orbtimes –help
orbtimes –location –timezone –daylight
–query returns 1 if query is true, 0 otherwise
–selftest will run exhaustive test cases
–verbose will print diagnostic information
Examples:
orbtimes --location "36.048202N 114.950131W 0ft" --timezone -8.0 --daylight 1
Called with no (or partial) arguments, and it will guess at timezone, location, and daylight savings.
orbtimes --location="48.22N 11.54E 0ft" -v
Called with --moon and/or other orbs.
orbtimes --moon --location="36.048621N 114.951226W" -v
Called with a query
orbtimes --moon --query "sunset>moonrise"
Called on a particular date and time
orbtimes -J 2457957.0 -vv
Called with two stars, solve for location with synthetic sightings
--star Vega --star Arcturus --location="36N90W"
Called with two stars, solve for location with two sightings
--star Vega --star Arcturus --sighting 58.725774 --sighting 61.740039
TBD solve for time and date with two sightings
All Options:
--location (-l) Specify location (latitude, longitude, elevation) e.g. "48.22N 11.54E 0ft"
--query (-q) Specify a query e.g. "sunrise<sunset"
--date (-D) Specify the date yyy-mm-day
--ztime (-Z) Specify the Zulu (UT) time. Use in conjunction with date. e.g. "23:6.1"
--datejd (-J) Specify the Julian day
--timezone (-t) Specify the timezone
--daylight (-d) Specify the daylight savings offset
--twilight_angle (-e) Specify a twilight angle (radians)
--solar_eclipse (-E) Run solar eclipse calculation for probability and time
--selftest (-s) Run self test mode
--verbose (-v) Print more information
--ascii_art (-A) Display option
--map (-m) Specify map (spacechart catalog)
--moon (-M) Display lunar (i.e. Moon) info
--moondays (-N) Display lunar new and full info
--mercury --venus --mars --jupiter --saturn --uranus --neptune (--orbs) Display each planets info (or all)
--star (-9) Display star celestial (RA.DEC) and topographic (EL.AZ) info for date, time, location and epoch.
solve for location given two stars circle of equal position intersect.
"An analytical solution of the Two Star Sight Problem of Celestial Navigation." Van Allen 1981.
if no sightings, then guess elevation (EL) angles.
--sighting (-C) Set sighting elevation angle (EL) for respective star.
--twilight (-T) Display twilight info [0..3] civil,nautical,astronomical,general$ orbtimes –solar_eclipse
SOLAR_ECLIPSE CALCULATE -E
location is latitude 36.000000 longitude -90.000000 daylight offset 1.000000
Sunset local day Tuesday 19:50.505922 August 11 2026
Sunrise local day Wednesday 6:16.183105 August 12 2026
Check: Solar eclipse possible. MUST be at new moon 46245.468565 == 46245.234619 (12.000000 8.000000 2026.000000)
argument latitude 2.990440 event day 46245.000000 event fraction 0.234619
Check: calculating solar eclipse on date 2026 8 12 and location -90.000000 36.000000
moon_lat 0.151152
eclipse probability 1.000000 at UT time 18.017936
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