starplot 0.20.1

Star charts and maps of the sky

Starplot

Starplot is a Python library for creating star charts and maps of the sky

• 🗺️ Maps - including 10+ customizable projections
• ⭐ Zenith Charts - shows the entire sky at a specific time and place
• 🌅 Horizon Charts - shows the horizon at a specific time and place
• 🔭 Optic Simulations - shows what you'll see through an optic (e.g. telescope) at a specific time and place
• 🌌 Galactic Charts - shows a Mollweide projection in galactic coordinates
• 🪐 Planets and Deep Sky Objects (DSOs) - with support for plotting their true extent
• ☄️ Comets and Satellites - easy trajectory plotting
• 🎨 Custom Styles - for all objects and with 8+ built-in themes
• 📥 Export - png, svg, jpeg
• 🚀 Data Backend - powered by DuckDB + Ibis for fast object lookup
• 📓 Custom Data Catalogs - with helpers for building and optimizing
• 🧭 Label Collision Avoidance - ensuring all labels are readable
• 🌐 Localization - label translations for Chinese, French, Lithuanian, Persian, and Spanish

Examples

Zenith chart of the stars from a specific time/location:

Map around the constellation Orion:

The Pleiades star cluster, as seen through a refractor telescope from a specific time and location:

Basic Usage

To create a star chart for tonight's sky as seen from Palomar Mountain in California:

from datetime import datetime
from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo

from starplot import ZenithPlot, Observer, styles, _

tz = ZoneInfo("America/Los_Angeles")
dt = datetime.now(tz).replace(hour=22)

observer = Observer(
    dt=dt,
    lat=33.363484,
    lon=-116.836394,
)

p = ZenithPlot(
    observer=observer,
    style=styles.PlotStyle().extend(
        styles.extensions.BLUE_MEDIUM,
    ),
    resolution=4096,
    autoscale=True,
)
p.constellations()
p.stars(where=[_.magnitude < 4.6])
p.constellation_labels()
p.horizon()
p.export("starchart.png")

Documentation

https://starplot.dev

Demo

For a demo of Starplot's zenith charts, check out:

Sky Atlas - Star Chart Creator

Getting Help / Updates

• Chat with other starplotters on our Discord server
• Follow us on Bluesky
• Join our newsletter
• See more examples at Starplotting.com

Contributing

Contributing to Starplot is welcome and very much appreciated! Please see here for details.

Coming Soon

• 🧮 Coordinate system helpers
• 🌑 Planet moons
• ✴️ Custom markers
• 😄 🔭 Clear skies

See more details on the Public Roadmap

Related Repositories

• starplot-bigsky
• starplot-constellations
• starplot-ongc
• starplot-hyg
• starplot-gaia-dr3
• starplot-hyperleda
• starplot-milkyway

License

MIT License