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Quick Start

Get up and running with starward in minutes.

Current Time​

# Show current time in multiple formats
starward time now

Output:

  Time Systems
  ─────────────────────────────────────────
  UTC:        2026-01-11 08:30:00
  JD:         2461051.854167
  MJD:        61051.354167
  Unix:       1768133400

Planetary Positions​

# All planets at once
starward planets all

# Specific planet
starward planets position mars

Sun and Moon​

# Solar position
starward sun position

# Sunrise/sunset (requires location)
starward sun rise --lat 40.7 --lon -74.0

# Moon phase
starward moon phase

Coordinate Transformations​

# Parse and transform coordinates
starward coords transform "12h30m +45d" --to galactic

# Angular separation between objects
starward angles sep "10h30m +20d" "11h00m +22d"

Verbose Mode​

Add --verbose or -v to see the math:

starward sun position --verbose

This shows step-by-step calculations with formulas and intermediate values.

JSON Output​

For scripting and integration:

starward planets position jupiter --json

Setting Up an Observer​

For rise/set calculations, save your location:

# Add a named observer
starward observer add "Home" 40.7128 -74.0060

# Set as default
starward observer default "Home"

# Now rise/set commands use your location automatically
starward sun rise
starward planets rise mars

Python Library​

from starward import planet_position, Planet, jd_now

# Get Mars position
mars = planet_position(Planet.MARS)

print(f"Mars RA: {mars.ra.format_hms()}")
print(f"Mars Dec: {mars.dec.format_dms()}")
print(f"Distance: {mars.distance_au:.3f} AU")
print(f"Magnitude: {mars.magnitude:+.1f}")

Next Steps​