🌙 astro_what

A Python command-line tool to explore moon phases, positions, and lunar events — directly from your terminal. Built using Skyfield and Click, it’s perfect for hobbyist astronomers, students, and night-sky enthusiasts.

Features

• Get real-time moon phase and illumination data
• Forecast upcoming lunar phase transitions
• Visualize the moon’s position using polar charts
• Fully offline-friendly after installation

Installation

pip install astro-what

Usage in CLI

• astro moon --date 2025-06-23
• astro phases --days 5
• astro chart --date 2025-06-23

🧰 Available Functions in astro_what

The following functions are accessible when using astro_what as a Python module:

From astro_what.core:

• get_moon_info(date_str, hour, lat, lon) Returns a dictionary containing:

    - Moon phase (e.g. “Waxing Gibbous”)
  
    - Illumination percentage
  
    - Altitude and azimuth in degrees
  

• get_next_lunar_phases(from_date, days) Returns a list of upcoming lunar phase transitions within a given timeframe.

From astro_what.moon_tools:

• show_moon_chart(date_str, hour, lat, lon) Opens a polar plot showing the Moon’s position relative to the horizon — useful for visualizing where to look in the sky.

🌙 Example: Get Moon Information

	from astro_what.core import get_moon_info

	moon = get_moon_info(date_str="2025-06-23", hour=6, lat=12.2958, lon=76.6394)

	print(f"Phase       : {moon['phase']}")
	print(f"Illumination: {moon['illumination']}%")
	print(f"Altitude    : {moon['altitude']}°")
	print(f"Azimuth     : {moon['azimuth']}°")

🌗 Example: Get Upcoming Lunar Phases

	from astro_what.core import get_next_lunar_phases

	phases = get_next_lunar_phases(from_date="2025-06-23", days=5)
	for p in phases:
	    print(f"{p['phase']} → {p['timestamp']} UTC")

📈 Example: Plot Moon Position Chart

	from astro_what.moon_tools import show_moon_chart

	show_moon_chart(date_str="2025-06-23", hour=6, lat=12.2958, lon=76.6394)