Altitude, azimuth, and compass direction for a celestial body at a datetime.

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Overview

Returns the altitude and azimuth of any supported celestial body as seen from a specific location at a given date and time. Altitude is the angle above the horizon in degrees — a negative value means the body is below the horizon. Azimuth is the compass direction in degrees measured clockwise from north. The response also includes a plain-language compass direction (e.g. NNW) derived from the azimuth. Useful for determining whether a planet or the Moon is currently visible from a location and in which direction to look.

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Request parameters

Name	Type	In	Required	Description	Example
body	Choice	Body	Yes	The celestial body to query. Must be one of the Skyfield keys returned by the /astra/bodies/ endpoint (e.g. SUN, MOON, MARS). Case-sensitive.
date1	Date	Body	Yes	The start date (or single query date) for the computation. Accepted formats: YYYY-MM-DD for date-only fields, ISO 8601 datetime string (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM) for datetime fields.
lat	Float	Body	Yes	Observer latitude in decimal degrees. Valid range: -90.0 (South Pole) to 90.0 (North Pole). Used to compute the observer's position on Earth's surface for all sky calculations.
lon	Float	Body	Yes	Observer longitude in decimal degrees. Valid range: -180.0 to 180.0. Negative values are west of the Prime Meridian, positive values are east.
timezone_slug	Choice	Body	Optional	Slug of a timezone record used to localise event datetimes in the response (e.g. america-new-york). When omitted, the timezone is derived automatically from the supplied coordinates. Obtain valid timezone slugs from the timezone list endpoint.

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Response fields

Name	Type	Nullable	Description	Example
altitude	Float	—	Altitude of the body above the horizon in degrees. Negative values mean the body is below the horizon.	42.5
azimuth	Float	—	Azimuth of the body measured clockwise from true north, in degrees (0–360).	180.0
body	String	—	Skyfield key of the requested celestial body.	MARS
date1	Datetime	—	Observation datetime echoed from the request.	2025-06-21T14:00:00
formatted_altitude	String	—	Altitude formatted as a degree string (e.g. 42.5°).	42.5°
formatted_azimuth	String	—	Azimuth formatted with degrees and 16-point compass direction (e.g. 180.0° S).	180.0° S
is_visible	Boolean	—	True if the body's altitude is above the horizon (altitude > 0°).	true
lat	Float	—	Observer latitude echoed from the request.	48.428333
lon	Float	—	Observer longitude echoed from the request.	-123.364722
tz	String	—	Resolved IANA timezone name for the observer's location.	America/Vancouver