Astronomical Algorithms

Today's astronomical tidbit....

Is there a "dark side of the moon"?

Pink Floyd sings about the dark side of the moon, and at the very end of their song an authoritative voice (actually, it turns out he was just a door man at the recording studio) states unequivocally "there is no dark side of the moon". This discussion has been going around for some time now, so what's the truth, is there really a dark side of the moon?

Yes, there is! First, consider the half of the moon that permanently faces the earth. Half of each month the sun shines there, stark and ultra bright in the otherwise black sky. As soon as the sun drops below the horizon for the next half of each month, the earth is at a minimum half lit by the sun. The earth looms much bigger in the lunar sky than does the moon in our sky, and it never sets. The half-to-full earth is very bright, again lighting up the lunar sky rather brightly. At no point in the lunar month cycle is the lunar sky devoid of either the sun, or an earth that is at least half full.

On the back side of the mooon, the side facing permanently away from the earth, the story is different. Half of each month the sun does shine brightly there, but the earth is never visible, making the other half of each month very dark indeed. Stars shine bright there, but that's it. The far side of the moon is truly the dark side, at least for half of each month!

John Clark Craig

Special order this
great technical book
from any bookstore
with this ISBN: 1-932344-68-3

Introduction to Astronomical Photometry

Edwin Budding, Osman Demircan

Provides an in-depth and professional coverage of the latest techniques, instruments, and experimental procedures for astronomical photometry.

ISBN: 0521847117

Astronomical Algorithms

Jean Meeus

Many programmers consider this book to be the standard source book for formulas, algorithms, and basic explanations of sun, moon, stars, and planet ephemerides.

ISBN: 0943396611

Textbook on Spherical Astronomy

W. M. Smart

Using the methods of spherical geometry, this textbook used has been used in lectures at Cambridge University by the author. It serves as a good reference work for researchers in a variety of astronomy and space physics disciplines.

ISBN: 0521291801

Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac

P. Kenneth Seidelmann

This book provides supplementary explanations for the Naval Observatory's planet, moon, sun, and star orbital formulas and spherical astronomy calculations.

ISBN: 1891389459

Practical Statistics for Astronomers

J. V. Wall, C. R. Jenkins

This book is a little different in that it provides in-depth coverage of the statistical-based observations astronomers must use, including classical parametric and non-parametric methods, Bayesian solutions, and probability.

ISBN: 0521456169

Astronomical Time Series

Dan Maoz, Amiel Sternberg, Elia M. Leibowitz

This book is a complilation of topics from experts dealing with astronomical time series, including a variety of mathematical and statistical techniques. This can be a good reference for researchers studying binaries, searching for planets, analysing pulsars, and exploring gravitational galactic lensing.

ISBN: 0792347064

Astronomy with your Personal Computer

Peter Duffett-Smith

Written in 1990, this book received awards at the time for its ability to allow amateur astronomers to perform astronomical calculations on a personal computer for the first time. The formulas and equations are very useful, and if you don't mind translating from line-numbered BASIC to today's modern programming languages, it's a good reference.

ISBN: 052138995X

Easy PC Astronomy

Peter Duffett-Smith

This book, written in 1997, presents "Astroscript", a DOS based pseudo-language for calculating many astronomical formulas. The explanations of astronomical phenomenon are useful, but its use with today's PCs is problematic.

ISBN: 0521560527

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