NAME
Astro::Coords::Equatorial - Manipulate equatorial coordinates
SYNOPSIS
$c = new Astro::Coords::Equatorial( name => 'blah',
ra => '05:22:56',
dec => '-26:20:40.4',
type => 'B1950'
units=> 'sexagesimal');
$c = new Astro::Coords::Equatorial( name => 'Vega',
ra => ,
dec => ,
type => 'J2000',
units => 'sex',
pm => [ 0.202, 0.286],
parallax => 0.13,
epoch => 2004.529,
);
$c = new Astro::Coords( ra => '16h24m30.2s',
dec => '-00d54m2s',
type => 'J2000',
rv => 31,
vdefn => 'RADIO',
vframe => 'LSRK' );
DESCRIPTION
This class is used by Astro::Coords
for handling coordinates specified in a fixed astronomical coordinate frame.
You are not expected to use this class directly, the Astro::Coords
class should be used for all access (the Astro::Coords
constructor is treated as a factory constructor).
If proper motions and parallax information are supplied with a coordinate it is assumed that the RA/Dec supplied is correct for the given epoch. An equinox can be specified through the 'type' constructor, where a 'type' of 'J1950' would be Julian epoch 1950.0.
METHODS
Constructor
- new
-
Instantiate a new object using the supplied options.
$c = new Astro::Coords::Equatorial( name => ra => dec => long => lat => pm => parallax => type => units => epoch => );
ra
anddec
are used for HMSDeg systems (eg type=J2000). Long and Lat are used for degdeg systems (eg where type=galactic).type
can be "galactic", "j2000", "b1950", and "supergalactic". Theunits
can be specified as "sexagesimal" (when using colon or space-separated strings), "degrees" or "radians". The default is determined from context. The name is just a string you can associate with the sky position.All coordinates are converted to FK5 J2000 [epoch 2000.0] internally.
Units of parallax are arcsec. Units of proper motion are arcsec/year (no correction for declination; tropical year for B1950, Julian year for J2000). If proper motions are supplied they must both be supplied in a reference to an array:
pm => [ 0.13, 0.45 ],
If parallax and proper motions are given, the ra/dec coordinates are assumed to be correct for the specified EQUINOX (Epoch = 2000.0 for J2000, epoch = 1950.0 for B1950) unless an explicit epoch is specified. If the epoch is supplied it is assumed to be a Besselian epoch for FK4 coordinates and Julian epoch for all others.
Radial velocities can be specified using hash arguments:
rv => radial velocity (km/s) vdefn => velocity definition (RADIO, OPTICAL, RELATIVSTIC) [default: OPTICAL] vframe => velocity reference frame (HEL,GEO,TOP,LSRK,LSRD) [default: HEL]
Note that the radial velocity is only used to calculate position if parallax or proper motions are also supplied. These values will be used for calculating a doppler correction.
Additionally, a redshift can be specified:
redshift => 2.3
this overrides rv, vdefn and vframe. A redshift is assumed to be an optical velocity in the heliocentric frame.
Usually called via
Astro::Coords
as a factor method.
Accessor Methods
- radec
-
Retrieve the Right Ascension and Declination (FK5 J2000) for the date stored in the
datetime
method. Defaults to current date if no time is stored in the object.($ra, $dec) = $c->radec();
For J2000 coordinates without proper motions or parallax, this will return the same values as returned from the
radec2000
method.An explicit equinox can be supplied as either Besselian or Julian epoch:
($ra, $dec) = $c->radec( 'B1950' ); ($ra, $dec) = $c->radec( 'J2050' ); ($ra, $dec) = $c->radec( 'B1900' );
Defaults to 'J2000'. Note that the epoch (as stored in the
datetime
attribute) is required when converting from FK5 to FK4 so calling this method with 'B1950' will not be the same as calling theradec1950
method unless thedatetime
epoch is B1950.Coordinates are returned as two
Astro::Coords::Angle
objects. - ra
-
Retrieve the Right Ascension (FK5 J2000) for the date stored in the
datetime
method. Defaults to current date if no time is stored in the object.$ra = $c->ra( format => 's' );
For J2000 coordinates without proper motions or parallax, this will return the same values as returned from the
ra2000
method.See "NOTES" in Astro::Coords for details on the supported format specifiers and default calling convention.
- dec
-
Retrieve the Declination (FK5 J2000) for the date stored in the
datetime
method. Defaults to current date if no time is stored in the object.$dec = $c->dec( format => 's' );
For J2000 coordinates without proper motions or parallax, this will return the same values as returned from the
dec2000
method.See "NOTES" in Astro::Coords for details on the supported format specifiers and default calling convention.
- radec2000
-
Retrieve the Right Ascension (FK5 J2000, epoch 2000.0). Default is to return it as an
Astro::Coords::Angle::Hour
object.Proper motions and parallax are taken into account (although this may happen in the object constructor). Use the
radec
method if you want J2000, reference epoch.($ra, $dec) = $c->radec2000;
Results are returned as
Astro::Coords::Angle
objects. - ra2000
-
Retrieve the Right Ascension (FK5 J2000, epoch 2000.0). Default is to return it as an
Astro::Coords::Angle::Hour
object.Proper motions and parallax are taken into account (although this may happen in the object constructor). Use the
ra
method if you want J2000, reference epoch.$ra = $c->ra2000( format => "s" );
See "NOTES" in Astro::Coords for details on the supported format specifiers and default calling convention.
- dec2000
-
Retrieve the declination (FK5 J2000, epoch 2000.0). Default is to return it in radians.
$dec = $c->dec( format => "sexagesimal" );
Proper motions and parallax are taken into account (although this may happen in the object constructor). Use the
dec
method if you want J2000, reference epoch.See "NOTES" in Astro::Coords for details on the supported format specifiers and default calling convention.
- parallax
-
Retrieve (or set) the parallax of the target. Units should be given in arcseconds. There is no default.
$par = $c->parallax(); $c->parallax( 0.13 );
- pm
-
Proper motions in units of arcsec / Julian year (not corrected for declination).
@pm = $self->pm(); $self->pm( $pm1, $pm2);
If the proper motions are not defined, an empty list will be returned.
General Methods
- apparent
-
Return the apparent RA and Dec as two
Astro::Coords::Angle
objects for the current coordinates and time.($ra_app, $dec_app) = $self->apparent();
- array
-
Return back 11 element array with first 3 elements being the coordinate type (RADEC) and the ra/dec coordinates in J2000 epoch 2000.0 (radians).
This method returns a standardised set of elements across all types of coordinates.
- type
-
Returns the generic type associated with the coordinate system. For this class the answer is always "RADEC".
This is used to aid construction of summary tables when using mixed coordinates.
- stringify
-
A string representation of the object.
Returns RA and Dec (J2000) in string format.
- summary
-
Return a one line summary of the coordinates. In the future will accept arguments to control output.
$summary = $c->summary();
NOTES
Usually called via Astro::Coords
.
REQUIREMENTS
Astro::SLA
is used for all internal astrometric calculations.
AUTHOR
Tim Jenness <tjenness@cpan.org>
Proper motion, equinox and epoch support added by Brad Cavanagh <b.cavanagh@jach.hawaii.edu>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. All Rights Reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
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