1
$\begingroup$

I am curious how to plot planetary motion star chart with date tags like on www.nakedeyeplanets.com by Martin J. Powell.

Is there any way to generate images similar like that. What software should be used MATLAB or what.

Also should have following features: - constellation boundaries - non-overlapping naming of star,constellation - different color for planet path for each year

Example, click for full size:

example chart for Jupiter from Martin J. Powell's www.nakedeyeplanets.com

| improve this question | | | | |
$\endgroup$
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This question initially looks like planetarium software requirements, asking for a design. Could you narrow it down a bit? $\endgroup$ – Mike G Jan 24 at 18:18
1
$\begingroup$

The Python program Skyfield can generate the data for most of this. It can for example generate curves for planet trajectories, provide star positions and magnitudes from a catalog, and even generate boundaries for the constellations.

Then Matplotlib or Plotly can be used in the same python script to make plots as nice-looking as you like.

There may be other canned programs that can do this as well, just for example Stellarium and Celestia.

For further resources, see answers to Where can I find/visualize planets/stars/moons/etc positions?

and the animation in this answer

| improve this answer | | | | |
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.