Astronomical algorithms

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1. AlphaGeekZuluJul 2024
   I am currently trying to do (yet another) Rust implementation of the formulas in Jean Meeus' fantastic book "Astronomical Algorithms" (2nd ed. 1998).

   I am fighting two issues:

   1. While it is possible to code the algorithms as a non-astronomer with the information provided in the book, I would definitely want to understand much better what it is all about.

   2. I am afraid, that the book is a little bit outdated by now. Many of the tables provided with astronomical data only run until 2025. Some important standards like WGS84 are not mentioned (actually I cannot determine what elipsoid the calculations are referring to). The sign of geographical longitudes for the Earth is turned around in the book (positive for West and negative for East), for reasons, which makes some algorithms IMO really dangerous to use in a real-world context.

   Can you recommend any good astronomy "familiarization manual", that is feasible for absolute beginners, but goes deep enough with serious number crunching? In English or German language...

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2. jes5199Jul 2024
   nice! I have needed this before. I think you're using the Meeus algorithm from Astronomical Algorithms? it's a classic, great choice
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3. altitudinousNov 2022
   A book called "Astronomical Algorithms" was written back in the 80's or 90's. It was very exciting and inspirational for me that the sun and moon and the position of planets - nature itself - could be predicted by code. It still is an inspiration for me today.
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4. songshuMay 2022
   Last time I looked into this I implemented some stuff from Astronomical Algorithms https://www.amazon.com/dp/0943396352 which was more fun for me than just grabbing the data.
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5. peterkshultzMay 2017
   Astronomical Algorithms by Jean Meeus is a great read for anyone interested in these types of problems.
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6. McUsrJan 2015
   It is a great fun to compute Planetary positions. You should really read a book named "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus. That is the ultimate source for those computations, for hobby use. (There is a really nice chapter in there, about accuracy, and interpolation of values). You'll find various implementations of the algorithms on the net.
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