7 - Object Lookup

Starplot has models for most objects you can plot, including stars, DSOs, planets, moons, and the Sun. These models also have properties relevant to each object (e.g. magnitude, ra, dec, etc). Sometimes you may want to create a plot directly from an object, so Starplot has a way to lookup objects by using each model's get() or find() or all() functions.

For example, here's a way to get Jupiter's position for tonight's sky and then create an optic plot directly from the Planet instance:

from datetime import datetime

from pytz import timezone

from starplot.styles import PlotStyle, extensions
from starplot import Planet, optics

tonight = datetime.now(timezone("America/Los_Angeles")).replace(hour=21)

# get Jupiter for tonight
jupiter = Planet.get("jupiter", tonight)

# create an optic plot directly from Jupiter instance
p = jupiter.create_optic(
    lat=32.97,
    lon=-117.038611,
    dt=tonight,
    optic=optics.Refractor(
        focal_length=600,
        eyepiece_focal_length=4,
        eyepiece_fov=52,
    ),
    style=PlotStyle().extend(extensions.GRAYSCALE_DARK),
    raise_on_below_horizon=False,
    autoscale=True,
)
p.planets(
    true_size=True,
    # since we're plotting the planets as their "true size"
    # the 'auto' offset won't work (it's not supported yet!)
    # so we manually set the offsets here:
    style__label__offset_x=86,
    style__label__offset_y=-40,
    style__label__font_size=56,
    style__marker__color="#fcdb72",
)
p.export("tutorial_07.png", padding=0)

More Examples

Get all the planets:

planets = Planet.all()

Get all the stars with limiting magnitude 6:

stars = Star.find(where=[Star.magnitude <= 6])

Get the Hercules Globular Cluster (M13):

m13 = DSO.get(m="13")

In the next section, we'll learn how to use callables to dynamically define the style of stars...