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Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition

by Jean Meeus (Author)

4.6 66 ratings

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Book by Meeus, Jean

ISBN-10

0943396611
ISBN-13

978-0943396613
Edition

2nd
Publisher

Willmann-Bell
Publication date

January 1, 1998
Language

English
Dimensions

6 x 1 x 9 inches
Print length

477 pages
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Willmann-Bell; 2nd edition (January 1, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 477 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0943396611
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0943396613
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.7 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,115,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,509 in Mathematics (Books)
- #42,405 in Unknown

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4.6 66 ratings

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4.6 out of 5

66 global ratings

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A great book on the "how-tos" but not the whys

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2008

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This is a cookbook of algorithms for solving a variety of numerical problems that come up in astronomy. Explanations of why the author chose to do things a certain way are not on the agenda, but various numerical examples are. Programs are not included, although it is fairly easy to go from the algorithms presented to code. For that information I recommend the equally affordable Textbook on Spherical Astronomy . That book is a pleasure to read and was written with newcomers to the field in mind. Read that book first. It will tell you most of the "whys" omitted in this book.

To understand some astronomical problems will require studying more than one chapter of this book. For instance, to calculate the altitude of the Sun for a given time on a given date at a given place, one must first convert the date and time to Julian Day (Chapter 7), then calculate the Sun's longitude for that instant (Chapter 25), its right ascension and declination (Chapter 13), the sidereal time (Chapter 12) and finally the required altitude of the Sun (Chapter 13).

This book focuses on classical mathematical astronomy, although a few astronomy oriented mathematical techniques are dealt with, such as interpolation, fitting curves, and sorting data. Astrophysics is not a topic covered in this book. Also, it is plain that not all topics of mathematical astronomy could have been covered in this book. Thus, nothing is said about orbit determination, occultations of stars by the Moon, meteor astronomy, or eclipsing binaries.

The table of contents can be hard to track down, and there are no excerpts available on line, so I present the table of contents next:

Some Symbols and Abbreviations 5
1. Hints and Tips 7
2. About Accuracy 15
3. Interpolation 23
4. Curve Fitting 35
5. Iteration 47
6. Sorting Numbers 55
7. Julian Day 59
8. Date of Easter 67
9. Jewish and Moslem Calendars 71
10. Dynamical Time and Universal Time 77
11. The Earth's Globe 81
12. Sidereal Time at Greenwich 87
13. Transformation of Coordinates 91
14. The Parallactic Angle 97
15. Rising, Transit and Setting 101
16. Atmospheric Refraction 105
17. Angular Separation 109
18. Planetary Conjunctions 117
19. Bodies in a Straight Line 121
20. Smallest Circle Containing Three Celestial Bodies 127
21. Precession 131
22. Nutation and the Obliquity of the Ecliptic 143
23. Apparent Place of a Star 149
24. Reduction of Ecliptical Elements from One Equinox to Another One 159
25. Solar Coordinates 163
26. Rectangular Coordinates of the Sun 171
27. Equinoxes and Solstices 177
28. Equation of Time 183
29. Ephemeris for Physical Observations of the Sun 189
30. Equation of Kepler 193
31. Elements of the Planetary Orbits 197
32. Positions of the Planets 217
33. Elliptic Motion 223
34. Parabolic Motion 241
35. Near-Parabolic Motion 245
36. The Calculation of some Planetary Phenomena 249
37. Pluto 263
38. Planets in Perihelion and Aphelion 269
39. Passages through the Nodes 275
40. Correction for Parallax 279
41. Illuminated Fraction of the Disk and Magnitude of a Planet 283
42. Ephemeris for Physical Observations of Mars 287
43. Ephemeris for Physical Observations of Jupiter 293
44. Positions of the Satellites of Jupiter 301
45. The Ring of Saturn 317
46. Positions of the Satellites of Saturn 323
47. Position of the Moon 337
48. Illuminated Fraction of the Moon's Disk 345
49. Phases of the Moon 349
50. Perigee and Apogee of the Moon 355
51. Passages of the Moon through the Nodes 363
52. Maximum Declinations of the Moon 367
53. Ephemeris for Physical Observations of the Moon 371
54. Eclipses 379
55. Semidiameters of the Sun, Moon and Planets 389
56. Stellar Magnitudes 393
57. Binary Stars 397
58. Calculation of a Planar Sundial 401
Appendix I Constants 407
Appendix II Some Astronomical Terms 409
Appendix III Planets: Periodic Terms 413
Appendix IV Coefficients for the Heliocentric Coordinates of
Jupiter to Neptune, 1998-2025 455
Index

44 people found this helpful

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Marco

Astronomical Algorithms: Book, Seller & package review.

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2015

Verified Purchase

About the book:

I was looking for an algorithm for determining the solar declination for a given date, place & time (I'm writing a scientific paper), so I was stumbled to this book following a mountain of good recommendations and advices.

This book is the *almost* perfect source of guidelines for those programmers, engineers and scientist that need to deal with astronomical predictions or related computations.

Requires a more-than-basical math knowledge, this is *not* a beginners book, also doesn't have astronomical theory or programming examples for your favorite language.

Regarding the package:

The book was very well packed in a small and rugged carton box; the book, along the proof of purchase was also covered with plastic protection.

The package also included a small catalog of other astronomical books published by the same editor.

I'm very happy with the deal with this seller, so I would recommend them at 100%.

3 people found this helpful

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Crash

The author is a lot smarter than me

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2019

Verified Purchase

Wow! Now I know why I don't have a PhD. Lots of great insight into Orbital Mechanics and great discussion of the problems from a practical viewpoint. The author reminds me of how little I know of the Universe, but how fantastic and fun it is to inquire about it.

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Danny

Excellent Reference for Programmers

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2011

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I bought this book with high hopes, and was not disappointed. It is clear, precise and very helpful in providing many algorithms and much needed explanations on calculating ephemerides. However, the calculations for the position of the sun was a little infuriating. I wanted a simple algorithm with less accuracy than suggested by Meeus. By extension, Meeus then refers to the user to other works of even greater accuracy for the calculation of the position of the sun. However, this is a minor point. The book is well-done and is valuable extension to the Astronomical Almanac, and Explanatory Supplement.

6 people found this helpful

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Rob

so good.

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2019

Verified Purchase

this book is really interesting. i stayed up till 3 am last night writing programs. i'm totally new to astronomy and had to look up a lot of terminology but it's easy to follow.

if you're interested in learning a new programming language this book is great for putting it to use.

5 people found this helpful

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Anon

The code is overall of good quality and the book clearly explains the algorithms

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2015

Verified Purchase

If you do any work in simulations that involve astrodynamics you'll see this book come up over and over again in the reference sections of websites and white papers. The code is overall of good quality and the book clearly explains the algorithms. The sections jump around a lot without much of a centralized theme outside of space, which is the entire point of the book, so don't plan to use this as anything more than a reference material for random space problems.

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PJC

It would be nice to have a active language and better descriptions.

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

It is an old book. Most of the programs are in Pascal. I would like better descriptions of the programs.

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

The product arrived as scheduled and was in excellent condition -- even better than described! The content of the book itself is excellent and the local library will be relieved that I finally have my own copy .

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Rudolf4711

Hervorragendes Nachschlagewerk für mathematisch interessierte Amateure

Reviewed in Germany on October 4, 2019

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Ich besitze seit Jahren die "Astronomical Formulae for Calculators". Mit diesem Buch hat Meeus dieses sehr gute Werk noch einmal getoppt. Ein hervorragendes und vor allem praktikables Buch für (fast) alle Problemstellung, die ein Amateurastronom selbst berechnen kann. Sehr empfehlenswert.

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Cliente Amazon

Muy bueno, una agradable sorpresa

Reviewed in Spain on May 9, 2019

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Es un libro apropiado para cualquier aficionado interesado en la astronomía de posición, o sea, las leyes que determinan el movimiento y la posición de los astros en el espacio. Lo que más me ha gustado es el enfoque directo y práctico que da el autor en la multitud de temas que trata el libro. No es un libro reciente, pero es plenamente actual. La mayoría de libros de hoy son catálogos de fotos acompañados de mapas estelares para ayudar a los aficionados con telescopio. No es este el caso. Para mi ha sido una agradable sorpresa

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ScaramoucheTheFool

How to calculate just about anything astronomical.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 21, 2017

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I am an amateur programmer, and like to program astronomical things, such as a planetary orrery that updates every day, and can be animated into the future, plus Earth data such as equinoxes, moon phases, sun rise and set and such like. There is information to help with these calculations on the web, but the lay out is sometimes difficult to follow, and I have found errors in the presented data on occasion. This book is expensive, but if you are interested in all things astronomical, it is a "must have". Some things may be really useful to an astronomer: If you want to be able to discover the positions of the moons of Jupiter for a specific date, the book tells you how. Some things may be less useful: The smallest circle containing three celestial bodies, for example. But it does what it suggests very well. I particularly found the worked examples to be priceless. I coded the equations, and inserted check points at every stage, and could compare the values I determined with those determined by Mr Meeus in his example, so if I had introduced an error, I knew exactly where in my code to look for it. Some astronomical calculations can be very complex, so this was a godsend. There is no doubt that the content is technical, and intended to show the reader how to perform some very complex calculations in order to determine various astronomical events and conditions (another example, the orientation of the rings of Saturn on a given date) so will only be of interest to someone intending to perform those calculations himself. You can easily get applications that show these sort of things for you on the current date (I like "StarChart", free from the Windows "Store"), but the book lets you work these things out for yourself, if you feel you would like to do so.

4 people found this helpful

Client Amazon

Indémodable

Reviewed in France on August 13, 2016

Verified Purchase

Une excellente vulgarisation du calcul astronomique sur ordinateur. Garanti que le lecteur amateur d'astronomie dans son garage et dans son jardin apprendra quelque chose et sera guidé pas à pas vers les calculs les plus complexes et les plus belles régions du ciel. Et cela accompagné de sont petit ordinateur, de sa tablette ou même de sa petite carte programmable sur support USB. Abordable à tous les niveaux. Merci Mr. Meeus.

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