Crate supernovas 

Safe Rust bindings to SuperNOVAS, a high-precision astrometry library based on NOVAS (Naval Observatory Vector Astrometry Software).

What’s implemented

• Scalars: Angle, TimeAngle, Coordinate, Interval, Pressure, Temperature, ScalarVelocity — dimensioned newtypes with validated constructors and unit-aware accessors.
• Vectors: Position and Velocity — 3-D Cartesian vectors with arithmetic operators and cross-type ops (Position / Interval → Velocity, Velocity × Interval → Position).
• Spherical coordinates: Spherical (base shape), Horizontal (az/el), Equatorial (RA/Dec + equinox), Ecliptic (λ/β + equinox), Galactic (l/b).
• Reference systems: ReferenceSystem, Equinox — tag coordinate sets with the equatorial frame they were computed in.
• Refraction: Refraction — choose None / Standard / Optical / Radio when converting apparent equatorial → horizontal.
• Time: Time — UTC, TT, and split Julian dates, plus Unix epoch.
• Observers: Observer — geodetic ground site (Site + Weather) and geocenter.
• Sources: Source sealed trait — common interface for all source kinds.
  • CatalogEntry — ICRS sidereal source with optional proper motion, parallax, and radial velocity.
  • Planet — major solar-system body (Sun, Moon, planets, barycenters) via the installed planet provider.
  • EphemObject — arbitrary body by name and NAIF ID from the installed ephemeris provider.
  • OrbitalObject / OrbitalElements — Keplerian elements source; no external provider required.
• Frame + observation: Frame — observer × time snapshot; call Frame::observe (accepts any impl Source) for a quick az/el, or Source::apparent_in to get an Apparent position with access to intermediate RA/Dec and conversion to any output frame.

Quick start

use supernovas::{Accuracy, CatalogEntry, Frame, Observer, Site, Time, Weather};

// Vega in ICRS J2000
let vega = CatalogEntry::icrs(
    "Vega",
    "18:36:56.336".parse().unwrap(),
    "+38:47:01.28".parse().unwrap(),
).unwrap();

// OVRO site with standard atmosphere
let site = Site::from_degrees(37.234, -118.282, 1222.0).unwrap()
    .with_weather(Weather::standard());
let observer = Observer::Geodetic(site);

// 2026-07-15 06:00 UTC (37 leap seconds, dut1 ≈ 0)
let time = Time::from_utc_jd(2_461_236.75, 37, 0.0).unwrap();

let frame = Frame::new(Accuracy::Reduced, &observer, &time).unwrap();
let horizontal = frame.observe(&vega).unwrap();
println!("{horizontal}");

The raw FFI bindings are re-exported as sys for callers that need to drop down to the C layer directly.

Re-exports

pub use apparent::Apparent;

pub use apparent::ReferenceSystem;

pub use equinox::Equinox;

pub use error::Error;

pub use error::Result;

pub use frame::Accuracy;

pub use frame::Frame;

pub use observer::Observer;

pub use observer::Site;

pub use observer::Weather;

pub use refraction::Refraction;

pub use scalar::Angle;

pub use scalar::Coordinate;

pub use scalar::Interval;

pub use scalar::Pressure;

pub use scalar::ScalarVelocity;

pub use scalar::Temperature;

pub use scalar::TimeAngle;

pub use source::CatalogEntry;

pub use source::EphemObject;

pub use source::OrbitalElements;

pub use source::OrbitalObject;

pub use source::Planet;

pub use source::SolarBody;

pub use source::Source;

pub use spherical::Ecliptic;

pub use spherical::Equatorial;

pub use spherical::Galactic;

pub use spherical::Horizontal;

pub use spherical::Spherical;

pub use time::Time;

pub use vector::Position;

pub use vector::Velocity;

pub use supernovas_ffi as sys;

Modules

apparent

Apparent place of a source as observed from a Frame.

equinox

Equinox: a (name, reference-system, date) triple identifying a particular equatorial coordinate system.

error

Error type for the safe wrapper.

frame

Observing frame: an observer × instant × Earth-orientation snapshot.

observer

Observers: who or where the observation is taken from.

refraction

Atmospheric refraction models.

scalar

Scalar quantities: dimensioned newtypes around f64.

source

spherical

Spherical-coordinate types: directions on a sphere, with reference-frame- specific newtype wrappers.

time

Astronomical time.

unit

Conversion factors from common units to SI base units.

vector

3-D vector quantities.