Learn more about Mapping Toolbox

Planetary Almanac Data

Mapping Toolbox functions include one that provides almanac data (size and shape statistics) for the major bodies of our solar system. Basic geometric parameters, such as ellipsoid vectors, radii, surface areas, and volumes, can be accessed for the Sun, the Earth's moon, and all of the planets, in any of the supported units of distance measurement.

Many planets have ellipsoid vectors available. Some planets return spherical ellipsoid vectors only:

almanac('earth','ellipsoid','nauticalmiles')

ans =
  	3443.92          0.08

almanac('mars','ellipsoid','kilometers')

ans =
  	3396.90          0.11

almanac('moon','ellipsoid','statutemiles')

ans =
  	1079.97             0

When you specify 'radius', a scalar is returned representing the radius of the best spherical model of the planet. Notice that for a spherical model, the radius in radians is 1:

almanac('mercury','radius','kilometers')

ans =
  	2439

almanac('neptune','radius','radians')

ans =
  	1

Surface areas and volumes are calculated based on a spherical model by default. In most cases, you can use the ellipsoid model instead, and for the Earth you can specify any of the supported ellipsoid models. You can also request the actual tabulated values of the Earth:

almanac('mars','surfarea','kilometers','ellipsoid')

ans =
  	1.4441e+08

almanac('earth','volume','kilometers','international')

ans =
  	1.0833e+12

almanac('earth','volume','kilometers','actual')

ans =
  	1.0832e+12

For a complete description of available data, see the almanac reference page.

Directions and Areas on the Sphere and Spheroid

Creating and Viewing Maps

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