Institut für Astronomie und AstrophysikAbteilung AstronomieWaldhäuser Str. 64, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany |
HELIO
Compute (low-precision) heliocentric coordinates for the planets.
The mean orbital elements for epoch J2000 are used. These are derived from a 250 yr least squares fit of the DE 200 planetary ephemeris to a Keplerian orbit where each element is allowed to vary linearly with time. For dates between 1800 and 2050, this solution fits the terrestrial planet orbits to ~25" or better, but achieves only ~600" for Saturn. Use PLANET_COORDS (which calls HELIO) to get celestial (RA, Dec) coordinates of the planets
HELIO, JD, LIST, HRAD, HLONG, HLAT, [/RADIAN]
JD = Julian date, double precision scalar or vector LIST = List of planets array. May be a single number. 1 = merc, 2 = venus, ... 9 = pluto.
HRAD = array of Heliocentric radii (A.U). HLONG = array of Heliocentric (ecliptic) longitudes (degrees). HLAT = array of Heliocentric latitudes (degrees). These output parameters will be dimensioned Nplanet by Ndate, where Nplanet is the number of elements of list, and Ndate is the number of elements of JD.
/RADIAN - If set, then the output longitude and latitude are given in radians.
(1) Find the current heliocentric positions of all the planets IDL> GET_JULDATE, jd ;Get current Julian date IDL> HELIO,jd,indgen(9)+1,hrad,hlong,hlat ;Get radius, long, and lat (2) Find heliocentric position of Mars on August 23, 2000 IDL> JDCNV, 2000,08,23,0,jd IDL> HELIO,JD,2,HRAD,HLONG,HLAT ===> hrad = 1.6407 AU hlong = 124.3197 hlat = 1.7853 For comparison, the JPL ephemeris gives hrad = 1.6407 AU hlong = 124.2985 hlat = 1.7845 (3) Find the heliocentric positions of Mars and Venus for every day in November 2000 IDL> JDCNV, 2000, 11, 1, 0, jd ;Julian date of November 1, 2000 IDL> helio, jd+indgen(30), [4,2], hrad,hlong,hlat ;Mars=4, Venus=2 hrad, hlong, and hlat will be dimensioned [2,30] first column contains Mars data, second column Venus
None
CIRRANGE - force angle between 0 and 2*!PI
(1) The calling sequence for this procedure was changed in August 2000 (2) This program is based on the two-body model and thus neglects interactions between the planets. This is why the worst results are for Saturn. Use the procedure JPLEPHINTERp for more accurate positions using the JPL ephemeris. Also see http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eph for a more accurate ephemeris generator online. (3) The coordinates are given for equinox 2000 and *not* the equinox of the supplied date(s)
R. Sterner. 20 Aug, 1986. Code cleaned up a bit W. Landsman December 1992 Converted to IDL V5.0 W. Landsman September 1997 Major rewrite, use modern orbital elements, vectorize, more accurate solution to Kepler's equation W. Landsman August 2000 Wasn't working for planet vectors W. Landsman August 2000
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