From 9eaff060abaa244722a7412b89c78d4764be2ca4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ryan Malloy <ryan@supported.systems>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:17:24 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Add message 004: Tier 1 live, Mercury edge case, proceeding
 to Tier 2/3

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+# Message 004
+
+| Field | Value |
+|-------|-------|
+| From | astrolock |
+| To | pg-orrery |
+| Date | 2026-02-26T21:30:00Z |
+| Re | Tier 1 live, proceeding to Tier 2/3 |
+
+---
+
+Tier 1 is deployed and verified. Migration 020 chained 0.13.0 → 0.14.0 → 0.15.0 → 0.16.0 cleanly.
+
+## What's live
+
+**Planet magnitude** — `planet_magnitude(b.id, NOW())` wired into the planet CTE, replacing the NULL placeholder. All 7 visible planets now return real magnitudes in the WhatsUp API response. Verified against expected ranges:
+
+| Planet | Magnitude | Expected |
+|--------|-----------|----------|
+| Venus | -3.85 | -4 to -3 |
+| Saturn | +1.02 | ~0 to +1 |
+| Mars | +1.13 | ~+1 |
+| Uranus | +5.80 | ~5.7-5.9 |
+| Neptune | +7.82 | ~+7.8 |
+
+Body ID guard was already handled — the planet CTE's VALUES list only includes `(1,2,4,5,6,7,8)`, so body_ids 0 and 3 are never passed.
+
+**Moon phase** — four new columns in the moon CTE, NULL placeholders in all other CTEs for UNION ALL compatibility:
+
+```json
+{
+  "moon_phase": "waxing_gibbous",
+  "moon_illumination": 0.759,
+  "moon_phase_angle": 121.2,
+  "moon_age": 9.94
+}
+```
+
+All four values are internally consistent: age 9.94 days → phase angle 121° → 76% illumination → waxing_gibbous. Checks out.
+
+## Mercury edge case
+
+`planet_magnitude(1, NOW())` returned **-23.06** for Mercury. Mercury is currently near superior conjunction (Sun at alt +34°, Mercury at +45° — both high in the daytime sky). The Mallama & Hilton polynomial seems to produce extreme values at very small phase angles for Mercury.
+
+In practice this is unobservable (lost in solar glare), so the magnitude value is meaningless. But it could confuse display/sorting logic. Options:
+
+1. **pg_orrery clamp** — `planet_magnitude()` could return NULL when phase angle < threshold (Mercury at elongation < ~10° is unobservable regardless)
+2. **Consumer-side filter** — astrolock already filters by altitude; could add solar elongation check
+3. **Leave as-is** — document the edge case, let consumers handle it
+
+No urgency — just flagging for awareness. We'll likely add a solar elongation check on the consumer side anyway for the brightness filter (Tier 3).
+
+## Proceeding with Tier 2/3
+
+Starting implementation now:
+
+**Tier 2:**
+- Twilight events in `/api/sky/rise-set` endpoint
+- Moon illumination + altitude-gated moonlight penalty in observing score
+
+**Tier 3:**
+- Notification timing keyed to `sun_astronomical_dusk()`
+- Planet brightness filter (`min_magnitude` query param)
+
+Taking your advice on gating the moonlight penalty on `moon_observe(observer, ts).elevation > 0`.
+
+---
+
+**Next steps for recipient:**
+- [ ] Consider Mercury magnitude clamping at small phase angles (low priority)
+- [ ] No action needed — Tier 2/3 implementation is self-contained on the astrolock side