Written using VB 6
Requires 800x600 display or better
This program is for astronomy hobbyists who want to create their own custom VB astronomical almanac program. It is a very complex program consisting hundreds of thousands of orbital computations and represents about 6 month's work so far.
The program will generate high-precision ephemerides for the sun and planets from Mercury to Neptune.
It has reached the beta level of functionality and I encourage any fellow astro-computationists to give it a try and offer any comments, bug reports and suggestions regarding it.
Anyone who ever wanted to learn how to perform their own high-precision planetary orbit computations, may find the source code helpful, but the math required is rather advanced.
A new version with even more computations is in the works. Any suggestions from users of this program will be considered in the design of future upgrades.
NOTE:
Due to the enormous size of the mathematical core modules and the complexity of the computations required to get almanic-like accuracy, the program takes about 30 minutes to compile into an executable on a 200 MHz machine and will produce a finished program about 4.3 megs in size.
The visual magnitude computation of the planet Saturn will be applied to a future version, but magnitudes are computed for the other planets. The allowance for the rings contribution to its brightness hasn't been formulated yet.
This version of the program does not yet specifically check to see if the date entered is in the proper range for the selected planet, so the following table is provided as a guide.
VSOP87 Heliocentric coordinates are theoretically accurate to an arcsecond or better within the following ranges:
Mercury to Mars - 2000 BC to 6000 AD
Jupiter and Saturn - 1 BC to 4000 AD
Uranus and Neptune - 6000 BC to 8000 AD
To any users familiar with the astronomical algorithms of Jean Meeus and others, this program applies many of the same concepts, but at a higher level of precision not possible from the limited tables applied in the popular books on astronomical computing.
It is based on a Visual BASIC implementation of the full VSOP87 theory of planetary orbits in spherical variables.
Its theoretical heliocentric accuracy is to within ±1 arcsecond or better over the ranges specified for each planet in terms of dynamical time.
Since the full theory is implemented, the accuracy of the orbit computations compares very favorably with the published almanacs.
To achieve this level of accuracy, over 30,000 computational terms are applied to the raw, dynamical orbit computations.
The computations include corrections for precession and the long-term effects of relativity on the orbits. Then corrections are applied for light-time, aberration, reduction to the standard FK5 system of coordinates and nutation.
FEATURES INCLUDE:
Both VSOP87 heliocentric and apparent geocentric ecliptical and equatorial coordinates
Ephemerides tables can be generated by the day, hour or minute and can be saved to disk as plain text files
Allowance for delta-T can be applied when known.
Distances to the planets from the sun or Earth can be displayed in astronomical units, millions of kilometers or miles.
Hour angles may be displayed in hours minutes and seconds, decimal hours, degrees minutes and seconds of arc or decimal degrees.
Latitudes may be displayed in degrees minutes and seconds of arc or decimal degrees.
A table showing the VSOP heliocentric position and geocentric ecliptical and equatorial coordinates for the sun and the eight major planets at any given moment can be displayed
Basic astronomical data such as the mean and apparent obliquity of the ecliptic, mean and apparent sidereal time at Greenwich and nutation in longitude can also be computed.
The program also has a stay-on-top feature that can be toggled to lock the window in front of other windows when needed.
All program settings are preserved when the program terminates and are recalled the next time the program starts up.
This program is still a rough draft but functional enough to be useful.
I would appreciate any feedback on user of this code who are also into astro-computing, since it would help me to improve on future implementations.
Note: Due to the size or complexity of this submission, the author has submitted it as a .zip file to shorten your download time. Afterdownloading it, you will need a program like Winzip to decompress it.Virus note:All files are scanned once-a-day by Planet Source Code for viruses, but new viruses come
out every day, so no prevention program can catch 100% of them. For your own safety, please:
Re-scan downloaded files using your personal virus checker before using it.
NEVER, EVER run compiled files (.exe's, .ocx's, .dll's etc.)--only run source code.
Scan the source code with Minnow's Project Scanner
If you don't have a virus scanner, you can get one at many places on the net
including:McAfee.com
Terms of Agreement:
By using this code, you agree to the following terms...
You may use
this code in your own programs (and may compile it into a program and distribute it in compiled format for languages that allow it) freely and with no charge.
You MAY NOT redistribute this code (for example to a web site) without written permission from the original author. Failure to do so is a violation of copyright laws.
You may link to this code from another website, but ONLY if it is not wrapped in a frame.
You will abide by any additional copyright restrictions which the author may have placed in the code or code's description.
I think this code is well beyond that of most of the code on this site..job well done. This is an excellent application. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Man, you got my vote for Excellent. Were you smoked any cracks while writing this program? How long it took you to write this program? (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Only my keyboard was smoking! :o) Took about 6 months & about 1000 revisions to get up to a decent beta version. It's worth it. Working on a better version.
(If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
OHM!! MAN!! THIS IS VERY COOL!! Do DON'T HAVE NOTHING TO DO ALL TIME YEH? AHHEHE, it's joke.. Very GOOD code ... (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Hey, maybe you could release NeoEphemerix_2001 Lite, cos I have no idea what this does, haha, maybe I should read now and then. Well structured program none the less! :^) (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
???....I dont understand all the things you are talking about, VSOP, geliocentral heliolighting...... (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
I'm very new to VB and I know it'll take me far when I reach the level of use that so many on this site have already attained! Yours, in particular, is one of those that I would like to impliment into another program that I'll begin writing in maybe several months, when I've reached a level of higher coding. I'd like you to email me direct at: apetersen@wi.rr.com and I'll let you know and/or coordinate with you on my program. Many thanks for doing the hardest part of the program! I know there are others out there like this, but I don't think they have the dedication that you have! Great job! (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
12/27/2002 7:03:11 AM:
HI
This program is very Useful but man where is the ephemerix of moon and retrogation is calculated and not mentioned. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
12/27/2002 7:08:06 AM:
Hi Jay Your program does fine but there is no calculation of moon,rising sun's postion and the Poles of the Earth. Day light save time and times in varioius regions should have a GUI in your program.I am also making something like this and u need to give it a little more GUI to get the exact time.
IF u want to conatact me regarding this contact me at repsor@rediffmail.com (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Hey guys, if your mathematics is not as good as Jays **DONT PANIC** - just take up a different hobby. I play darts and in my program, you enter your score and it takes it away from 301. If you can't do that - **PANIC** (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
2/5/2003 8:44:43 AM:
I thought I was into astromony! I mean I can find the moon and the constellation Orion. This code is incredible. But I would be interested in seeing you programs for creating source code!
(If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
2/5/2003 2:41:18 PM:
I know where the moon is at, most of the time. And the Sun when I look up during the day. Now I can use this program to see other things at night with the telescope.
Good job. 5/5 (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
2/5/2003 5:05:09 PM:
oohhhh... sideSHHOOOWWW Bob... 5/5 (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
I remember looking at the first set of programs you posted each individual planet. From the first glance through this seems a very excellent compilation of those different segments. Very well written. This program serves as motivation to renew my astronomy studies. Very good, thank you. (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
One planet is missing in your program .... Planet-Source-Code !!!
Good Job. There is one software called as CyberSky. They actually animate the planets and all. The programmer like you , it's really worth to see it once. Just suggestion !
(If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
absolutely awesome... great work... keep it up!... maybe extending it to include moon, nodes and precessions (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Really fantastic program. Can you include moon's longitude and latitude in this. Then this would be a complete program. Awaiting your reply eagerly...... (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
Hello, I've been trying to run your program but I always get a message error: "invalid date format", also using the "default" data already set on the form. I use italian settings: should I change some settings? Thanks for your help. Dario (If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
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2/11/2001 11:12:23 PM: 
