Mercury¶

Class to model Mercury planet.

Mercury examples

Mercury - VSOP87-Parameters

class pyplanets.planets.mercury.Mercury(epoch)[source]¶

Class Mercury models that planet.

__init__(epoch)[source]¶

Initializes an object of type planet for a given date (epoch) with: its orbital parameters (ephemeredes) given by VSOP87.

Parameters: epoch (Epoch) – Epoch to which all computations of this instance refer, as an Epoch object
Raises: TypeError if epoch is of wrong type.

aphelion() → pyplanets.core.epoch.Epoch [source]¶

This method computes the time of Aphelion closer to a given epoch.

Returns: The epoch of the desired Perihelion (or Aphelion)
Return type: Epoch

>>> epoch = Epoch(2000, 3, 1.0)
>>> e = Mercury(epoch).aphelion()
>>> y, m, d, h, mi, s = e.get_full_date()
>>> print(y)
2000
>>> print(m)
3
>>> print(d)
30
>>> print(h)
17

eastern_elongation() -> (<class 'pyplanets.core.epoch.Epoch'>, <class 'pyplanets.core.angle.Angle'>)[source]¶

This method computes the time of the eastern elongation closest to the given epoch, as well as the corresponding maximum elongation angle.

Returns: A tuple with the time when the eastern elongation happens, as an Epoch, and the maximum elongation angle, as an Angle
Return type: tuple
Raises: ValueError if input epoch outside the -2000/4000 range.

>>> epoch = Epoch(1990, 8, 1.0)
>>> time, elongation = Mercury(epoch).eastern_elongation()
>>> y, m, d = time.get_date()
>>> print(y)
1990
>>> print(m)
8
>>> print(round(d, 4))
11.8514
>>> print(round(elongation, 4))
27.4201

inferior_conjunction() → pyplanets.core.epoch.Epoch [source]¶

This method computes the time of the inferior conjunction closest to the given epoch.

Returns: The time when the inferior conjunction happens, as an Epoch
Return type: Epoch
Raises: ValueError if input epoch outside the -2000/4000 range.

>>> epoch = Epoch(1993, 10, 1.0)
>>> conjunction = Mercury(epoch).inferior_conjunction()
>>> y, m, d = conjunction.get_date()
>>> print(y)
1993
>>> print(m)
11
>>> print(round(d, 4))
6.1449
>>> epoch = Epoch(1631, 10, 1.0)
>>> conjunction = Mercury(epoch).inferior_conjunction()
>>> y, m, d = conjunction.get_date()
>>> print(y)
1631
>>> print(m)
11
>>> print(round(d, 3))
7.306

magnitude(sun_dist, earth_dist, phase_angle)[source]¶

This function computes the approximate magnitude of Mercury.

Parameters

sun_dist (float) – Distance from Mercury to Sun, in Astronomical Units
earth_dist (float) – Distance Mercury to Earth, in Astronomical Units
phase_angle (float, Angle) – Mercury phase angle

Returns

Mercury’s magnitude

Return type

float

perihelion() → pyplanets.core.epoch.Epoch [source]¶

This method computes the time of Perihelion closer to a given epoch.

Returns: The epoch of the desired Perihelion (or Aphelion)
Return type: Epoch

>>> epoch = Epoch(2000, 1, 1.0)
>>> e = Mercury(epoch).perihelion()
>>> y, m, d, h, mi, s = e.get_full_date()
>>> print(y)
2000
>>> print(m)
2
>>> print(d)
15
>>> print(h)
18

station_longitude_1() → pyplanets.core.epoch.Epoch [source]¶

This method computes the time of the 1st station in longitude (i.e. when the planet is stationary and begins to move westward - retrograde - among the starts) closest to the given epoch.

Returns: Time when the 1st statin in longitude happens, as an Epoch
Return type: Epoch
Raises: ValueError if input epoch outside the -2000/4000 range.

>>> epoch = Epoch(1993, 10, 1.0)
>>> sta1 = Mercury(epoch).station_longitude_1()
>>> y, m, d = sta1.get_date()
>>> print(y)
1993
>>> print(m)
10
>>> print(round(d, 4))
25.9358

station_longitude_2() → pyplanets.core.epoch.Epoch [source]¶

This method computes the time of the 2nd station in longitude (i.e. when the planet is stationary and begins to move eastward - prograde - among the starts) closest to the given epoch.

Returns: Time when the 2nd station in longitude happens, as an Epoch
Return type: Epoch
Raises: ValueError if input epoch outside the -2000/4000 range.

>>> epoch = Epoch(1993, 10, 1.0)
>>> sta2 = Mercury(epoch).station_longitude_2()
>>> y, m, d = sta2.get_date()
>>> print(y)
1993
>>> print(m)
11
>>> print(round(d, 4))
15.0724

superior_conjunction() → pyplanets.core.epoch.Epoch [source]¶

This method computes the time of the superior conjunction closest to the given epoch.

Returns: The time when the superior conjunction happens, as an Epoch
Return type: Epoch
Raises: ValueError if input epoch outside the -2000/4000 range.

>>> epoch = Epoch(1993, 10, 1.0)
>>> conjunction = Mercury(epoch).superior_conjunction()
>>> y, m, d = conjunction.get_date()
>>> print(y)
1993
>>> print(m)
8
>>> print(round(d, 4))
29.3301

western_elongation() -> (<class 'pyplanets.core.epoch.Epoch'>, <class 'pyplanets.core.angle.Angle'>)[source]¶

This method computes the time of the western elongation closest to the given epoch, as well as the corresponding maximum elongation angle.

Returns: A tuple with the time when the western elongation happens, as an Epoch, and the maximum elongation angle, as an Angle
Return type: tuple
Raises: ValueError if input epoch outside the -2000/4000 range.

>>> epoch = Epoch(1993, 11, 1.0)
>>> time, elongation = Mercury(epoch).western_elongation()
>>> y, m, d = time.get_date()
>>> print(y)
1993
>>> print(m)
11
>>> print(round(d, 4))
22.6386
>>> print(round(elongation, 4))
19.7506