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Sky Culture MCP: Archaeoastronomy Computation Engine

Changing the Lens, Not the Telescope

In my previous work translating the Surya Siddhanta, I spent months manually calculating planetary positions to verify ancient Sanskrit verses against modern ephemerides. It was a tedious, repetitive process of building bespoke simulations for a single cultural context.

When I moved on to Mayan and Chinese astronomy for my Final Year Project, I realized I was making the same mistake: I was building a new "telescope" (simulation engine) for every culture.

*Sky Culture MCP was developed as the solution. It serves as the core computational module for the broader project, representing a shift in architecture. Instead of rebuilding the telescope, I simply changed the lens.

This modular "Interchangeable Lens" allows AI Agents to abstract the complexity of orbital mechanics. Whether the input is a Mayan Long Count date or a Han Dynasty star name, this microservice handles the physics, allowing the Agent to focus on the cultural interpretation.

Technical Architecture

This module implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to expose high-precision astronomical functions to Large Language Models (LLMs) like Claude.

  • Ephemeris: NASA JPL DE421 (Covers 1900 BC to 2050 AD).
  • Physics Engine: Skyfield (Vector astrometry).
  • Time Standard: Barycentric Dynamical Time (TDB).
  • Standards Compliance: IAU Working Group on Star Names (WGSN).

Integration Guide: Claude Desktop

To use this engine as a "Lens" for Claude, you must register it in your claude_desktop_config.json.

Prerequisite: You must have Docker installed and running.

  1. Locate your configuration file:

    • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
    • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

  2. Add the sky-culture-lite entry to the mcpServers object:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sky-culture-lite": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "yourname/sky-culture-lite"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Note: Replace yourname/sky-culture-lite with your local image tag if you haven't pushed to Docker Hub yet (e.g., sky-culture-lite).

Exposed Functions

The server exposes the following function signatures to the Model Context Protocol (MCP) host.

1. convert_culture_to_coordinates

Signature: (culture_id: str, object_name: str, date_str: str) -> str

This is the primary "Lens" function. It performs the complete translation from a cultural description to a scientific vector.

  • Inputs:
    • culture_id: The target cultural context (e.g., mayan, chinese_han).
    • object_name: The native name of the celestial object (e.g., chak_ek, yinghuo).
    • date_str: The historical epoch. Supports Mayan Long Count (M:b,k,t,u,k) and Julian (J:y,m,d) formats.
  • Returns:
    • Barycentric Dynamical Time (TDB)
    • Julian Day Number (JD)
    • J2000 Right Ascension & Declination (ICRF)

2. list_cultures

Signature: () -> str

Returns a catalog of the currently loaded cultural contexts. This allows the Agent to "survey" the available lenses before selecting one.

  • Returns: A formatted list of available Culture IDs and their associated celestial objects.

References