Table of Contents

Preface to the third edition; About this book and how to use it; Part I. Time: 1. Calendars; 2. The date of Easter; 3. Converting the date to the day number; 4. Julian day numbers; 5. Converting the Julian day number to the calendar date; 6. Finding the day of the week; 7. Converting hours, minutes and seconds to decimal hours; 8. Converting decimal hours to hours, minutes and seconds; 9. Converting the local time to UT; 10. Converting UT to local civil time; 11. Sidereal time (ST); 12. Conversion of UT to GST; 13. Conversion of GST to UT; 14. Local sidereal time (LST); 15. Converting LST to GST; 16. Ephemeris time (ET) and terrestrial dynamic time; Part II. Coordinate Systems: 17. Horizon coordinates; 18. Equatorial coordinates; 19. Ecliptic coordinates; 20. Galactic coordinates; 21. Converting between decimal degrees and degrees, minutes and seconds; 22. Converting between angles expressed in degrees and angles expressed in hours; 23. Converting between one coordinate system and another; 24. Converting between right ascension and hour-angles; 25. Equatorial to horizon coordinate conversion; 26. Horizon to equatorial coordinate conversion; 27. Ecliptic to equatorial coordinate conversion; 28. Equatorial to ecliptic coordinate conversion; 29. Equatorial to galactic coordinate conversion; 30. Galactic to equatorial coordinate conversion; 31. Generalised coordinate transformations; 32. The angle between two celestial objects; 33. Rising and setting; 34. Precession; 35. Nutation; 36. Aberration; 37. Refraction; 38. Geocentric parallax and the figure of the Earth; 39. Calculating corrections for parallax; 40. Heliographic coordinates; 41. Carrington rotation numbers; 42. Selenographic coordinates; 43. Atmospheric extinction; Part III. The Sun: 44. Orbits; 45. The apparent orbit of the Sun; 46. Calculating the position of the Sun; 47. Calculating orbits more precisely; 48. Calculating the Sun's distance and angular size; 49. Sunrise and sunset; 50. Twilight; 51. The equation of time; 52. Solar elongations; Part IV. The Planets, Comets and Binary Stars: 53. The planetary orbits; 54. Calculating the coordinates of a planet; 55. Finding the approximate positions of the planets; 56. Perturbations in a planet's orbit; 57. The distance, light-travel time and angular size of a planet; 58. The phases of the planets; 59. The position-angle of the bright limb; 60. The apparent brightness of a planet; 61. Comets; 62. Parabolic orbits; 63. Binary-star orbits; Part V. The Moon and Eclipses: 64. The Moon's orbit; 65. Calculating the Moon's position; 66. The Moon's hourly motions; 67. The phases of the moon; 68. The position-angle of the Moon's bright limb; 69. The Moon's distance, angular size and horizontal parallax; 70. Eclipses; 72. The 'rules' of eclipses; 73. Calculating a lunar eclipse; 74. Calculating a solar eclipse; 75. The Astronomical calendar; Glossary of terms; Symbols and abbreviations; Index.