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Longitudes greater than 180
From: Paul Hirose
Date: 2020 Mar 3, 14:07 -0800
From: Paul Hirose
Date: 2020 Mar 3, 14:07 -0800
Anyone writing software which takes geodetic longitude as an input should think carefully about rejecting values greater than 180°. In astronomy, geodetic longitude is sometimes measured from zero to 360. For instance, the JPL Horizons online calculator accepts -180 to +180, but its output normalizes negative (west) values to an equivalent east longitude greater than 180. In this matter I follow an old rule of thumb for user interfaces: "Be liberal on input, conservative on output." For longitude I accept any real number, but in the output it's normalized to a value between -180 and +180. Astronomical computation maven Jean Meeus insists on measuring longitude positive westward: "This convention has been followed by most astronomers during more than one century... We cannot understand why the International Astronomical Union, having first decided to measure all planetographic longitudes in the direction opposite to that of rotation, then alters the system for the Earth (1982). We shall not follow this IAU resolution..." [Astronomical Algorithms, 1991] He also puts the azimuth zero point in the south, an old convention not in step with the modern practice.