Venus Jupiter Separation

gistfile1.py

import ephem, datetime, math
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

venus = ephem.Venus()
jupiter = ephem.Jupiter()

observer=ephem.city('Los Angeles')
dates = [datetime.date(2012,3,1) + datetime.timedelta(days=x) for x in range(180)]
sep = []
for date in dates:
    observer.date=date
    venus.compute(date)
    jupiter.compute(date)
    sep.append(ephem.separation(venus,jupiter) * 360.0 / 2*math.pi)
fig=plt.figure()
ax=fig.add_subplot(1,1,1)
ax.plot(dates, sep)
fig.autofmt_xdate()
ax.set_title('Angular Separation of Jupiter and Venus')
ax.set_xlabel('date')
ax.set_ylabel('Separation [degrees]')