Create PNG image of Sun/Moon azimuth/elevation rise/set times using a PHP script with internal moon and sun calculations.

This sunposa.php script is an update and repackaging of the original script which used Weather-Display clientrawextra.txt data for moon information. It is now independent of weather software used and is fully standalone.

NOTE: V3.02 of the script expects latitudes to be Northern Hemisphere from +25 to +70 degrees North. Values outside that range produces quirky plots at this time

Version 3.02 now uses curl to download the sun image from NASA instead of file_get_contents() function and now supports using an optional proxy server for the access.

Version 3.06 adds Southern Hemisphere support, additional debugging info, minor update to English translation and new ./moonimg/ set of moon gifs based on NASA moon images.

• ./jpgraph-4.4.2-src-only/ A source only for JPGraph 4.4.2 is included (under QPL-1.0 license) for convenience. The script can be changed to use your existing JPGraph installation if desired.
• ./cache/ storage for jpsun.png and jpmoon.png created by the script
• ./moonimg/ collection of Northern and Southern hemisphere moon images for each day in the lunar cycle
• sunposa.php the script to generate the image .png
• sunposa-lang.php (new V3.50) the language lookup for legends
• wxastronomy.php replacement page in Saratoga template to display the graphic
• ./langtrans/ directory for raw language translations in native character sets (see below to update your own sunposa-lang.php )

Internal settings in the script are shown below and are active if used outside a Saratoga website template. Inside a Saratoga wx...php page, needed configurations are gathered from your Settings.php file and no additional configuration is needed.

###############################################################
#Settings                                                     #
###############################################################
#
/*  GLOBAL VARIABLES */
$jploc = './jpgraph-4.4.2-src-only/';  // relative location of jpgraph library

$lat = 37.2715;              //overridden by $SITE['latitude']
//Note! longitude is west negative
$lon = -122.02274;           //overridden by $SITE['longitude'];
$tz = "America/Los_Angeles"; //overridden by $SITE['tz']
$cacheFileDir = './cache/';        //overridden by $SITE['cacheFileDir']
//
$dateMDY    = false;  // =true for mm/dd/yyyy, =false for dd/mm/yyyy format overridden by $SITE['WDdateMDY']
$timeOnlyFormat = 'H:i';     // ='H:i' or ='g:ia' overridden by $SITE['timeOnlyFormat']
$dtstring   = "M j Y";  // ='M j Y ' for Mon d yyyy format for the date & time in title
#
# default language
$lang = 'en';  # Default language for legends - Will be overridden by $SITE['lang'] or by
#                $_SESSION['lang'] for Saratoga templates
#
# optional uncomment $crextrafile to use Weather-Display clientrawextra.txt for moon instead of
#  the internal calculations
#
# $crextrafile = "./clientrawextra.txt"; // set location of WD clientrawextra file
#
# optional $myProxy 
# if proxy used - uncomment to use. Leave commented if no proxy server needed
#
# $myProxy = 'proxyip:port';
#
# optional uncomment $doLog to enable export of sun/moon data to ./calc-sunmoon-data.php for debugging
# and comparison with USNO using get-usno-data=>usno-sunmoon-data.php and check-sunmoon-data.php
$doLog = false;
#
# you likely do not have to configure the following:
# 
$daycolor   = 'lightskyblue';
$ctlcolor   = 'skyblue:0.6';           // Civil Twilight
$ntlcolor   = 'skyblue:0.6';           // Nautical Twilight
$atlcolor   = 'midnightblue:0.9';           // Astronomical Twilight
$nightcolor = 'midnightblue:0.7';
$dawncolor  = 'lightskyblue:0.4';
$legendColor = 'orange';          // color for title/legend text
$maxElevation = 90;               // graph Y-scale max (in integer degrees) default=90
$zenith = 90.83333;
#
# Note: $moonImagePath will auto-adjust if $lat < 0 (for Southern Hemisphere moons)
# so you don't need to change this
$moonImagePath = './moonimg/NH-moon'; //moon images NH-moon - Norhern Hemisphere
###############################################################
#End of settings                                              #
###############################################################

To use the file in a page, simply invoke it using <img src="sunposa.php" alt="sun/moon graph"/>

The script includes some helpful debugging code to check for needed PHP settings/functions. Invoke with https://your.website.com/sunposa.php?debug=y and output similar to this will be shown.

------------------------------------------------------------------
sunposa.php Version 3.60 - 11-Sep-2024
..debug=y debugging output for sunposa.php.  PHP version 8.2.0

  Status of needed built-in PHP functions:
  function 'imagecreatefrompng()'  is available
  function 'imagecreatefromgif()'  is available
  function 'imagecreatetruecolor()'  is available
  function 'imagecolortransparent()'  is available
  function 'imagettfbbox()'  is available
  function 'imagettftext()'  is available
  function 'gregoriantojd()'  is available
  function 'curl_init()'  is available
  function 'curl_setopt()'  is available
  function 'curl_exec()'  is available
  function 'curl_error()'  is available
  function 'curl_getinfo()'  is available
  function 'curl_close()'  is available

  Settings used:
  lat='37.2715', lon='-122.02274', tz='America/Los_Angeles'
  cacheFileDir='./cache/'
  moonImagePath='./moonimg/NH-moon'
  legendColor='orange' maxElevation='90'
  jpgraph location='./jpgraph-4.4.2-src-only/'
  Using internal calculations for moon data.
  moon image cache './cache/jpmoon.png exists. Updated 2024-09-11 08:46:54
  sun  image NASA  './cache/tempImg.gif exists.  Updated 2024-09-11 09:04:30
  sun  image cache './cache/jpsun.png exists.  Updated 2024-09-11 09:04:30

  GD Library is available and has these capabilities:
    GD Version: bundled (2.1.0 compatible)
    FreeType Support: true
    FreeType Linkage: with freetype
    GIF Read Support: true
    GIF Create Support: true
    JPEG Support: true
    PNG Support: true
    WBMP Support: true
    XPM Support: true
    XBM Support: true
    WebP Support: true
    BMP Support: true
    AVIF Support: true
    TGA Read Support: true
    JIS-mapped Japanese Font Support: false

Note that PHP gregoriantojd() function is required, along with the GD library with TTF functions enabled.

In the ./langtrans/ directory are the individual language files. Please see the README-langtrans.txt file in that directory for instructions on how to change the language presented. It's a bit tricky to do, but following the instructions there should result in success. Good luck...

Two utility programs are included to do a comparison of the azimuth,elevation values that are computed in sunposa.php versus the US Naval Observatory data for the same date.

In sunposa.php the '$doLog = true;` allows creation of calc-sunmoon-data.php, one of the files needed by the utility.

Run get-usno-data.php to create usno-sunmoon-data.php in the same directory.

Then you can run check-sunmoon-data.php to compare the results. The output to your browser looks like: