commons-suncalc

A Java library for calculation of sun and moon positions and phases.

Features

• Lightweight, only requires Java 1.7 or higher, no other dependencies
• Android compatible, requires API level 11 (Honeycomb) or higher. Lower API levels may work as well, but this is untested.
• Available at Maven Central
• Extensive unit tests

Accuracy

Astronomical calculations are far more complex than throwing a few numbers into an obscure formula and then getting a fully accurate result. There is always a tradeoff between accuracy and computing time.

This library has its focus on getting acceptable results at low cost, so it can also run on mobile devices, or devices with a low computing power. The results have an accuracy of about a minute, which should be good enough for common applications (like sunrise/sunset timers), but is probably not sufficient for astronomical purposes.

If you are looking for the highest possible accuracy, you are looking for a different library.

Quick Start

This library consists of a few models, all of them are invoked the same way:

Date date = // requested date of calculation
double lat, lng = // geolocation
SunPosition position = SunPosition.compute()
        .on(date)       // set a date
        .at(lat, lng)   // set a location
        .execute();     // get the results
System.out.println("Elevation: " + position.getElevation() + "°");
System.out.println("Azimuth: " + position.getAzimuth() + "°");

See the online documentation for API details.

See the migration guide for how to migrate from a previous version.

References

This library bases on:

• "Astronomy on the Personal Computer", 4th edition, by Oliver Montenbruck and Thomas Pfleger
• "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus
• MoonIllumination is based on suncalc by Vladimir Agafonkin

Contribute

• Fork the Source code at GitHub. Feel free to send pull requests.
• Found a bug? File a bug report.
• Are you getting different results from another library or web site? If you file a bug, please try to explain why you think the commons-suncalc result is wrong.

License

commons-suncalc is open source software. The source code is distributed under the terms of Apache License 2.0.