I RA and declination of Sun & phase of Moon program

AI Thread Summary
A Fortran program is being developed to calculate the right ascension and declination of the sun, as well as the phase of the moon, based on a given date and time. References to Jan Meeus's books, "Astronomical Formulae for Calculators" and "Astronomical Algorithms," are suggested for algorithms and calculations. The discussion highlights the importance of using epoch corrections to align with current ephemeris data. The user expresses interest in the second book and plans to proceed with programming. Overall, the conversation focuses on resources and methods for astronomical calculations.
Jadaav
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Hello there,

I want to write a fortran program which gives me the right ascension and declination of the sun and the phase of the moon when a date and time is given.

I just want to know how to write it and if there are any references that can help me.

Thanks,
Jadaav.
 
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Jan Meeus wrote several small books on Astronomic calculations for everyone. The first book was based on using desktop calculators, later on he provided another with algorithms.

Astronomical Formulae for Calculators
Astronomical Algorithms

Basically you want the algorithm used to determine when sunrise will occur at a given latitude, longitude, and date. This can be simplified to solve for the position of the sun at a given epoch time, i.e., see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_day.

Phases of the moon is the both books, too. You have to make epoch corrections to match the current ephemeris, just like above.
 
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Thanks Jim. I've taken a look at the second book and it seems to be really interesting. I've found what I was looking for.

I'll try to do the programming bit and I'll you know.
 
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