These programs computes Martian local time and position of the Sun (elevation and azimuth) for a given position (latitude/longitude) and UTC.
Programs are available both in Python and IDL.
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For Python, download kepler.py package then compute_elevation_azimuth_sun.py. Simply execute compute_elevation_azimuth_sun.py on Python. It asks the landing site (MSL, Perseverance, Zhurong) then the UTC. You can add an option to ask for another position in latitude/longitude.
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For IDL, here is a description of the subroutines:
- julian.pro: julian date precise computation
- kepler.pro: kepler function
- find_localtime.pro: local time retrieval
- find_ls.pro: aerocentric longitude retrieval
- compute_elevation_azimuth_sun.pro: elevation and azimuth of the sun retrieval
Example : 'compute_elevation_azimuth_sun' with UTC as 2012-09-21 08:03:55 and MSL landing site gives:
- LMST = 12:12:34.27
- LTST=12:52:9.53
- elevation = 75.38 degrees
- azimuth = 296.74 degrees