weems%umass-cs%CSNet-Relay@sri-unix.UUCP (11/27/83)
From: Charles Weems <weems%umass-cs@CSNet-Relay> Add to the list of books that give practical information on astronomical computations: Title: Celestial Basic Author: Eric Burgess Publisher: Sybex Inc., Berkely CA Abstract: A collection of Apple BASIC programs for astronomy. These include time and date conversions, transits and elongations of Polaris, RA and Dec of Moon and planets, lunar phases and eclipses, rising, setting and transit times of sun, moon and planets, positions of Galilean satellites of Jupiter, skymaps of constellations and planets, dates and radiants of annual meteor showers, and photo exposure calculations for the planets. A note on the reference "Low-Precision Formulae for Planetary Positions, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 41:391-411, 1979 November" that was mentioned in a recent note: These computations are not simple to implement on most microcomputers. A 32 bit integer word (minimum integer precision) is required. These are excellent formulae and I've had little trouble implementing them on a Cyber 175 -- on the other hand, my 16 bit micro does not handle them well at all. Unless you like writing extended precision arithmetic packages, I would recommend the algorithms from the above book for use on micros. chip weems