Institut für Astronomie und AstrophysikAbteilung AstronomieSand 1, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany |
MOONPOS
To compute the RA and Dec of the Moon at specified Julian date(s).
MOONPOS, jd, ra, dec, dis, geolong, geolat, [/RADIAN ]
JD - Julian date, scalar or vector, double precision suggested
Ra - Apparent right ascension of the moon in DEGREES, referred to the true equator of the specified date(s) Dec - The declination of the moon in DEGREES Dis - The Earth-moon distance in kilometers (between the center of the Earth and the center of the Moon). Geolong - Apparent longitude of the moon in DEGREES, referred to the ecliptic of the specified date(s) Geolat - Apparent longitude of the moon in DEGREES, referred to the ecliptic of the specified date(s) The output variables will all have the same number of elements as the input Julian date vector, JD. If JD is a scalar then the output variables will be also.
/RADIAN - If this keyword is set and non-zero, then all output variables are given in Radians rather than Degrees
(1) Find the position of the moon on April 12, 1992 IDL> jdcnv,1992,4,12,0,jd ;Get Julian date IDL> moonpos, jd, ra ,dec ;Get RA and Dec of moon IDL> print,adstring(ra,dec,1) ==> 08 58 45.23 +13 46 6.1 This is within 1" from the position given in the Astronomical Almanac (2) Plot the Earth-moon distance for every day at 0 TD in July, 1996 IDL> jdcnv,1996,7,1,0,jd ;Get Julian date of July 1 IDL> moonpos,jd+dindgen(31), ra, dec, dis ;Position at all 31 days IDL> plot,indgen(31),dis, /YNOZ
Derived from the Chapront ELP2000/82 Lunar Theory (Chapront-Touze' and Chapront, 1983, 124, 50), as described by Jean Meeus in Chapter 47 of ``Astronomical Algorithms'' (Willmann-Bell, Richmond), 2nd edition, 1998. Meeus quotes an approximate accuracy of 10" in longitude and 4" in latitude, but he does not give the time range for this accuracy. Comparison of this IDL procedure with the example in ``Astronomical Algorithms'' reveals a very small discrepancy (~1 km) in the distance computation, but no difference in the position calculation. This procedure underwent a major rewrite in June 1996, and the new calling sequence is *incompatible with the old* (e.g. angles now returned in degrees instead of radians).
CIRRANGE, ISARRAY(), NUTATE, TEN() - from IDL Astronomy Library POLY() - from IDL User's Library
Written by Michael R. Greason, STX, 31 October 1988. Major rewrite, new (incompatible) calling sequence, much improved accuracy, W. Landsman Hughes STX June 1996 Added /RADIAN keyword W. Landsman August 1997 Converted to IDL V5.0 W. Landsman September 1997 Use improved expressions for L',D,M,M', and F given in 2nd edition of Meeus (very slight change), W. Landsman November 2000 Avoid 32767 overflow W. Landsman January 2005
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