NavList:

   

Reply

There's also an email interface to HORIZONS. Create a message to
horizons@ssd.jpl.nasa.gov with the single word

job

as the subject. Format the message as plain text. (The system can't
handle HTML.) Copy the lines below that begin with !$$, and everything
between, into the message body.


!$$SOF (ssd)       JPL/Horizons Execution Control VARLIST

! Selects the body: 301 = Moon (3rd planet, satellite 01).
  COMMAND    = '301'

! If 'geo', SITE_COORD is ignored and you get geocentric values.
  CENTER     = 'coord'

! east longitude (decimal degrees), north latitude, height in kilometers
  SITE_COORD = '-118.0, 34.0, .1'

! In the UTC era, 'ut' = UTC. Time scale 'tt' is also available.
  START_TIME = '2017-oct-25 01:30 ut'
  STOP_TIME  = '2017-oct-25 01:31'

! The interval between start and stop time is divided by this number
! to form the step size of the output table. There's no way to make
! a table of one line; if start and stop times are equal, HORIZONS
! reports an error.
  STEP_SIZE  = '1'

! The data you want HORIZONS to compute.
  QUANTITIES = '4, 10, 23, 24'

!$$EOF++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Transmit the message. The reply arrives in a few seconds to a couple
minutes, the latter if the system is heavily loaded. Since the moon
phase has been mentioned, I selected some applicable quantities.

For a detailed explanation of the email interface, send to the same
address, but with the subject

BATCH-LONG

The body of that email is ignored and can be anything. In addition to
the reply you receive, it may be necessary to consult the HORIZONS site
since the explanatory email doesn't cover everything.

It can be maddening to create an email command to the system. E.g., you
must remember to put longitude before latitude. What I do is copy a
previous successful email and modify it. I still make mistakes, but the
percentage is down to a tolerable level.

   

Reply