AltAz¶
-
class
astropy.coordinates.
AltAz
(*args, **kwargs)[source] [edit on github]¶ Bases:
astropy.coordinates.BaseCoordinateFrame
A coordinate or frame in the Altitude-Azimuth system (Horizontal coordinates). Azimuth is oriented East of North (i.e., N=0, E=90 degrees).
This frame is assumed to include refraction effects if the
pressure
frame attribute is non-zero.The frame attributes are listed under Other Parameters, which are necessary for transforming from AltAz to some other system.
Parameters: - data :
BaseRepresentation
subclass instance A representation object or
None
to have no data (or use the coordinate component arguments, see below).- az :
Angle
, optional, must be keyword The Azimuth for this object (
alt
must also be given andrepresentation
must be None).- alt :
Angle
, optional, must be keyword The Altitude for this object (
az
must also be given andrepresentation
must be None).- distance :
Quantity
, optional, must be keyword The Distance for this object along the line-of-sight.
- pm_az_cosalt :
Quantity
, optional, must be keyword The proper motion in azimuth (including the
cos(alt)
factor) for this object (pm_alt
must also be given).- pm_alt :
Quantity
, optional, must be keyword The proper motion in altitude for this object (
pm_az_cosalt
must also be given).- radial_velocity :
Quantity
, optional, must be keyword The radial velocity of this object.
- representation_type :
BaseRepresentation
subclass, str, optional A representation class or string name of a representation class. This sets the expected input representation class, thereby changing the expected keyword arguments for the data passed in. For example, passing
representation_type='cartesian'
will make the classes expect position data with cartesian names, i.e.x, y, z
in most cases.- differential_type :
BaseDifferential
subclass, str, dict, optional A differential class or dictionary of differential classes (currently only a velocity differential with key ‘s’ is supported). This sets the expected input differential class, thereby changing the expected keyword arguments of the data passed in. For example, passing
differential_type='cartesian'
will make the classes expect velocity data with the argument namesv_x, v_y, v_z
.- copy : bool, optional
If
True
(default), make copies of the input coordinate arrays. Can only be passed in as a keyword argument.
Other Parameters: - obstime :
Time
The time at which the observation is taken. Used for determining the position and orientation of the Earth.
- location :
EarthLocation
The location on the Earth. This can be specified either as an
EarthLocation
object or as anything that can be transformed to anITRS
frame.- pressure :
Quantity
The atmospheric pressure as an
Quantity
with pressure units. This is necessary for performing refraction corrections. Setting this to 0 (the default) will disable refraction calculations when transforming to/from this frame.- temperature :
Quantity
The ground-level temperature as an
Quantity
in deg C. This is necessary for performing refraction corrections.- relative_humidity`` :
Quantity
or number. The relative humidity as a dimensionless quantity between 0 to 1. This is necessary for performing refraction corrections.
- obswl :
Quantity
- The average wavelength of observations as an
Quantity
with length units. This is necessary for performing refraction corrections.
- The average wavelength of observations as an
Notes
The refraction model is based on that implemented in ERFA, which is fast but becomes inaccurate for altitudes below about 5 degrees. Near and below altitudes of 0, it can even give meaningless answers, and in this case transforming to AltAz and back to another frame can give highly discrepant results. For much better numerical stability, leaving the
pressure
at0
(the default), disabling the refraction correction (yielding “topocentric” horizontal coordinates).Attributes Summary
default_differential
default_representation
frame_attributes
frame_specific_representation_info
location
name
obstime
obswl
pressure
relative_humidity
secz
Secant if the zenith angle for this coordinate, a common estimate of the airmass. temperature
zen
The zenith angle for this coordinate Attributes Documentation
-
default_differential
¶
-
default_representation
¶
-
frame_attributes
= {'location': <astropy.coordinates.attributes.EarthLocationAttribute object>, 'obstime': <astropy.coordinates.attributes.TimeAttribute object>, 'obswl': <astropy.coordinates.attributes.QuantityAttribute object>, 'pressure': <astropy.coordinates.attributes.QuantityAttribute object>, 'relative_humidity': <astropy.coordinates.attributes.QuantityAttribute object>, 'temperature': <astropy.coordinates.attributes.QuantityAttribute object>}¶
-
frame_specific_representation_info
¶
-
location
= None¶
-
name
= 'altaz'¶
-
obstime
= None¶
-
obswl
= <Quantity 1. micron>¶
-
pressure
= <Quantity 0. hPa>¶
-
relative_humidity
= <Quantity 0.>¶
-
secz
¶ Secant if the zenith angle for this coordinate, a common estimate of the airmass.
-
temperature
= <Quantity 0. deg_C>¶
-
zen
¶ The zenith angle for this coordinate
- data :