Astronomical algorithms /

An excellent, complete revision of Meeus's Astronomical Formulae for Calculators (4th ed., 1988), which has been widely used to calculate positions or phenomena in astronomy. This new book greatly expands the original material, brings it up to date, and incorporates the new methods and designations now in use for reference frames and epochs. Much of the material would be hard to find elsewhere. The first five chapters give a useful introduction to numerical methods and the pitfalls that await the practitioner who is not careful. Most astronomical terms are defined when introduced so that the book is self-contained. Short BASIC programs are given for some of the algorithms but the book is so complete and clearly written that a user will have no difficulty in translating the algorithms into any programming language. Usually a low accuracy method is given first, followed by high accuracy (and slower) methods that incorporate many terms in a series. Indispensable for any student of astronomy, amateur or professional, who enjoys computation. An IBM-PC companion disk is available for most of the routines discussed, with source code in either BASIC, Pascal, or C. H. Albers; Vassar College