solposx.solarposition.skyfield

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solposx.solarposition.skyfield#

solposx.solarposition.skyfield(times, latitude, longitude, *, de='de440.bsp')#

Calculate solar position using the Skyfield Python package.

Skyfield is a Python package [1], [2] that can calculate high precision position of stars, planets, and satellites in orbit around the Earth based on ephemerides. Calculated positions should agree with the Astronomical Almanac to within 0.0005 arcseconds.

Parameters:

  • times (pandas.DatetimeIndex) – Timestamps - must be localized. Prior to 1970 and far in the future UTC and UT1 may deviate significantly. For such use cases, UT1 times should be provided.

  • latitude (float) – Latitude in decimal degrees. Positive north of equator, negative to south. [degrees]

  • longitude (float) – Longitude in decimal degrees. Positive east of prime meridian, negative to west. [degrees]

  • de (str or Skyfield SpiceKernel, optional, default : 'de440.bsp') – Ephemeris of choice.

Returns:

DataFrame with the following columns (all values in degrees):

  • elevation : actual sun elevation (not accounting for refraction).

  • zenith : actual sun zenith (not accounting for refraction).

  • azimuth : sun azimuth, east of north.

Return type:

pandas.DataFrame

References

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