[AstroPy] Is There an AstroCalc Module?
Wayne Watson
sierra_mtnview@sbcglobal....
Mon Jan 4 20:21:22 CST 2010
Mr. Perrin. Ah, so I need to be a professional and credentialed
astronomer and work for some academic institution or major observatory?
Admittedly, I am not an astronomer and work on my own. However, the
problem I'm trying to solve is no simple task, and some of the tools I
think I see here can help me solve it. The taks is quite important to a
collection of people who want to do this. My problem concerns
two-station determination of meteor trajectories, ground and atmospheric.
If you are the moderator and plan to silence me, then I think I can get
what I need elsewhere, if necessary. You could just ignore me. I had
hoped this list would be a bit more cordial.
Although I appreciate Mr. Owens providing to a direct route to the
description of his library, I see it is not what I hoped for. Googling,
(Yes, I do know how to do that and suggest searching with it are bit
more complex than you say.) with python "astronomy library examples" has
given me some useful insight what I might expect elsewhere. Further, I
now have access to a very good astro library in C++ that looks like it
will serve my purposes. I only suffer the inconvenience of translating
some of the functions to Python. I do believe for the most part they are
short. Of course, I do have access to the common Python math, linear
algebra, regression, non-linear optimization methods that are in no way
connected to this list.
Perhaps you can bear with me a little longer while I get my feet a
little wet, so to speak.
Marshall Perrin wrote:
>
> Mr. Watson,
>
> /Please learn to use Google/. Ten seconds with any web browser will
> tell you what PyPI is, and with a few more clicks you can find your
> way to the overview documentation that Russell describes. Likewise for
> SLALIB, DST conversions, and pretty much the majority of your posts to
> this list.
>
> You really should understand, astropy is a list for full-time
> professional astronomy researchers. At that level, folks are expected
> to know how to do a reasonable amount of research on their own. Your
> frequent queries on basic matters that could be answered via a web
> search seem unnecessary and add mostly noise to the list. Please do
> the rest of us the courtesy of trying to resolve things on your own,
> or else emailing individual contacts rather than bombarding the list
> with so many posts per day!
>
> I hope this doesn't come across wrong - I'm not trying to discourage
> you! - I just would encourage you to try learning how to resolve some
> of these issues on your own.
>
> - Marshall
>
>
>
> On Dec 30, 2009, at 3:20 PM, Wayne Watson wrote:
>
>> What is PyPI? I unzipped the file, and searched for an html, but don't
>> see any. I guess it's only at PyPI. Snap shot of my folder below
>> this line.
>>
>>
>> Russell Owen wrote:
>>> There is an overview at PyPI and in an html doc that is part of the
>>> source distro. Other than that, no...use the doc strings and the info
>>> I sent you.
>>>
>>> -- Russell
>>>
>>> On Dec 30, 2009, at 11:07 AM, Wayne Watson wrote:
>>>
>>>> Before I install it, is there a document that summarizes what's in
>>>> it? That is, gives a brief summary of each function?
>>>>
>>>> Russell Owen wrote:
>>>>> The RO package is pure python so I only have a source code version
>>>>> available. That is the one you want.
>>>>>
>>>>> I suggest you use "easy_install" or "pip" to install it.
>>>>>
>>>>> You can also install it by downloading it and running "setup.py
>>>>> install" in the main directory--though it may require setuptools.
>>>>> Once you have installed setuptools you have "easy_install" so you
>>>>> might as well use that. (pip also requires setuptools -- nearly any
>>>>> sort of installer does these days).
>>>>>
>>>>> Or if you wish to avoid setuptools then you can download the source
>>>>> and copy or move the "RO" directory (<package root>/python/RO) into
>>>>> your site-packages directory. I don't know where site-packages is on
>>>>> Windows.
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>
>>>>> -- Russell
>>>>>
>>>>> On Dec 28, 2009, at 10:34 AM, Wayne Watson wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi, I'm on Python 2.5, Windows. Are any of the downloads on the
>>>>>> link applicable to my situation? If I use it, where under
>>>>>> c:/Python25 do I put it? Lib?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Russell Owen wrote:
>>>>>>> There is various software that will perform astronomical
>>>>>>> transformations of time and position. I do not know what exists
>>>>>>> for projections (other than any projections that might exist in
>>>>>>> matplotlib).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> One option is RO.Astro
>>>>>>> <http://pypi.python.org/pypi?:action=display&name=RO
>>>>>>> <http://pypi.python.org/pypi?:action=display&name=RO>>, which I
>>>>>>> wrote. The routines are easy to use (see documentation in doc
>>>>>>> strings) and the coordinate transformations are performed to high
>>>>>>> accuracy. It is pure python (though it uses numpy) so it is
>>>>>>> trivial to install and fully cross-platform, but not as fast as
>>>>>>> some other options.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Overview:
>>>>>>> RO.Sph: handles computations in spherical coordinates (e.g. RA/Dec
>>>>>>> to Az/Alt). RO.Sph.coordConv is the "do it all" routine. It also
>>>>>>> has angSideAng, a routine to handle spherical geometry
>>>>>>> computations, and routines to convert between spherical and
>>>>>>> cartesian coordinates.
>>>>>>> RO.Cnv: handles computations in cartesian coordinates; this is
>>>>>>> where most of the real computations are performed
>>>>>>> RO.Tm: handles various time computations
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -- Russell
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Dec 28, 2009, at 8:40 AM, Wayne Watson wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> See Subject. I'm looking for something like the methods
>>>>>>>> described in
>>>>>>>> Meeus' Astro Formulae for Calculators. Something too that provides
>>>>>>>> rotation matrices, calculations to find sidereal time, and az
>>>>>>>> equal-distance projections.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
>>>>>> Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700
>>>>>> feet "... humans'innate skills with
>>>>>> numbers isn't much
>>>>>> better than that of rats and
>>>>>> dolphins." -- Stanislas Dehaene,
>>>>>> neurosurgeon Web Page:
>>>>>> <www.speckledwithstars.net/ <http://www.speckledwithstars.net/>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
>>>>
>>>> (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
>>>> Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700
>>>> feet "We're leaving you with a world
>>>> that runs like
>>>> clockwork. And the clock it runs like is a cuckoo
>>>> clock." -- Frank Oppenheimer, physicist
>>>> Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/
>>>> <http://www.speckledwithstars.net/>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
>>
>> (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
>> Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
>>
>> "We're leaving you with a world that runs like
>> clockwork. And the clock it runs like is a cuckoo
>> clock." -- Frank Oppenheimer, physicist
>>
>> Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/
>> <http://www.speckledwithstars.net/>>
>>
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>
--
Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
"We're leaving you with a world that runs like
clockwork. And the clock it runs like is a cuckoo
clock." -- Frank Oppenheimer, physicist
Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>
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