I walked out the home depot last night to a brilliant celestial display, as the moon, aldebaran and mars made a nearly symmetric triangle. I thought, "it looks like the moon has conjoined with mars and is within a day of doing so with aldebaran."

The next day, the moon surprised me by seeming to pass between aldebaran and mars. I would like to use the Astro:: modules to verify that this did indeed happen and when, according to some criterion. What a person thinks he sees can be quite unreliable.

As I begin this, I will note that this project will never be an SSCCE. For one, it's not a contrived example, so the shoe doesn't fit right there. I will take the length I need to represent what I have and what I want. It may be short; it may not be. If that doesn't suit you, do not click the readmore tags expecting otherwise.

I wrote several different versions of an Astro:: script, adding Log4perl in the final one and stepping through with the debugger. That was kind of trip, and I'll list that at the end.

One thing I lack now is a representation for where Aldebaran is. Wiki has it at 4 hr 35 min right ascension and +16 and change for what I assume is degrees above the ecliptic. When I was installing the software, I saw:

  WYANT/Astro-satpass-0.117.tar.gz
  ./Build test -- OK
Running Build install for WYANT/Astro-satpass-0.117.tar.gz
Building Astro-satpass
Installing /usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Astro/Coord/ECI.pm
Installing /usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Astro/Coord/ECI/Star.pm

[download]

I don't know what that is yet, but that might be the ticket right there.

What I do have is some gutshot data with Mars and the Moon, with an amalgam script 5.astro.pl:

#!/usr/bin/perl 

use Time::Piece;
use Astro::Coord::ECI::Utils 'deg2rad';
use Astro::Coords;
use Astro::Telescope;
use Log::Log4perl;

my $file = '/home/hogan/Documents/hogan/logs/3.log4perl.txt';

# unlink $file or warn "Could not unlink $file: $!";
my $log_conf4 = "/home/hogan/Documents/hogan/logs/conf_files/3.conf";
Log::Log4perl::init($log_conf4);    #info
my $logger = Log::Log4perl->get_logger();
$logger->info("$0");

$logger->info("Object\tAzimuth\tElevation");
$logger->info("Right Ascension\tDeclination ");

for my $name (qw/Mars Moon/) {

  my $planet = Astro::Coords->new( planet => $name );

  $planet->datetime( Time::Piece->new );

  $planet->telescope(
    Astro::Telescope->new(
      Name => 'boise',
      Long => deg2rad(-116.2),    #43.615833, -116.201667
      Lat  => deg2rad(43.61),
      Alt  => 8321,               #meters above sea level boise
    )
  );

  my $az = $planet->az( format => 'deg' );
  my $el = $planet->el( format => 'deg' );
  $logger->info("$name\t$az\t $el");

  my $planet2 = Astro::Coords->new( planet => $name );

  $planet2->datetime( Time::Piece->new );

  my $ra  = $planet2->ra( format => q/deg/ );
  my $dec = $planet2->dec( format => q/deg/ );

  $logger->info("$name\t$ra\t$dec");

}
my $t  = localtime;
my $jd = $t->julian_day;

$logger->info("Time is $t");
$logger->info("Julian day is $jd");
__END__

[download]

This is the conf file for Log4perl. If you get the proper form for the output, then it makes a huge difference for looking at a time series:

######################################################################
+#########
#                              Log::Log4perl Conf                     
+        #
######################################################################
+#########
log4perl.rootLogger              = DEBUG, LOG1, SCREEN
log4perl.appender.SCREEN         = Log::Log4perl::Appender::Screen
log4perl.appender.SCREEN.stderr  = 0
log4perl.appender.SCREEN.layout  = Log::Log4perl::Layout::PatternLayou
+t
log4perl.appender.SCREEN.layout.ConversionPattern = %m %n
log4perl.appender.LOG1           = Log::Log4perl::Appender::File
log4perl.appender.LOG1.filename  = /home/hogan/Documents/hogan/logs/3.
+log4perl.txt
log4perl.appender.LOG1.mode      = append
log4perl.appender.LOG1.layout    = Log::Log4perl::Layout::PatternLayou
+t
log4perl.appender.LOG1.layout.ConversionPattern = %d %p %m %n

[download]

If you would like to replicate this, you will have to change the .filename, unless you happen to be hogan. As far as output, I was very pleased as I went about writing this today, with the log building. Another component of this is going outside and looking every couple hours. That's a way this is not self-contained. We need all kinds of sanity checks with this stuff including peer review and wondering, "did you see it too?" Here's 3.log4perl.txt:

2021/03/19 19:31:51 INFO ./4.astro.pl 
2021/03/19 19:31:51 INFO Object    Azimuth    Elevation 
2021/03/19 19:31:51 INFO Mars    220.365443728883     65.2689423230543
+ 
2021/03/19 19:31:51 INFO Moon    211.599830034082     65.5618916858789
+ 
2021/03/19 19:31:51 INFO Time is Fri Mar 19 19:31:51 2021 
2021/03/19 19:31:51 INFO Julian day is 2459293.56378472 
2021/03/19 22:40:06 INFO ./4.astro.pl 
2021/03/19 22:40:06 INFO Object    Azimuth    Elevation 
2021/03/19 22:40:06 INFO Mars    270.806033806743     34.1750013710903
+ 
2021/03/19 22:40:06 INFO Moon    266.284000787558     36.8694401304625
+ 
2021/03/19 22:40:06 INFO Time is Fri Mar 19 22:40:06 2021 
2021/03/19 22:40:06 INFO Julian day is 2459293.69451389 
2021/03/19 23:35:35 INFO ./5.astro.pl 
2021/03/19 23:35:35 INFO Object    Azimuth    Elevation 
2021/03/19 23:35:35 INFO Right Ascension    Declination  
2021/03/19 23:35:35 INFO Mars    279.88665284031     24.1792258156848 
2021/03/19 23:35:35 INFO 67.2076668140408    23.2786995609773 
2021/03/19 23:35:35 INFO Moon    275.550366714117     27.1395270284972
+ 
2021/03/19 23:35:35 INFO 73.1915415734555    22.2734334102247 
2021/03/19 23:35:35 INFO Time is Fri Mar 19 23:35:35 2021 
2021/03/19 23:35:35 INFO Julian day is 2459293.73304398 
2021/03/19 23:39:06 INFO ./5.astro.pl 
2021/03/19 23:39:06 INFO Object    Azimuth    Elevation 
2021/03/19 23:39:06 INFO Right Ascension    Declination  
2021/03/19 23:39:06 INFO Mars    280.444080455657     23.5521856680493
+ 
2021/03/19 23:39:06 INFO Mars    67.2092465053295    23.2789265197005 
2021/03/19 23:39:06 INFO Moon    276.109507072202     26.5260435839715
+ 
2021/03/19 23:39:06 INFO Moon    73.2365988210088    22.280059131584 
2021/03/19 23:39:06 INFO Time is Fri Mar 19 23:39:06 2021 
2021/03/19 23:39:06 INFO Julian day is 2459293.73548611 
2021/03/20 00:27:38 INFO 5.astro.pl 
2021/03/20 00:27:38 INFO Object    Azimuth    Elevation 
2021/03/20 00:28:10 INFO Right Ascension    Declination  
2021/03/20 00:30:06 INFO Mars    288.303956397801     14.794085544023 
2021/03/20 00:32:59 DEBUG This is debug 
2021/03/20 00:33:58 INFO Mars    67.2338800886927    23.2824828016645 
2021/03/20 00:59:03 INFO Moon    284.638027927888     17.0850686583167
+ 
2021/03/20 01:00:14 INFO Moon    74.2622910906381    22.4512455528347 
2021/03/20 01:00:14 INFO Time is Sat Mar 20 01:00:14 2021 
2021/03/20 01:00:14 INFO Julian day is 2459293.7918287

[download]

The ultimate run was done with the debugger, which I'm tapping my way around with:

$ perl -d 5.astro.pl

Loading DB routines from perl5db.pl version 1.55
Editor support available.

Enter h or 'h h' for help, or 'man perldebug' for more help.

main::(5.astro.pl:9):    my $file = '/home/hogan/Documents/hogan/logs/
+3.log4perl.txt';
  DB<1> n                                                             
+          
main::(5.astro.pl:12):    my $log_conf4 = "/home/hogan/Documents/hogan
+/logs/conf_files/3.conf";
  DB<1> v                                                             
+          
9:    my $file = '/home/hogan/Documents/hogan/logs/3.log4perl.txt';
10     
11     # unlink $file or warn "Could not unlink $file: $!";
12==>    my $log_conf4 = "/home/hogan/Documents/hogan/logs/conf_files/
+3.conf";
13:    Log::Log4perl::init($log_conf4);    #info
14:    my $logger = Log::Log4perl->get_logger();
...

main::(5.astro.pl:39):      my $planet2 = Astro::Coords->new( planet =
+> $name );
  DB<6> $logger->debug( "This is debug");                             
+          
This is debug 
...
  DB<8> .                                                             
+          
main::(5.astro.pl:26):      $planet->telescope(
main::(5.astro.pl:27):        Astro::Telescope->new(
main::(5.astro.pl:28):          Name => 'boise',
main::(5.astro.pl:29):          Long => deg2rad(-116.2),    #43.615833
+, -116.201667
main::(5.astro.pl:30):          Lat  => deg2rad(43.61),
main::(5.astro.pl:31):          Alt  => 8321,               #meters ab
+ove sea level boise
main::(5.astro.pl:32):        )
main::(5.astro.pl:33):      );
  DB<8> s                                                             
+          
Astro::Coord::ECI::Utils::deg2rad(/usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Astro/C
+oord/ECI/Utils.pm:545):
545:    sub deg2rad { return defined $_[0] ? $_[0] * PI / 180 : undef 
+}
...
  DB<8> n                                                             
+          
Astro::Telescope::new(/usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Astro/Telescope.pm:
+182):
182:      my $proto = shift;
  DB<8> n                                                             
+          
Astro::Telescope::new(/usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Astro/Telescope.pm:
+183):
183:      my $class = ref($proto) || $proto;
  DB<8> v                                                             
+          
180     
181     sub new {
182:      my $proto = shift;
183==>      my $class = ref($proto) || $proto;
184     
185:      return undef unless @_;
186     
187       # Create the new object
188:      my $tel = bless {}, $class;
189     
  DB<8> b 188                                                         
+          
  DB<9> c                                                             
+          
Astro::Telescope::new(/usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Astro/Telescope.pm:
+188):
188:      my $tel = bless {}, $class;
  DB<9> n                                                             
+          
Astro::Telescope::new(/usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Astro/Telescope.pm:
+192):
192:      $tel->_configure( @_ ) or return undef;
  DB<9> v                                                             
+          
189     
190       # Configure it with the supplied telescope name
191       # or other arguments
192==>      $tel->_configure( @_ ) or return undef;
193     
194:      return $tel;
195     }
196     
197     =back
198     
  DB<9> p @_                                                          
+          
NameboiseLong-2.02807259081741Lat0.761138086794727Alt8321
 ...
  DB<10> v                                                            
+          
217     =cut
218     
219     sub new {
220==>      my $class = shift;
221     
222:      my %args = @_;
223     
224:      my $obj;
225     
226       # Always try for a planet object first if $args{planet} is u
+sed
  DB<10> b 224                                                        
+          
  DB<11> c                                                            
+          
Astro::Coords::new(/usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0/Astro/Coords.pm:224):
224:      my $obj;
  DB<11> p @_                                                         
+          
planetMoon
  DB<12> c                                                            
+          
Moon    74.2622910906381    22.4512455528347 
Time is Sat Mar 20 01:00:14 2021 
Julian day is 2459293.7918287 
Debugged program terminated.  Use q to quit or R to restart,
use o inhibit_exit to avoid stopping after program termination,
h q, h R or h o to get additional info.
  DB<12> q

[download]

Anyways, so that's as far as make it tonight.

Thank you for your comments.

In reply to Deciding when the moon passed between aldebaran and mars by Aldebaran

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