airmass

Python module for computing atmospheric airmass and column density, using Reed Meyer's airmass program. I have converted his C program to a Python extension. This is a very accurate calculation - to quote Reed, it "was developed to find out to just what degree the standard approximate formulas for airmass are inaccurate".

For a detailed description of the model used, see Reed's description.

Installation

pip install https://github.com/gusgordon/airmass/zipball/master

Usage

import airmass

# Specifying pressure and temperature
# relative_humidity_percent is an optional parameter. If specified, water vapor will be considered.
airmass.compute(zenith_degrees, altitude_meters, day_of_year, latitude, light_wavelength_angstroms, pressure_mb, temperature_c)

# Using an altitude
# Temperature and pressure are taken from experimental values at the given altitude
airmass.from_altitude(zenith_degrees, altitude_meters, day_of_year, latitude, light_wavelength_angstroms)

See the documentation of each function for more details.

Solar

There is additionally a solar module, which is a work in progress. The goal of this is for accurate computation of solar intensity at various altitudes, so that high-altitude solar power output can be modeled (for use in solar planes).