Project: astroterm

What is the project about?

astroterm is a terminal-based star map that displays the real-time positions of stars, planets, constellations, and the moon.

What problem does it solve?

It provides a way to view the celestial bodies and events from any location and time, past, present, or future, directly within a terminal, without needing a telescope.

What are the features of the project?

Highly Customizable: Allows users to specify date, time, and location.
Accurate Rendering: Displays celestial bodies with precision limited by terminal graphics.
Moon Phases: Shows accurate real-time lunar phases.
Constellation Figures: Includes detailed constellation shapes.
Performance Optimized: Lightweight and fast ASCII rendering.

What are the technologies used in the project?

C (programming language)
ncurses (library for terminal-based UI)
argtable2 (library for parsing command-line arguments)
Meson (build system)
Ninja (build tool)
Optional: pdcurses (for Windows)

What are the benefits of the project?

Provides an accessible and educational way to explore the night sky.
Offers a lightweight and fast visualization tool.
Highly configurable for different viewing scenarios.
Works directly in the terminal, requiring no graphical environment.

What are the use cases of the project?

Educational tool for learning about astronomy.
Visualizing celestial events for any given date, time, and location.
Exploring the night sky as it appeared in the past or will appear in the future.
General interest in astronomy and stargazing.