├───────────────────────────────────────────── date ──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│julian 2458690.394233│
│calendar (LT) 2019-07-25 21:27:41│
├───────────────────────────────────────────── sun ───────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│↓ set 2019-07-25 21:18:50│
│↑ rise 2019-07-26 05:44:29│
│night length (hours) 8.428│
├───────────────────────────────────────────── twilight ──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│amateur astronomy begin 2019-07-25 23:29:05│
│amateur astronomy end 2019-07-26 03:34:13│
│amateur astronomy night length (hours) 4.086│
│professional astronomy begin 2019-07-26 00:16:42│
│professional astronomy end 2019-07-26 02:46:36│
│professional astronomy night length (hours) 2.498│
├───────────────────────────────────────────── moon ──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│↓ set 2019-07-25 14:24:31│
│↑ rise 2019-07-26 01:06:22│
│↔ transit 2019-07-26 08:12:23│
│disk illuminated fraction 0.473606│
│distance to earth 395144.791 km│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
For checking e.g. the visibility of NGC2244 and WASP2 at La Palma, Roque de los Muchachos at date: 2017-10-28 execute
>./src/vsquery --latitude 28.755620 --longitude -17.885742 --date 2017-10-28 ngc2244 wasp2
┌───────────────────────────────────────────── observer ──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│lat,lng 28.755619,-17.885742│
├───────────────────────────────────────────── date ──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│julian 2458055.395515│
│calendar (LT) 2017-10-28 21:29:32│
├───────────────────────────────────────────── sun ───────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│↓ set 2017-10-28 20:28:32│
│↑ rise 2017-10-29 09:20:34│
│night length (hours) 12.867│
├───────────────────────────────────────────── twilight ──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│amateur astronomy begin 2017-10-28 21:35:11│
│amateur astronomy end 2017-10-29 08:13:49│
│amateur astronomy night length (hours) 10.644│
│professional astronomy begin 2017-10-28 21:49:33│
│professional astronomy end 2017-10-29 07:59:25│
│professional astronomy night length (hours) 10.164│
├───────────────────────────────────────────── moon ──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│↑ rise 2017-10-28 16:19:22│
│↔ transit 2017-10-28 21:51:58│
│↓ set 2017-10-29 03:28:03│
│disk illuminated fraction 0.539893│
│distance to earth 398780.857 km│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌───────────────────────────────────────────── object 'ngc2244' ──────────────────────────────────────┐
│ra, dec (097.979167, 004.941667) (06:31:55.000, +04:56:30.000) J2000│
│↓ set 2017-10-28 13:28:56│
│↑ rise 2017-10-29 01:00:04│
│↔ transit 2017-10-29 07:12:32│
│ │
├ airmass ──┬── azimuth ──┬── altitude ──┬──── date ────┬──── time ────┬── moon separation (degrees) ┤
│15.76 │ 266.03 │ 3.04 │ 2017-10-29 │ 01:16:32 │ 138.0121 │
│ 8.79 │ 267.75 │ 6.20 │ 2017-10-29 │ 01:30:56 │ 137.8981 │
│ 6.00 │ 269.48 │ 9.36 │ 2017-10-29 │ 01:45:20 │ 137.7841 │
│ 4.55 │ 271.22 │ 12.53 │ 2017-10-29 │ 01:59:44 │ 137.6700 │
│ 3.67 │ 272.98 │ 15.69 │ 2017-10-29 │ 02:14:08 │ 137.5558 │
│ 3.08 │ 274.79 │ 18.85 │ 2017-10-29 │ 02:28:32 │ 137.4415 │
│ 2.66 │ 276.64 │ 21.99 │ 2017-10-29 │ 02:42:56 │ 137.3272 │
│ 2.35 │ 278.56 │ 25.13 │ 2017-10-29 │ 02:57:20 │ 137.2128 │
│ 2.11 │ 280.56 │ 28.25 │ 2017-10-29 │ 03:11:44 │ 137.0984 │
│ 1.92 │ 282.67 │ 31.35 │ 2017-10-29 │ 03:26:08 │ 136.9838 │
│ 1.77 │ 284.89 │ 34.43 │ 2017-10-29 │ 03:40:32 │ 136.8692 │
│ 1.64 │ 287.26 │ 37.47 │ 2017-10-29 │ 03:54:56 │ 136.7546 │
│ 1.54 │ 289.81 │ 40.47 │ 2017-10-29 │ 04:09:20 │ 136.6398 │
│ 1.45 │ 292.58 │ 43.42 │ 2017-10-29 │ 04:23:44 │ 136.5250 │
│ 1.38 │ 295.60 │ 46.31 │ 2017-10-29 │ 04:38:08 │ 136.4102 │
│ 1.32 │ 298.93 │ 49.12 │ 2017-10-29 │ 04:52:32 │ 136.2952 │
│ 1.27 │ 302.64 │ 51.84 │ 2017-10-29 │ 05:06:56 │ 136.1802 │
│ 1.23 │ 306.78 │ 54.44 │ 2017-10-29 │ 05:21:20 │ 136.0652 │
│ 1.19 │ 311.44 │ 56.90 │ 2017-10-29 │ 05:35:44 │ 135.9500 │
│ 1.16 │ 316.70 │ 59.17 │ 2017-10-29 │ 05:50:08 │ 135.8348 │
│ 1.14 │ 322.65 │ 61.22 │ 2017-10-29 │ 06:04:32 │ 135.7196 │
│ 1.12 │ 329.35 │ 62.99 │ 2017-10-29 │ 06:18:56 │ 135.6042 │
│ 1.11 │ 336.80 │ 64.43 │ 2017-10-29 │ 06:33:20 │ 135.4888 │
│ 1.10 │ 344.94 │ 65.47 │ 2017-10-29 │ 06:47:44 │ 135.3734 │
│ 1.09 │ 353.59 │ 66.06 │ 2017-10-29 │ 07:02:08 │ 135.2578 │
│ 1.09 │ 2.48 │ 66.17 │ 2017-10-29 │ 07:16:32 │ 135.1423 │
│ 1.10 │ 11.27 │ 65.79 │ 2017-10-29 │ 07:30:56 │ 135.0266 │
│ 1.10 │ 19.66 │ 64.94 │ 2017-10-29 │ 07:45:20 │ 134.9109 │
│ 1.12 │ 27.43 │ 63.68 │ 2017-10-29 │ 07:59:44 │ 134.7951 │
│ 1.13 │ 34.47 │ 62.05 │ 2017-10-29 │ 08:14:08 │ 134.6792 │
│ 1.15 │ 40.75 │ 60.11 │ 2017-10-29 │ 08:28:32 │ 134.5633 │
│ 1.18 │ 46.31 │ 57.93 │ 2017-10-29 │ 08:42:56 │ 134.4473 │
│ 1.21 │ 51.23 │ 55.55 │ 2017-10-29 │ 08:57:20 │ 134.3313 │
│ 1.25 │ 55.59 │ 53.01 │ 2017-10-29 │ 09:11:44 │ 134.2152 │
└───────────┴─────────────┴──────────────┴───────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
┌───────────────────────────────────────────── object 'wasp2' ────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ra, dec (307.725533, 006.429538) (20:30:54.128, +06:25:46.338) J2000│
│↑ rise 2017-10-28 14:57:24│
│↔ transit 2017-10-28 21:13:10│
│↓ set 2017-10-29 03:28:55│
│ │
├ airmass ──┬── azimuth ──┬── altitude ──┬──── date ────┬──── time ────┬── moon separation (degrees) ┤
│ 1.10 │ 332.53 │ 65.30 │ 2017-10-28 │ 20:28:32 │ 24.1229 │
│ 1.09 │ 340.78 │ 66.55 │ 2017-10-28 │ 20:42:56 │ 24.1464 │
│ 1.08 │ 349.71 │ 67.36 │ 2017-10-28 │ 20:57:20 │ 24.1706 │
│ 1.08 │ 359.07 │ 67.67 │ 2017-10-28 │ 21:11:44 │ 24.1953 │
│ 1.08 │ 8.46 │ 67.46 │ 2017-10-28 │ 21:26:08 │ 24.2205 │
│ 1.09 │ 17.51 │ 66.75 │ 2017-10-28 │ 21:40:32 │ 24.2464 │
│ 1.10 │ 25.91 │ 65.58 │ 2017-10-28 │ 21:54:56 │ 24.2728 │
│ 1.11 │ 33.49 │ 64.01 │ 2017-10-28 │ 22:09:20 │ 24.2997 │
│ 1.13 │ 40.21 │ 62.11 │ 2017-10-28 │ 22:23:44 │ 24.3272 │
│ 1.16 │ 46.12 │ 59.94 │ 2017-10-28 │ 22:38:08 │ 24.3553 │
│ 1.18 │ 51.30 │ 57.56 │ 2017-10-28 │ 22:52:32 │ 24.3839 │
│ 1.22 │ 55.85 │ 55.01 │ 2017-10-28 │ 23:06:56 │ 24.4131 │
│ 1.26 │ 59.88 │ 52.33 │ 2017-10-28 │ 23:21:20 │ 24.4429 │
│ 1.31 │ 63.47 │ 49.55 │ 2017-10-28 │ 23:35:44 │ 24.4732 │
│ 1.37 │ 66.69 │ 46.68 │ 2017-10-28 │ 23:50:08 │ 24.5040 │
│ 1.45 │ 69.61 │ 43.74 │ 2017-10-29 │ 00:04:32 │ 24.5354 │
│ 1.53 │ 72.29 │ 40.75 │ 2017-10-29 │ 00:18:56 │ 24.5674 │
│ 1.63 │ 74.76 │ 37.71 │ 2017-10-29 │ 00:33:20 │ 24.5999 │
│ 1.76 │ 77.06 │ 34.64 │ 2017-10-29 │ 00:47:44 │ 24.6329 │
│ 1.91 │ 79.22 │ 31.55 │ 2017-10-29 │ 01:02:08 │ 24.6665 │
│ 2.10 │ 81.27 │ 28.43 │ 2017-10-29 │ 01:16:32 │ 24.7007 │
│ 2.33 │ 83.22 │ 25.29 │ 2017-10-29 │ 01:30:56 │ 24.7353 │
│ 2.64 │ 85.10 │ 22.14 │ 2017-10-29 │ 01:45:20 │ 24.7706 │
│ 3.06 │ 86.92 │ 18.99 │ 2017-10-29 │ 01:59:44 │ 24.8063 │
│ 3.64 │ 88.69 │ 15.83 │ 2017-10-29 │ 02:14:08 │ 24.8426 │
│ 4.50 │ 90.44 │ 12.66 │ 2017-10-29 │ 02:28:32 │ 24.8794 │
│ 5.92 │ 92.16 │ 9.50 │ 2017-10-29 │ 02:42:56 │ 24.9167 │
│ 8.62 │ 93.87 │ 6.34 │ 2017-10-29 │ 02:57:20 │ 24.9546 │
│15.23 │ 95.59 │ 3.18 │ 2017-10-29 │ 03:11:44 │ 24.9930 │
│38.23 │ 97.32 │ 0.04 │ 2017-10-29 │ 03:26:08 │ 25.0319 │
└───────────┴─────────────┴──────────────┴───────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
For each parameterized object, the rise, transit and set, as well as the azimuth, altitude and moon distance separation is determined from the time of sun set to the time of sun rise.
This project is licensed under the GPL2 license.