Astronomy on the Personal Computer

ISBN-13: 9783662111871 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 300 str.

Thomas Pfleger; Oliver Montenbruck; Storm Dunlop

Opis

A thorough introduction to the computation of celestial mechanics, covering everything from astronomical and computational theory to the construction of rapid and accurate applications programs. The book supplies the necessary knowledge and software solutions for determining and predicting positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, minor planets and comets, solar eclipses, stellar occultations by the Moon, phases of the Moon and much more. This completely revised edition takes advantage of C++, and individual applications may be efficiently realized through the use of a powerful module library. The accompanying CD-ROM contains the complete, fully documented and commented source codes as well as executable programs for Windows 98/2000/XP and LINUX.

Spis treści

1 Introduction.- 2 Coordinate Systems.- 3 Calculation of Rising and Setting Times.- 4 Cometary Orbits.- 5 Special Perturbations.- 6 Planetary Orbits.- 7 Physical Ephemerides of the Planets.- 8 The Orbit of the Moon.- 9 Solar Eclipses.- 10 Stellar Occultations.- 11 Orbit Determination.- 12 Astrometry.- A.1 The Accompanying CD-ROM.- A.1.1 Contents.- A.1.2 System Requirements.- A.1.3 Executing the Programs.- A.2 Compiling and Linking the Programs.- A.2.1 General Advice on Computer-Specific Modifications.- A.2.2 Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows 98/2000/XP.- A.2.3 GNU C++ for Linux.- A.3 List of the Library Functions.- Symbols.

O autorze

Thomas Pfleger is a software developer who has been interested in astronomy since his school days. His passion is the visual observation of everything within reach of his telescope. For many years he has been interested in the benefits that computers can bring to amateur astronomers.

Blurb

Astronomy on the Personal Computer provides the reader with a thorough introduction to the computation of celestial mechanics, which is of particular significance to astronomical observation. Covering everything from astronomical and computational theory to the construction of rapid and accurate applications programs, this book supplies the necessary knowledge and software solutions for determining and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, minor planets and comets, solar eclipses, stellar occultations by the Moon, phases of the Moon and much more. This completely revised edition makes use of the widely implemented programming language C++, and individual applications may be efficiently realized through the use of a powerful module library. The material previously available on an accompanying CD-ROM, now at extras.springer.com, contains, in addition to the complete, fully documented and commented source codes, the executable programs for use with the Windows 98/2000/XP and LINUX operating systems.