The default styling for plots works pretty well however sometimes you may need to change things. The following will show you how to change the style of your plots and have different types of lines and dots
This is the default plot we will start with:
In [1]:
from astropy.time import Time
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.ion()
import poliastro.plotting as plotting
from poliastro.bodies import Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Sun
from poliastro.twobody import Orbit
epoch = Time("2018-08-17 12:05:50", scale="tdb")
plotter = plotting.OrbitPlotter()
plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Earth, epoch), label='Earth')
plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Mars, epoch), label='Mars')
plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Jupiter, epoch), label='Jupiter');
In [2]:
epoch = Time("2018-08-17 12:05:50", scale="tdb")
plotter = plotting.OrbitPlotter()
earthPlots = plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Earth, epoch), label='Earth')
earthPlots[0].set_linestyle('-') # solid line
earthPlots[0].set_linewidth(0.5)
earthPlots[1].set_marker('H') # Hexagon
earthPlots[1].set_markersize(15)
marsPlots = plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Mars, epoch), label='Mars')
jupiterPlots = plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Jupiter, epoch), label='Jupiter')
Here we get hold of the lines list from the OrbitPlotter.plot method this is a list of lines. The first is the orbit line. The second is the current position marker. With the matplotlib lines objects we can start changing the style. First we make the line solid but thin line. Then we change the current position marker to a large hexagon.
More details of the style options for the markers can be found here: https://matplotlib.org/2.0.2/api/markers_api.html#module-matplotlib.markers More details of the style options on lines can be found here: https://matplotlib.org/2.0.2/api/lines_api.html However make sure that you use the set methods rather than just changing the attributes as the methods will force a re-draw of the plot.
Next we will make some changes to the other two orbits.
In [3]:
epoch = Time("2018-08-17 12:05:50", scale="tdb")
plotter = plotting.OrbitPlotter()
earthPlots = plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Earth, epoch), label='Earth')
earthPlots[0].set_linestyle('-') # solid line
earthPlots[0].set_linewidth(0.5)
earthPlots[1].set_marker('H') # Hexagon
earthPlots[1].set_markersize(15)
marsPlots = plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Mars, epoch), label='Mars')
marsPlots[0].set_dashes([0,1,0,1,1,0])
marsPlots[0].set_linewidth(2)
marsPlots[1].set_marker('D') # Diamond
marsPlots[1].set_markersize(15)
marsPlots[1].set_fillstyle('none')
marsPlots[1].set_markeredgewidth(1) # make sure this is set if you use fillstyle 'none'
jupiterPlots = plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Jupiter, epoch), label='Jupiter')
jupiterPlots[0].set_linestyle('') # No line
jupiterPlots[1].set_marker('*') # star
jupiterPlots[1].set_markersize(15)
You can also change the style of the plot using the matplotlib axis which can be aquired from the OrbitPlotter()
See the folling example that creates a grid, adds a title, and makes the background transparent. To make the changes clearer it goes back to the inital example.
In [4]:
epoch = Time("2018-08-17 12:05:50", scale="tdb")
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.grid(True)
ax.set_title("Earth, Mars, and Jupiter")
ax.set_facecolor('None')
plotter = plotting.OrbitPlotter(ax)
plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Earth, epoch), label='Earth')
plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Mars, epoch), label='Mars')
plotter.plot(Orbit.from_body_ephem(Jupiter, epoch), label='Jupiter');