com.askgeo.astronomy
Class ZenithEvent

java.lang.Object
  com.askgeo.astronomy.ZenithEvent

public class ZenithEvent
extends java.lang.Object

A ZenithEvent object represents one of several particular and meaningful moments in the course of an astronomical body's passage across the celestial sphere of an observer. These include the rising and setting of the object in addition to a number of other important moments.

A full list of the zenith event types and their descriptions are given in the Java enumeration ZenithEvent.Type.

The elevation (also known as altitude) of an astronomical body is the complement of the zenith and represents the angle above the horizon of the body.

It should be noted that in polar regions of the globe some of these events do not occur for months at a time. The only events that occur every day at every location on the globe are MIN_ELEVATION and MAX_ELEVATION.

Nested Class Summary

static class

ZenithEvent.Type Enumerates the event types that mark important moments in the course of astronomical body's passage across the celestial sphere of an observer.

Method Summary

double	getElevationDeg() The elevation is the angle of the astronomical body above the horizon.
ZenithEvent.Type	getEventType() The event type (e.g., RISE_UPPER_LIMB or SET_UPPER_LIMB)
long	getTimeMsecs() The time at which the event occurred in milliseconds since 1970 (unix time).
java.lang.String	toString() A String representation of the ZenithEvent, used internally for testing and suitable for debugging purposes in client code.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

equals, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Method Detail

getElevationDeg

public double getElevationDeg()

The elevation is the angle of the astronomical body above the horizon. This is the angular complement of the zenith angle.

Returns:

the elevation of the body above the horizon in degrees.

getTimeMsecs

public long getTimeMsecs()

The time at which the event occurred in milliseconds since 1970 (unix time).

Returns:

the time of the event in milliseconds since 1970.

getEventType

public ZenithEvent.Type getEventType()

The event type (e.g., RISE_UPPER_LIMB or SET_UPPER_LIMB)

Returns:

the event type as represented by a value of the ZenithEvent.Type Java enumeration.

toString

public java.lang.String toString()

A String representation of the ZenithEvent, used internally for testing and suitable for debugging purposes in client code.

Overrides:

toString in class java.lang.Object

Returns:

a String representation of the ZenithEvent.