NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Algorithm for star ephemerides?
From: Geoffrey Kolbe
Date: 2001 Apr 17, 12:46 AM
From: Geoffrey Kolbe
Date: 2001 Apr 17, 12:46 AM
Hello Yves The "Stormy Weather" navigation program from http://www.stormy.ca uses the complete astronomical algorithms (all the bells and whistles) to calculate the positions of the stars (and the moon, sun and planets of course.) The program also allows you to use the common name or the astronomical name for the star of interest. I am sure that there is no more accurate program available. For my almanac "Long Term Almanac 2000-2050" I found the SHA and Dec for my chosen star list on the 15th of each month during the year 2000. I then used the Stormy Weather program to calculate the SHA and Dec values in 2040 and so determined Annual Correction factors. The results seem good enough to calculate the SHA and Dec of any star on the list to within about 0.3" for the next 50 years at least, which is plenty good enough for navigation purposes. Yours aye, Geoffrey Kolbe. Dr Geoffrey Kolbe, author of "Long Term Almanac 2000-2050" for sun and selected stars, with concise sight reduction tables. Available online from www.pisces-press.com
