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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
- 🪐 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
Zenith chart of the stars from a specific time/location: starchart-blue
Map around the constellation Orion: map-orion
The Pleiades star cluster, as seen through a refractor telescope from a specific time and location: optic-pleiades
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")
For a demo of Starplot's zenith charts, check out:
Sky Atlas - Star Chart Creator
- Chat with other starplotters on our Discord server
- Follow us on Bluesky
- Join our newsletter
- See more examples at Starplotting.com
Contributing to Starplot is welcome and very much appreciated! Please see here for details.
- 🧮 Coordinate system helpers
- 🌑 Planet moons
- ✴️ Custom markers
- 😄 🔭 Clear skies
See more details on the Public Roadmap