NAME

Astro::SkyPlot - Create very basic sky plots

SYNOPSIS

use Astro::SkyPlot qw/:all/; # export the markers
my $plot = Astro::SkyPlot->new(); # use defaults (see below)

# specify options yourself:
$plot = Astro::SkyPlot->new(
  xsize       => 200, # mm
  ysize       => 200,
  bgcolor     => [0, 0, 0], # RGB => black
  projection  => 'hammer',
  axiscolor   => [100, 100, 100], # RGB => grey
);

$plot->setcolor(255, 0, 0); # RGB => red
$plot->plot_lat_long(1, 1); # units: radians
$plot->plot_lat_long(1, 1, size => 0.2, marker => MARK_CIRCLE); # units: radians, radians, mm
$plot->write(file => "skyplot.eps");

DESCRIPTION

A module to create very basic sky plots as EPS documents.

MARKERS

There are multiple types of markers that can be plotted into the sky plot. These are defined through constants that can be exported from the module:

MARK_CIRCLE           => circular markers
MARK_CIRCLE_FILLED    => filled circular markers
MARK_BOX              => square markers
MARK_BOX_FILLED       => filled square markers
MARK_TRIANGLE         => triangularmarkers
MARK_TRIANGLE_FILLED  => filled triangular markers
MARK_DTRIANGLE        => downward triangular markers
MARK_DTRIANGLE_FILLED => filled downward triangular markers
MARK_CROSS            => cross shaped markers
MARK_DIAGCROSS        => diagonal cross shaped markers

PROJECTIONS

You can use the Hammer projection ("hammer"), the Sinusoidal projection ("sinusoidal"), and the Miller projection ("miller"). Default is "hammer". You can use the projection argument to the constructor to change this.

Cf. Astro::MapProjection for details on these projections and have a look at the default axes by running the examples/projections.pl example.

METHODS

new

Constructor. Without arguments, uses the default settings (cf. SYNOPSIS). Supports the following options:

xsize       => Plot x-size in mm (def: 200mm)
ysize       => Plot y-size in mm (def: 200mm)
bgcolor     => Background color as array reference
               (RGB value 0-255 per component)
               (def: black, [0, 0, 0])
projection  => Projection type. Default: Hammer projection ('hammer')
axiscolor   => Color for the axes. (def: grey, [100, 100, 100])

setcolor

Set a new drawing color. Takes three numbers corresponding to red, green and blue values between 0 and 255.

plot_lat_long

Draw a new latitude/longitude point.

These may be followed by key/value pairs of options. Supported options:

size: the size (radius) of the point (default: 0.1mm)

marker: The type of marker to use (see "MARKERS").

write

Write the plot to the specified EPS file.

ACCESSOR METHODS

The following are read only accessors unless otherwise noted.

marker

Get/Set the default marker type. The marker type for a single plot operation can be specified as an option to plot_lat_long.

ps

Returns the internals PostScript::Simple object.

xsize

Returns the image's width (in mm).

ysize

Returns the image's height (in mm).

PRIVATE METHODS

_draw_bg

Draws the plot's background.

_restore_color

Restores the previously saved color.

_plot_axis

Plot the sky-plot axis.

_project

Projects given lat/long to x/y to plot coordinates.

_draw_marker

Draws a marker at the given plot coordinates. Arguments $x, $y, $markerno, $size.

SEE ALSO

For more general information on map projections: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map_projection

Map projections are implemented in Astro::MapProjection

AUTHOR

Steffen Mueller, <smueller@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2009 by Steffen Mueller

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.0 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.