Calculate Sun and Moon Astronomical Parameters with VSOP87 Accuracy

[Philosophaie]

Can someone direct me to a way to calculate Right Ascension, Declination, Ecliptic Longitude and Latitude of the Sun and Moon from the Julian Date with the accuracy of VSOP87?

 

[Doug Huffman]

I don't know VSOP87, but I used to use my nautical almanach (which I still have) Bowditch: American Practical Navigator HO Pub 9 and ephemerides. I have not practiced for a very long time, forty years.

 

[websterling]

The PyEphem library for Python should be able to do all of that and more.

 

[BobG]

The Astronomical Almanac is a good alternative to a nautical almanac (actually, I think the Astronomical Almanac may just be the US version of Great Britain's Nautical Almanac). Much of the data included in the hardcopy book is available on-line from the http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications .

Under data services, select "more", which will give you more links, including "Geocentric Positions of Major Solar System Objects and Bright Stars", which is probably what you want.

If your question has more to do with how to calculate these positions, the Astronomical Almanac provides a pretty good explanation of that, as well.