name: ephemeris-pipeline description: Understand the caelundas ephemeris calculation pipeline - NASA JPL API integration, astronomical event detection, and calendar generation. Use this skill when working on caelundas. license: MIT

Ephemeris Pipeline

This skill covers the caelundas astronomical calendar generation pipeline, including NASA JPL Horizons API integration, ephemeris caching, event detection, and output formatting.

Overview

Caelundas generates astronomical calendars by:

Fetching ephemeris data from NASA JPL Horizons API
Caching calculations in SQLite for performance
Detecting events (aspects, phases, eclipses, etc.)
Generating calendars in iCal and JSON formats

For comprehensive architecture details, see applications/caelundas/AGENTS.md.

Pipeline Architecture

┌─────────────────┐
│  Configuration  │ (dates, location, output format)
└────────┬────────┘
         │
         v
┌─────────────────┐
│  Fetch Data     │ NASA JPL Horizons API
│  ├─ Planets     │ (Sun, Moon, Mercury...Pluto)
│  ├─ Lunar Node  │
│  └─ Chiron      │
└────────┬────────┘
         │
         v
┌─────────────────┐
│  SQLite Cache   │ (ephemeris + active aspects)
│  ├─ Check cache │
│  ├─ Store new   │
│  └─ Query       │
└────────┬────────┘
         │
         v
┌─────────────────┐
│ Event Detection │
│  ├─ Aspects     │ (conjunctions, oppositions, etc.)
│  ├─ Phases      │ (new moon, full moon, quarters)
│  ├─ Stelliums   │ (3+ planets close together)
│  ├─ Eclipses    │
│  └─ Retrogrades │
└────────┬────────┘
         │
         v
┌─────────────────┐
│ Output Format   │
│  ├─ iCalendar   │ (.ics)
│  └─ JSON        │
└─────────────────┘

NASA JPL Horizons API

API Integration

Caelundas uses NASA's JPL Horizons system for high-precision ephemeris data:

// Fetch positions for a planet over date range
const response = await fetch("https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api", {
  method: "GET",
  params: {
    COMMAND: "10", // Body ID (Mercury)
    EPHEM_TYPE: "OBSERVER",
    CENTER: "coord@399", // Geocentric
    START_TIME: "2024-01-01",
    STOP_TIME: "2024-12-31",
    STEP_SIZE: "1d", // Daily positions
    QUANTITIES: "1,3", // RA/Dec and distance
    CSV_FORMAT: "YES",
  },
});

Body IDs

Sun: 10
Moon: 301
Mercury: 199
Venus: 299
Mars: 499
Jupiter: 599
Saturn: 699
Uranus: 799
Neptune: 899
Pluto: 999
Lunar Node: calculated from Moon's orbit
Chiron: 2060

Data Format

JPL returns CSV with columns:

Date, Julian Day, RA (deg), Dec (deg), Distance (AU)
2024-01-01, 2460310.5, 280.5, -23.0, 0.983

Caelundas parses and converts to internal format with:

Ecliptic longitude (0-360°)
Zodiac sign (Aries-Pisces)
Degree within sign (0-30°)

Rate Limiting

API is rate-limited. Caelundas implements:

Exponential backoff on 429 errors
Batch requests for multiple bodies
SQLite caching to minimize API calls

SQLite Caching Strategy

Cache Tables

ephemerides table:

CREATE TABLE ephemerides (
  id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
  body TEXT NOT NULL,           -- 'Sun', 'Moon', 'Mercury', etc.
  date TEXT NOT NULL,           -- ISO date
  longitude REAL NOT NULL,      -- Ecliptic longitude (0-360)
  latitude REAL,                -- Ecliptic latitude
  distance REAL,                -- Distance from Earth (AU)
  speed REAL,                   -- Daily motion (degrees/day)
  UNIQUE(body, date)
);

active_aspects table:

CREATE TABLE active_aspects (
  id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
  body1 TEXT NOT NULL,
  body2 TEXT NOT NULL,
  aspect_type TEXT NOT NULL,    -- 'conjunction', 'opposition', etc.
  exact_time TEXT NOT NULL,     -- ISO timestamp
  orb REAL NOT NULL,            -- Degrees from exact
  applying BOOLEAN NOT NULL,    -- Approaching (true) or separating (false)
  start_date TEXT NOT NULL,
  end_date TEXT NOT NULL
);

Cache Workflow

Check cache before API request:

const cached = await db.get(
  "SELECT * FROM ephemerides WHERE body = ? AND date = ?",
  [body, date],
);
if (cached) return cached;

Fetch from API if not cached:

const data = await fetchFromJPL(body, date)
await db.run(
  'INSERT INTO ephemerides (body, date, longitude, ...) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ...)',
  [body, date, data.longitude, ...]
)

Query cached data for event detection:

const positions = await db.all(
  "SELECT * FROM ephemerides WHERE date BETWEEN ? AND ? ORDER BY date",
  [startDate, endDate],
);

Cache Benefits

Reduces API calls by ~99% on repeat runs
Fast local queries for event detection
Offline capability once data is cached
Consistent results across runs

Event Detection

Aspect Types

Major aspects (exact angles between planets):

Conjunction (0°): Planets aligned
Opposition (180°): Planets opposite
Trine (120°): Harmonious angle
Square (90°): Challenging angle
Sextile (60°): Opportunity angle

Minor aspects:

Semi-sextile (30°)
Semi-square (45°)
Quintile (72°)
Sesquiquadrate (135°)
Quincunx (150°)

Specialty aspects:

Bi-quintile (144°)
Septile (51.43°)
Novile (40°)

Orbs

Orbs define how close to exact an aspect must be:

const MAJOR_ORB = 8; // ±8° for major aspects
const MINOR_ORB = 3; // ±3° for minor aspects

Example: Mars at 45° and Jupiter at 50° form a semi-square (45° aspect) with 5° orb.

Detection Algorithm

For each date in range:

Get all planet positions from cache
Calculate angles between all planet pairs
Check if angle matches aspect within orb
Determine applying/separating:
- Applying: Planets moving toward exact aspect
- Separating: Planets moving away from exact aspect
Find exact time using interpolation
Store in active_aspects table

Lunar Phases

Special case for Moon phases (Sun-Moon angles):

New Moon: Sun-Moon conjunction (0°)
Waxing Crescent: 0-90°
First Quarter: Sun-Moon square (90°)
Waxing Gibbous: 90-180°
Full Moon: Sun-Moon opposition (180°)
Waning Gibbous: 180-270°
Last Quarter: Sun-Moon square (270°)
Waning Crescent: 270-360°

Stelliums

A stellium is 3+ planets within 10° in the same zodiac sign:

// Group planets by sign
const planetsBySign = positions.reduce((acc, planet) => {
  const sign = getZodiacSign(planet.longitude);
  acc[sign] = acc[sign] || [];
  acc[sign].push(planet);
  return acc;
}, {});

// Find stelliums
const stelliums = Object.entries(planetsBySign)
  .filter(([sign, planets]) => planets.length >= 3)
  .map(([sign, planets]) => ({ sign, planets }));

Eclipses

Solar and lunar eclipses occur when:

Solar Eclipse (Sun-Moon conjunction):

Moon is near lunar node (within ~18°)
New Moon

Lunar Eclipse (Sun-Moon opposition):

Moon is near lunar node (within ~12°)
Full Moon

Retrogrades

A planet is retrograde when its speed (daily motion) is negative:

const isRetrograde = planet.speed < 0;

Retrograde periods are when a planet appears to move backward in the sky from Earth's perspective.

Output Formats

iCalendar (.ics)

Standard calendar format compatible with Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, etc.

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//caelundas//astronomical-calendar//EN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:mars-square-saturn-2024-01-15@caelundas
DTSTART:20240115T143000Z
SUMMARY:Mars square Saturn
DESCRIPTION:Exact aspect at 14:30 UTC
LOCATION:Geocentric
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

Event properties:

UID: Unique identifier
DTSTART: Exact time of aspect
SUMMARY: Human-readable event name
DESCRIPTION: Additional details (orb, planets, etc.)

JSON

Structured data for programmatic access:

{
  "events": [
    {
      "type": "aspect",
      "aspect": "square",
      "body1": "Mars",
      "body2": "Saturn",
      "exactTime": "2024-01-15T14:30:00Z",
      "orb": 0.5,
      "applying": false,
      "longitude1": 45.5,
      "longitude2": 135.5
    }
  ]
}

More flexible for custom processing and analysis.

Configuration

Environment Variables

# Date range
START_DATE=2024-01-01
END_DATE=2024-12-31

# Location (for local coordinates)
LATITUDE=40.7128
LONGITUDE=-74.0060
TIMEZONE=America/New_York

# Output format
OUTPUT_FORMAT=ical  # or 'json' or 'both'
OUTPUT_PATH=/app/output/calendar.ics

# Event types to include
INCLUDE_MAJOR_ASPECTS=true
INCLUDE_MINOR_ASPECTS=true
INCLUDE_PHASES=true
INCLUDE_ECLIPSES=true
INCLUDE_RETROGRADES=true
INCLUDE_STELLIUMS=true

Custom Orbs

Override default orbs in configuration:

const customOrbs = {
  conjunction: 10,
  opposition: 10,
  trine: 8,
  square: 8,
  sextile: 6,
  // ...minor aspects
};

Performance

Optimization Strategies

Parallel API requests for different bodies
SQLite indexing on (body, date) columns
Batch inserts for cache updates
Lazy loading of event detection
Incremental updates for overlapping date ranges

Typical Runtime

For full year calendar (365 days, 11 bodies):

First run (no cache): ~5-10 minutes
Subsequent runs (cached): ~30 seconds
Incremental update (7 days): ~5 seconds

Testing

Test Types

Unit tests (*.unit.test.ts):

Angle calculations
Zodiac sign conversions
Orb checking
Date utilities

Integration tests (*.integration.test.ts):

NASA API requests
SQLite caching
Event detection algorithms

End-to-end tests (*.end-to-end.test.ts):

Full pipeline execution
Output file generation
Multi-day processing

Common Tasks

Generate Calendar

nx run caelundas:develop

Clear Cache

rm applications/caelundas/ephemeris.db

Debug API Requests

# Enable debug logging
DEBUG=nasa-api nx run caelundas:develop

Validate Output

# Check iCal syntax
icalendar-validate output/calendar.ics

# Parse JSON
jq . output/calendar.json

Astronomical Resources

Ephemeris - Table of planetary positions
Ecliptic coordinate system
Astrological aspects
Zodiac

Name	ephemeris-pipeline
Description	Understand the caelundas ephemeris calculation pipeline - NASA JPL API integration, astronomical event detection, and calendar generation. Use this skill when working on caelundas.

ephemeris-pipeline

SKILL.md