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starward v0.1.0: First Light

· 2 min read
Oddur Sigurdsson
Oddur Sigurdsson
Creator of astr0

Today marks the first release of starward, an educational astronomy calculation toolkit for Python. The name comes from the astronomical tradition of "first light" — the moment a new telescope captures its first image of the sky.

Why starward?​

Most astronomy software treats calculations as black boxes. You put in a date and location, and out comes an answer. But for students learning celestial mechanics, amateur astronomers wanting to understand the sky, or anyone curious about how these calculations actually work — that opacity is a barrier.

starward is built differently. Every calculation can show its work with --verbose mode, revealing the step-by-step mathematics behind the results.

What's in v0.1.0​

Time Module​

The foundation of any astronomical calculation is time. starward's time module handles:

  • Julian Date conversions (the astronomer's universal time system)
  • Modified Julian Date (MJD)
  • Greenwich Mean Sidereal Time (GMST)
  • Local Sidereal Time (LST)
starward time jd --verbose

Coordinates Module​

Transform between the major astronomical coordinate systems:

  • ICRS (International Celestial Reference System)
  • Galactic coordinates
  • Horizontal (altitude/azimuth)

Angles Module​

Parse and format angles in standard astronomical notation:

  • Degrees, minutes, seconds (DMS)
  • Hours, minutes, seconds (HMS)
  • Angular separation between points

Getting Started​

pip install starward

Then try:

starward time now
starward coords parse "12h 30m 45s, +45° 15' 30\""

What's Next​

v0.2.0 will add the Sun and Moon modules, bringing rise/set times, twilight calculations, and lunar phases. The goal is to build a complete toolkit for observation planning — one that teaches while it computes.