Fix planet_magnitude: use full Mallama & Hilton (2018) polynomials

The original implementation only used c1+c2 coefficients from the
simplified model. Mercury's 6th-order polynomial diverges badly
beyond ~60 deg phase angle with only 2 terms — returning -23 mag
at 130 deg (should be +1.1).

Now uses the complete piecewise models from the paper:
- Mercury: full 6th-order polynomial (Eq. 1)
- Venus: piecewise at 163.7 deg (Eq. 2/3)
- Mars: piecewise at 50 deg (Eq. 5/6)
- Jupiter: piecewise at 12 deg with log term (Eq. 7/8)
- Saturn: globe-only model (Eq. 11/12), ring tilt still not modeled
- Uranus: phase threshold at 3.1 deg (Eq. 14)
- Neptune: phase threshold at 1.9 deg (Eq. 17)

Bug found by astrolock: Mercury at superior conjunction (i=130.6 deg)
returned -23.3 mag instead of +1.1.
This commit is contained in:
Ryan Malloy 2026-02-26 17:23:44 -07:00
parent 9eaff060ab
commit 9949af738d

View File

@ -20,35 +20,99 @@ PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(planet_magnitude);
/* /*
* Planet magnitude parameters -- Mallama & Hilton (2018), simplified. * Per-planet phase correction -- Mallama & Hilton (2018).
* *
* V(1,0) = absolute magnitude at r=1 AU, delta=1 AU, i=0 deg * Mercury uses a 6th-order polynomial (their Eq. 1).
* Phase corrections are polynomial fits to i (phase angle in degrees). * Venus and Mars are piecewise with different coefficients for
* small vs large phase angles. Jupiter is piecewise at 12 deg.
* Saturn, Uranus, Neptune use simpler models.
* *
* We use the linear+quadratic terms which are sufficient for * Saturn caveat: ring tilt contribution (their Eq. 10) requires
* phase angles encountered from Earth (typically <180 deg). * saturnicentric sub-observer latitude, which we don't compute.
* * We use the globe-only model (Eq. 11/12) error up to ~1.5 mag.
* Saturn caveat: visual magnitude depends heavily on ring tilt
* (can vary by ~1.5 mag). The simplified model here uses a fixed
* V(1,0) without ring correction.
*/ */
typedef struct {
double v10; /* V(1,0) */
double c1; /* coefficient for i */
double c2; /* coefficient for i^2 */
double c3; /* coefficient for i^3 (0 if unused) */
} mag_params;
static const mag_params planet_mag[] = { static double
[0] = { 0, 0, 0, 0 }, /* Sun: unused placeholder */ phase_correction(int body_id, double i)
[1] = { -0.613, 6.328e-2, -1.6336e-3, 0 }, /* Mercury */ {
[2] = { -4.384, 1.044e-3, 3.687e-4, 0 }, /* Venus */ double i2 = i * i;
[3] = { 0, 0, 0, 0 }, /* Earth: unused */
[4] = { -1.601, 2.267e-2, -1.302e-4, 0 }, /* Mars */ switch (body_id)
[5] = { -9.395, 3.7e-4, 0, 0 }, /* Jupiter */ {
[6] = { -8.95, 0, 0, 0 }, /* Saturn (ring tilt NOT modeled) */ case 1: /* Mercury: 6th-order polynomial */
[7] = { -7.110, 0, 0, 0 }, /* Uranus */ return i * (6.3280e-02
[8] = { -7.00, 0, 0, 0 }, /* Neptune */ + i * (-1.6336e-03
+ i * (3.3644e-05
+ i * (-3.4265e-07
+ i * (1.6893e-09
+ i * (-3.0334e-12))))));
case 2: /* Venus: piecewise at 163.7 deg */
if (i < 163.7)
return i * (-1.044e-03
+ i * (3.687e-04
+ i * (-2.814e-06
+ i * 8.938e-09)));
else
return (236.05828 + 4.384) + i * (-2.81914e+00
+ i * 8.39034e-03);
case 4: /* Mars: piecewise at 50 deg */
if (i <= 50.0)
return i * (2.267e-02 + i * (-1.302e-04));
else
return (-1.601 + 0.367) + i * (-0.02573 + i * 0.0003445);
case 5: /* Jupiter: piecewise at 12 deg */
if (i <= 12.0)
return i * (6.16e-04 * i - 3.7e-04);
else
{
double a = i / 180.0;
return (-9.428 + 9.395) + (-2.5)
* log10(1.0 - 1.507 * a - 0.363 * a * a
- 0.062 * a * a * a
+ 2.809 * a * a * a * a
- 1.876 * a * a * a * a * a);
}
case 6: /* Saturn: globe-only (Eq. 11), no ring tilt */
if (i <= 6.5)
return -3.7e-04 * i + 6.16e-04 * i2;
else
return 2.446e-04 * i + 2.672e-04 * i2
- 1.506e-06 * i2 * i + 4.767e-09 * i2 * i2;
case 7: /* Uranus */
if (i <= 3.1)
return 0.0;
return i * (6.587e-03 + i * 1.045e-04);
case 8: /* Neptune */
if (i <= 1.9)
return 0.0;
return i * (7.944e-03 + i * 9.617e-05);
default:
return 0.0;
}
}
/*
* V(1,0) per planet -- absolute magnitude at unit distances, zero phase.
* Mercury through Neptune. Mars piecewise handled in phase_correction().
*/
static const double planet_v10[] = {
[0] = 0.0, /* Sun: unused */
[1] = -0.613, /* Mercury */
[2] = -4.384, /* Venus */
[3] = 0.0, /* Earth: unused */
[4] = -1.601, /* Mars (i <= 50; piecewise shifts in phase_correction) */
[5] = -9.395, /* Jupiter (i <= 12; piecewise shifts in phase_correction) */
[6] = -8.95, /* Saturn (globe-only) */
[7] = -7.110, /* Uranus */
[8] = -7.00, /* Neptune */
}; };
@ -65,7 +129,6 @@ compute_planet_magnitude(int body_id, double jd)
double geo[3]; double geo[3];
double r, delta, R; double r, delta, R;
double cos_i, i_deg; double cos_i, i_deg;
const mag_params *p;
double V; double V;
int vsop_body = body_id - 1; /* pg_orrery 1-based -> VSOP87 0-based */ int vsop_body = body_id - 1; /* pg_orrery 1-based -> VSOP87 0-based */
@ -94,13 +157,10 @@ compute_planet_magnitude(int body_id, double jd)
if (cos_i < -1.0) cos_i = -1.0; if (cos_i < -1.0) cos_i = -1.0;
i_deg = acos(cos_i) * RAD_TO_DEG; i_deg = acos(cos_i) * RAD_TO_DEG;
/* Mallama & Hilton (2018) magnitude formula */ /* Mallama & Hilton (2018) magnitude with full phase correction */
p = &planet_mag[body_id]; V = planet_v10[body_id]
V = p->v10
+ 5.0 * log10(r * delta) + 5.0 * log10(r * delta)
+ p->c1 * i_deg + phase_correction(body_id, i_deg);
+ p->c2 * i_deg * i_deg
+ p->c3 * i_deg * i_deg * i_deg;
return V; return V;
} }