Alcyone Astronomical Software - ephemeris software, astronomical tables, solar eclipse calculator
Alcyone Lunar Calculator - Short Description
Software > Alcyone Lunar Calculator
Alcyone Lunar Calculator (ALC) provides detailed astronomical information on the Moon. It calculates accurate geocentric or topocentric positional and physical ephemerides, times and circumstances of lunar events (e.g. lunar phases, perigee, apogee, passages through the nodes, first and last lunar visibility, occultations, eclipses), orbital parameters and more covering the time period AD 1200 to AD 2100.
Lunar topographic information are available by use of a high-resolution interactive image map based on images taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). In addition ALC offers graphical capabilities for data visualization in different kinds of printable and exportable 2D- and 3D-diagrams and projections (e.g. 3D-orbit diagram, libration diagram, visibility diagram, elevation maps).
The ephemeris calculation is based upon Steve Moshier's analytical ephemeris using trigonometric expansions for the Earth and planets and the lunar ephemeris ELP2000-85 of Chapront-Touzé and Chapront for the Moon, both adjusted to Jet Propulsion Laboratory's DE404 (see www.moshier.net). There are further adjustments in Alcyone Lunar Calculator to JPL's more recent DE406, the most accurate long-term ephemeris. The calculation of the local circumstances of solar eclipses is based upon the data from the Five Millenium Canon of Solar Eclipses -1999 to 3000 (Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC) with Besselian Elements provided by Jean Meuus. The calculation of the local circumstances of lunar eclipses is based upon the data from the Five Millenium Canon of Lunar Eclipses -1999 to 3000 (Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC). Lunar librations are calculated by use of the equations given by Meeus (Astronomical Algorithms, ch. 53).
Alcyone Lunar Calculator runs under Windows XP/Vista/7.
download trial version (~286 MB)
ALC consists of eight program modules which can be used stand alone or interacting with each other. Each program module runs in a separate window, which can be docked or tabbed to other windows or to the main window.
Moon Data