Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator Or Spreadsheet Free

FREE PRACTICAL ASTRONOMY WITH YOUR CALCULATOR OR SPREADSHEET PDF

Pages Page size x pts Year Color-- Text Size-- Updated and extended, this new edition shows you how to use spreadsheets to predict, with greater accuracy, solar and Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet eclipses, the positions of the planets, and the times of sunrise and sunset. With clear, easy-to-follow instructions, shown alongside worked examples, this handbook is essential for anyone wanting to make astronomical calculations for themselves. It can be enjoyed by anyone interested in astronomy, and will be a useful tool for software writers and students studying introductory astronomy. Peter Duffett-Smith is a physicist by training and a radio astronomer by trade. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN pbk. Astronomy — Problems, exercises, etc. Calculators — Problems, exercises, etc. Electronic spreadsheets in education. Zwart, Jonathan. Duffett-Smith, Peter. Practical astronomy with your calculator. D83 To our friends and colleagues at MRAO Contents Preface to the fourth edition About this book and how to use it A word about spreadsheets — what are they? We present recipes for making calculations, where we have cut a path through the complexities and difficult concepts of rigorous mathematics, taking account only of those factors that are essential to each calculation and ignoring corrections for this and that, necessary only for very precise predictions of astronomical phenomena. Our simple methods, suitable for use with a pocket calculator, are usually sufficient for all but the most exacting amateur astronomer, but they should not be used for navigational purposes. For example, the times of sunrise and sunset can be determined to within 1 minute and the position of the Moon to within one fifth of a degree. But new to this fourth edition are spreadsheets which offer much higher precision see below. The second edition included much more material in response to letters and requests from readers of the first edition. Many errors were also corrected. The fourth edition has Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet been updated considerably; however the major change is that we have included, for the first time, a spreadsheet Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet nearly every calculation. Each spreadsheet illustrates the calculation, making it easier to get the right answer. But we have also written a library of powerful functions which can carry out many of the calculations for you with much higher precision, so those people who wish to use their computers can do so and obtain the benefits of greater accuracy. For example, use the simple recipes and your calculator to find the times of moonrise and moonset to within a precision of 10 minutes or so, or use the spreadsheet functions to obtain the results correct to within 1 minute. You will need to visit our website see page to download the spreadsheets to Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet computer; the library of functions will come automatically with the spreadsheets. We are most grateful to those kind people who have taken the trouble to write in with their suggestions, criticisms and corrections, in particular to Mr E. Wood, who kindly scanned the manuscript of the third edition for errors, Mr S. Hatch, Mr S. We would also like to thank and acknowledge those authors whose books we have read and whose ideas we have cribbed, mentioning particularly Jean Meeus Astronomical Formulae for Calculators and W. Schroeder Practical Astronomy. Our thanks are also due to Dr Anthony Winter, who suggested writing the first edition of the book, to Mrs Dunn who typed it, to Dr Guy Pooley who read the manuscript and made many helpful suggestions, and to Dr Simon Mitton for taking so much trouble over the production of the book. We hope you have as much fun with these recipes and spreadsheets as we have had! Please let us know when you find an error. You may even have an astronomical journal containing the required information, or perhaps some computer software or a website Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet might do the trick. But you would not, we suspect, think of sitting down and calculating it for yourself. Yet even though you may not find mathematics particularly transparent, you can still do this for yourself. You can quite easily find the answer to many astronomical questions using this book of calculation recipes. You use it just as you would a recipe book in the kitchen — follow the recipe and produce a delicious dish! All you need in addition is a calculator, a piece Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet paper, a ruler and a pencil. For those of us with access to a computer, we can use that instead of the calculator and carry out all the calculations in a spreadsheet program as further described below. Your calculator does not have to be a very sophisticated device costing a great deal of money; on the other hand it should be a little better than a basic four-function machine. At a minimum, it must have buttons for the trigonometric functions sine, cosine and tangent. It should also be able to find square roots and logarithms. Features other than these are not essential but can make the calculations easier. For example, having a number of separately-addressable memories in which you can store intermediate results would be useful. If you have a programmable calculator, you can write programs to carry out many of the calculations automatically with a subsequent saving of time and effort. Each Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet its advantages and the same complexity of calculation may be made using either. It is important, however, to read the instructions carefully and to get to know your calculator thoroughly, whatever system it uses. When you go through the worked examples given with each calculation, do not be alarmed if your figures do not match ours exactly. There are several reasons why they may not, including rounding errors xiii xiv About this book and how to use it and misprints. You should try to work with at least seven or eight significant figures. If you write your own programs to carry out any of the calculations on a computer, make sure that Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet use variables having sufficient resolution. Use double precision eight-byte precision everywhere if possible. Having gathered together your writing materials, calculator and book, how do you proceed? Let us take as an example the problem of finding the time of sunrise. We have kept Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet brief on purpose and have made no attempt to provide mathematical derivations. We have also simplified the calculations. As you work through each step, write down the step number and the result in a methodical fashion. Take care here and it will save you a lot of time later! Many calculations require you to turn back and forth between different sections. Make the calculations in that section, and then turn back to carry on with step 2. You will find it useful to keep several slips of paper handy as bookmarks. This book is not intended to match the precision of the results found in the Astronomical Almanac. As we have already mentioned, the calculations have deliberately been simplified although they are good enough for most purposes. If you have your own computer, you can use the methods to write programs displaying the evolving Solar System with a precision that is better than the resolution of the computer screen. But those of us with simple pocket calculators can find great satisfaction in simply being able to work out the stars for ourselves and to predict astronomical events with almost magical precision. A word about spreadsheets — what are they? Inwhen the first edition of Practical Astronomy with your Calculator was published, very few people had access to a computer. Although home computers were beginning to appear in the high street, they Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet not the commonplace household accessory we see today. Calculations were made using a calculator, the sophistication of which ranged from the simple four-function device to the versatile programmable reversePolish scientific machine. You may already own a calculator that would be suitable for the recipes given here, but you might also own Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet computer and wish to make the calculations using that instead. If you are good at programming, you could consider using the methods described in this book as a basis for writing your own astronomical software. How then can we use our computers to make astronomical calculations? The latter is available at no cost, and described as fully compatible with the former, so if you do not already own a commercial spreadsheet program, then Calc might be a good way to go. Once you have loaded the software on to your machine, open the spreadsheet program. The screen display should then Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet something like Figure I. Here and throughout the book, toolbars, sidebars and many other features have been removed from the spreadsheet views. Figure I. Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet empty spreadsheet. Figure II. Cell C5 carries the number The spreadsheet consists of an array of cells, labelled A, B, C etc. Each individual cell is labelled by its column letter and its row number, e. A1, B25 etc. The cell with the thick border around it in Figure I is cell C5. You can write some text or numbers in any cell. In Figure II, the number Since cell E5 is empty, the program has allowed the label to overwrite the space allocated to E5, although the entire content This is a number remains in D5, and E5 remains empty. The spreadsheet knows that something placed in a cell is a label i. If you want to enter a number as a number, just type it in. If you want the spreadsheet to treat the number as a label, put the apostrophe in front of it. We can obviously put Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet and numbers in any of the cells, but the real power of the spreadsheet comes from using formulas. A formula is a calculation which can use the contents of other cells. The result of the calculation is displayed in the cell carrying the formula, so you are not usually aware of the calculation that has Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet on in the background since what is displayed is the result rather than the formula itself. The spreadsheet knows from the equals sign that it is to calculate the formula and display the result. We have also placed the label This is its square in cell D6. Practical Astronomy with your Calculator or Spreadsheet, 4th ed. | Astromart

AstroExcel is Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet from a life long love of Astronomy, Computing and Maths. My aim has been to provide astronomy related calculations in Excel using custom functions, so if you know how to use Excel then you should be able to use AstroExcel. The advantage of this approach is no knowledge of how these functions work is needed to use them, but a basic understanding of astronomy and Excel will help. The algorithms behind the functions are well published, in many cases I have simply taken the algorithm and converted it into an excel function. In others I have taken public domain code and converted to VBE, because this is a project that started over 10 years ago some of the original sources are lost, but where possible I attribute the original source in the code, my main sources Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet inspiration have come from…. As with most things, what you can do is down to your imagination below are some examples of Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet I have used AstroExcel to enhance my knowledge of astronomy. Using the same AstroExcel functions as above with the addition of altitude conversion for your location you can view the rise and set of the Sun and Moon over the day. Using the just a few AstroExcel functions you can create a chart of the equation of Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet for your location, handy if you make sundials. AstroExcel is not just for visual astronomy, because it has been guided by my interests there are functions to calculate basic Yagi designs for meteor detection. Here is an example of how AstroExcel can really excel at producing calculations that would take forever in a planetarium program, and provide views onto the data that would otherwise be missed. It would be just as easy to create something similar overlaying moon phase and rise set times. Thanks a lot. Draconids are not correct. Like Like. Note: the time returned is decimal fraction of a day change cell format to Time all times are UT Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet you have to convert to your time zone and DST. Like Liked by 1 person. A big thank you for these functions that I will try to use to help me identify time periods favorable for astronomical photograph. Can condivide with you a my work. An extraordinary effort BUT…. I am not certain of the accuracy of the altaz function. RA is in degrees not hours — this is true for all astroexcel functions — multiple hours by 15 to get degrees 3. Atmospheric refraction is not calculated use the refraction function if you want to include this. If comparing with other programs check the RA and Dec they are using as they may be using the current epoch for the RA and Dec of an object and this will be different to the publish positions which will state an epoch usually If comparing with other programs check date and time, AltAZ uses UT, other programs may us local time i. If comparing with other programs check you are using the same location. You must have used the wrong formula to convert. I have also updated a new version so you could try that. This is a mammoth effort! This is a really great work. Can anyone assist? When changing longitude in the year planner, excel freezes. Is there an undocumented bug? I am using MSOffice I started developing this a long time ago and probably passed through Office at some point. Hello, Thanks Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet the great work done on this excel workbook. Please if there is a way to help me modify the EclipseSearch and SolareclipseDetail to predict both lunar and solar I would gladly appreciate. Or any other means to get it done I Will take. Thank you. Hello Please, can any help me modify some functions like the EclipseSearch and SolareclipseDetail to predict or work for both lunar and solar eclipse. Any help, I would gladly appreciate. Hi Simon, your ability with astronomy is amazing to me. But now is my goal. Could you be interested in it? Superb piece of work. Do you mean transit across the meridian? I want you to make a position of planets in differnt houses and zodiacs with the help of Swiss ephemeris. Is that Italian? Sorry, this sounds like astrology, my interest is in astronomy, plus there are a lot of problems converting science to Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet systems, for instance, there are 13 constellations in the zodiac, but only 12 recognised by astrology. But yes you can make a transit chart. That will help using ephemaries. That will be a great help. Hi, This file is amazing, would like to thank you for publishing such an informative data. I am learning astrology and need to know the degree of all the planets at a particular date time and Lat long. I am getting the rising time of the planets but not able to get the degree at some particular time. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. In others I have taken public domain code and converted to VBE, because this is a project that started over 10 years ago some of the original sources are lost, but where possible I attribute the original source in the code, my main sources of inspiration have come from… Astronomical Algorithms by Jean Meeus Astronomical Formulae for calculators by Jean Meeus Practical Astronomy with your calculator by Peter Duffett-Smith British Astronomical Association Journal and members handbook Magazines and on-line articles. So what can you do with AstroExcel? Charts produced using AstroExcel to predict viewing conditions at a specific location Visual representation of the altitude of the Sun and Moon Using the same AstroExcel functions as above with the addition of altitude conversion for your location you can view the rise and set of the Sun and Moon over the day. Altitude of the Sun and Moon calculated by AstroExcel Equation of Time Using the just a few AstroExcel functions you can create a chart of the equation of time for your location, handy if you make sundials. Share this: Twitter Facebook. SimonTelescopium Like Liked by 1 person. Great Job. Very big grat work! If comparing with other programs check you are using the same location Like Like. Thanks for letting me know! There is now a new version with the correct values Like Like. Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet you still supporting this software in ? Thank you Like Like. I hope that my proposal will intrigue you to work on it. Kind regards, Ciro Like Like. Simon, Superb piece of work. Thanks, Sri Like Like. Can you make a transit excel sheet for me.? Transit of planets… Like Like. That will be a great help Like Like. Leave a Reply Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet reply Enter your comment here Fill in Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Name required. Post to Cancel. Practical Astronomy with your Calculator or Spreadsheet, 4th Edition -

Very Good. Contains library information from University of Nebraska at Omaha. Back in the days before computers, some work was done with calculators. Peter Duffett-Smith is a physicist by training, and a radio astronomer by trade. Practical Astronomy with your Calculator or Spreadsheet. Peter Duffett-SmithJonathan Zwart. Now in its fourth edition, this highly regarded book is ideal for those who wish to solve a variety of practical and recreational problems in astronomy using a scientific calculator or spreadsheet. Updated and extended, this new edition shows you how to use spreadsheets to predict, with greater accuracy, solar and lunar eclipses, the positions of the planets, and the times of sunrise and sunset. Suitable for worldwide use, this handbook covers orbits, transformations and general celestial phenomena, and is essential for anyone wanting to make astronomical calculations for themselves. With Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet, easy-to-follow instructions for use with a pocket calculator, shown alongside worked examples, it can be enjoyed by anyone interested in astronomy, and will be a useful tool for software writers and students studying introductory astronomy. High-precision spreadsheet methods for greater accuracy are available at www. The date of Easter. Converting the date to the day number. Converting the Julian date to the Greenwich calendar date. Finding the name of the day of the week. Converting hours minutes and seconds to decimal hours. Selenographic coordinates. Atmospheric extinction. The apparent orbit of the Sun. Calculating orbits more precisely. Calculating the Suns distance and angular size. Sunrise and sunset. Converting decimal hours to hours minutes and seconds. Converting the local time to universal time UT. Converting UT and Greenwich calendar date to local time Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet date. Sidereal time ST. Local sidereal time LST. Ephemeris time ET and terrestrial time TT. Coordinate systems. Horizon coordinates. Equatorial coordinates. Ecliptic coordinates. Galactic coordinates. Converting between decimal degrees and degrees minutes and seconds. Converting between angles expressed in degrees and angles expressed in hours. Converting between one coordinate system and another. Converting between right ascension and hour angle. Equatorial to horizon coordinate conversion. Horizon to equatorial coordinate conversion. Ecliptic to equatorial coordinate conversion. Equatorial to ecliptic coordinate conversion. Equatorial to galactic coordinate conversion. Galactic to equatorial coordinate conversion. Generalised coordinate transformations. The angle between two celestial objects. Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet and setting. Geocentric parallax and the figure of the Earth. Calculating corrections for parallax. Heliographic coordinates. Carrington rotation numbers. The equation of time. Solar elongations. The planets comets and binary stars. The planetary orbits. Calculating the coordinates of a planet. Finding the approximate positions of the planets. Perturbations in a planets orbit. The distance lighttravel time and angular size of a planet. The phases of the planets. The positionangle of the bright limb. The apparent brightness of a planet. Parabolic orbits. Binarystar orbits. The Moon and eclipses. The Moons orbit. Calculating the Moons position. The Moons hourly motions. The phases of the Moon. The Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator or Spreadsheet of the Moons bright limb. The Moons distance angular size and horizontal parallax. Moonrise and moonset. The rules of eclipses. Calculating a lunar eclipse. Calculating a solar eclipse. The Astronomical Calendar. Glossary of terms. Symbols and abbreviations. A useful website. Julian dates. The Sun.