Reputation: 1
Using the following script, I input my correct lat/lon and I can't get the ephem
library to give me the correct arcseconds for the sun which should be around 15/second.
import ephem
def calculate_sun_slowest_rate(observer):
sun = ephem.Sun()
observer.date = '2024/06/21 12:00:00' # Approximate date of the summer solstice
# Compute the Sun's position at the given date
sun.compute(observer)
# Initial RA and Dec
ra_initial = sun.ra
dec_initial = sun.dec
# Advance time by one second
observer.date = ephem.Date(observer.date + ephem.second)
sun.compute(observer)
# Final RA and Dec
ra_final = sun.ra
dec_final = sun.dec
# Convert RA and Dec differences to degrees
ra_diff_degrees = (ra_final - ra_initial) * 180 / ephem.pi
dec_diff_degrees = (dec_final - dec_initial) * 180 / ephem.pi
# Convert degrees to arcseconds
ra_diff_arcseconds = ra_diff_degrees * 3600
dec_diff_arcseconds = dec_diff_degrees * 3600
return ra_diff_arcseconds, dec_diff_arcseconds
# Create an observer
observer = ephem.Observer()
observer.lat = '0' # Latitude
observer.lon = '0' # Longitude
observer.elevation = 0 # Elevation in meters
# Calculate the Sun's slowest rate of movement
ra_movement, dec_movement = calculate_sun_slowest_rate(observer)
print(f"Sun's RA movement per second: {ra_movement:.6f} arcseconds")
print(f"Sun's Dec movement per second: {dec_movement:.6f} arcseconds")
I always get something like:
Sun's RA movement per second: 0.042712 arcseconds
Sun's Dec movement per second: 0.007649 arcseconds
I think it's giving me the sun's movement relative to other stars, but not relative to an observer on earth which is what I want.
I was expecting it to output 15 arcseconds/second.
Upvotes: 0
Views: 31