By Herpich F. R.
This tool can be used to plan the nights for virtually any observatory on the Planet. The user can make maps for individual objects or lists containing several of them. It is also possible to define time blocks for every object (individual or in a list). The angular distance to the Moon will always be shown at the given initial time for each object (if none is given, the default is 0 LT).
- to get the full set of options available with the full description:
python skywalker.py --help
python 3
os
pandas
timezonefinder
pytz
numpy
matplotlib
astropy
astroplan
This code uses a modified version of the Astroplan code (https://astroplan.readthedocs.io/en/latest/). If you use this code in your research, please cite accordingly (see https://github.com/astropy/astroplan for the full reference provided by the authors).
The package was only tested on Python 3.6 and above on Linux systems. There is no plans to make it work on Windows or MacOS.
The following method is preferable for now, but fill free to install it in any other way you prefer.
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/herpichfr/skywalker.git
Into the repository, run the following instructions.
To check for dependencies, run:
bash install.sh --check
This will check if all the required packages are installed. If any of them is missing, it will print a message with the name of the package and how to install it.
To install the required packages and dependencies, run (do not run the command with sudo):
bash install.sh --install
This will create a python virtual environment and install all the required packages in it, activating it if the install is successful.
To uninstall the package, run:
bash install.sh --uninstall
- Showing the track for NGC104 for Cerro Tololo and its distance to the Moon at 0:30 LT
python src/skywalker.py --object NGC104 --site 'Cerro Tololo' -ns 2019-08-23 --time 0:30:00 --savefig --figname test01
- Showing the skychart for the same track
python src/skywalker.py --object NGC104 --site 'Cerro Tololo' -ns 2019-08-23 --time 0:30:00 --skychart --savefig --figname test02
- Adding an observing block starting at 0:30 LT for NGC104 at Cerro Tololo
python src/skywalker.py --object NGC104 --site 'Cerro Tololo' -ns 2019-08-23 --time 0:30:00 --blocktime 3851 --skychart --savefig --figname test03
- Showing all tracks of a list of objects for Cerro Tololo
python src/skywalker.py -f examples/example_file.csv --site 'Cerro Tololo' -ns 2019-08-23 --skychart --savefig --figname test04
- Showing all tracks of a list of objects for a given observatory provided by the sitefile
python src/skywalker.py -f examples/example_file.csv --sitefile examples/sitefilename_example.csv -ns 2019-08-23 --skychart --savefig --figname test05
- Including an altitude/airmass limit to the observations
python src/skywalker.py -f examples/example_file.csv --sitefile examples/sitefilename_example.csv -ns 2019-08-23 --skychart --minalt 25 --savefig --figname test06
This code is licensed under the GNU v3.0 License.