input

Apparent geocentric position of the Moon

Input
Date and time
Year
Month
Day
Hour (TDT)
Minute

2015
7
14
0
0

Output
Geocentric apparent coordinates
Longitude
86.575
Latitude
-4.994
Right ascension
5.760
Declination
18.398
Distance 0.0025775
Parallax
0.9478
Semi-diameter
0.2583

d
86
-4
5
18

m
34
-59
45
23

0
0

56
15

Time
JD 2457218
Days to J2000
5672.5
Julian centuries from J2000 0.155305

Page 1

s
28.8
-37.2
36.9
53.3

degrees
degrees
hours
degrees
au
52.1 degrees
29.8 degrees

64 2.12111921
424 14.1211192

3
3

series and ecliptic)

Geocentric longitude and latitude of moon (mean equinox

Date and time

Results

Year
Month
Day
Hour (UT)
Minute

2015
7
14
0
0

Periodic Terms (longitude and radius vector)

lamda (degs)
beta (degs)
distance (km)
pi (degs)

86.574042
-4.990958
385584.5
0.947800

JD
Days to J2000.0
T

2457217.5
5672.5
0.1553045859

Arguments
Symbol
L'
D
M
M'
F
A1
A2
A3

Degrees
Radians
81.425446
1.421142
329.874534
5.757397
188.346704
3.287270
86.136158
1.503360
256.761255
4.481329
140.226754
2.447419
325.032095
5.672880
176.342005
3.077749

E 0.9996090752
E^2 0.9992183032
Totals and additive terms - longitude and radius vector

Additional
Terms

Totals
A1
L'-F
A2
Final total

5146406.16 583981.63632455
2532.13398
-159.541212
-182.25136
5148596.5 583981.63632455

Totals and additive terms - latitude

Total

-4988735
Page 2

line
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33

D
0
2
2
0
0
0
2
2
2
2
0
1
0
2
0
0
4
0
4
2
2
1
1
2
2
4
2
0
2
2
1
2
0

M
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
-1
0
-1
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
-1
0
0
0
1
0
-1
0
-2
1

M'
1
-1
0
2
0
0
-2
-1
1
0
-1
0
1
0
1
1
-1
3
-2
-1
0
-1
0
1
2
0
-3
-2
-1
-2
1
0
2

F L coeff R coeff
L eccen
0 6288774 -20905355
6288774
0 1274027 -3699111
1274027
0 658314 -2955968
658314
0 213618
-569925
213618
0 -185116
48888 -185043.63356
2 -114332
-3149
-114332
0
58793
246158
58793
0
57066
-152138 57043.691484
0
53322
-170733
53322
0
45758
-204586 45740.112062
0
-40923
-129620 -40907.002183
0
-34720
108743
-34720
0
-30383
104755 -30371.122531
-2
15327
10321
15327
2
-12528
0
-12528
-2
10980
79661
10980
0
10675
-34782
10675
0
10034
-23210
10034
0
8548
-21636
8548
0
-7888
24208 -7884.916385
0
-6766
30824 -6763.3550027
0
-5163
-8379
-5163
0
4987
-16675 4985.0504579
0
4036
-12831 4034.4222274
0
3994
-10445
3994
0
3861
-11650
3861
0
3665
14403
3665
0
-2689
-7003 -2687.9488032
2
-2602
0
-2602
0
2390
10056 2389.0656897
0
-2348
6322
-2348
0
2236
-9884 2234.2521259
0
-2120
5751 -2119.1712394

Additional
Terms

L'
A3
A1-F
A1+F
L'-M'
L'+M'
Final total

-2210.01872
24.3718636
-156.566466
105.288379
-10.4298543
24.7698252
-4990957.62

series

Page 3

34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60

0
2
2
2
4
0
3
2
4
0
2
2
2
4
0
4
1
2
0
1
3
4
2
0
1
2
2

2
-2
0
0
-1
0
0
1
-1
2
2
1
-1
0
0
-1
0
1
0
1
0
0
-1
2
1
0
0

0
-1
1
0
-1
2
-1
1
-2
-1
-1
-2
0
1
4
0
-2
0
2
1
-2
-3
2
1
-1
3
-1

0
0
-2
2
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
-2
0
0
0
0
-2
-2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
-2

-2069
2048
-1773
-1595
1215
-1110
-892
-810
759
-713
-700
691
596
549
537
520
-487
-399
-381
351
-340
330
327
-323
299
294
0

0 -2067.3826693
-4950 2046.3990849
4130
-1773
0
-1595
-3958 1214.5250263
0
-1110
3258
-892
2616 -809.68335089
-1897 758.70328806
-2117 -712.44265017
2354 -699.45281222
0 690.72987095
0 595.76700881
-1423
549
-1117
537
-1571 519.79671909
-1739
-487
0 -398.844021
-4421
-381
0 350.86278539
0
-340
0
330
0 326.87216758
1165 -322.74751193
0 298.88311348
0
294
8752
0

series

Periodic Terms (latitude)

R eccen
L term
R term
-20905355 6274479.6349 -1408721.2246
-3699111 -705274.85991 3080606.8007
-2955968 -571552.74881 -1466758.3536
-569925 28724.142843 564749.13756
48868.888467 26861.442486 -48351.258974
-3149 -50974.484391 2818.7001234
246158 46658.141393 -149772.24374
-152078.52548 24347.64793 -137529.85023
-170733 23278.775669 -153603.42338
-204506.02225 42585.908675 74627.356264
-129569.32832 -39981.562317 27404.521273
108743 17425.801993 94054.912291
104714.04867 30278.209914 8184.5436007
10321 8520.4385039 -8579.2510342
0 10812.05708
0
79661 -10135.842848 30630.866081
-34782 4786.1614566 31090.130744
-23210 -9829.3563421 4663.6559693
-21636 7881.5781633 -8375.2981308
24198.536492 -5271.9072635 17994.426027
30811.950133 -5322.6288873 -19010.289137
-8379 4630.0905925 3707.4614579
-16668.481329 1849.5716218 15478.742085
-12825.984044 -1215.7608348 12229.762528
-10445 3702.6136597 3916.3799802
-11650 -3326.6864252 5913.1485406
14403 2420.8562798 10813.719588
-7000.2623535 -744.25308658 -6726.5732515
0 -323.20722298
0
10052.06886 -2086.8896094 4893.2823476
6322 -1946.8251998 3534.2394294
-9876.2737086 -2176.4991095 -2231.0256113
5748.7517913 -22.894930966 5748.4162834

line D M M' F B coeff

B eccen
B term
1
0 0 0 1 5128122
5128122 -4991838.3866
2
0 0 1 1
280602
280602 -82520.411426
3
0 0 1 -1
277693
277693 -45234.466637
4
2 0 0 -1
173237
173237 118120.39709
5
2 0 -1 1
55413
55413 51946.310933
6
2 0 -1 -1
46271
46271 -31644.257157
7
2 0 0 1
32573
32573 -9256.8588159
8
0 0 2 1
17198
17198 16059.324619
9
2 0 1 -1
9266
9266 7188.4005354
10 0 0 2 -1
8822
8822 -8781.221872
11 2 -1 0 -1
8216 8212.7881617 -4668.429548
12 2 0 -2 -1
4324
4324 -3346.8256841
13 2 0 1 1
4200
4200 -4098.1057836
14 2 1 0 -1
-3359 -3357.6868835 2621.7051712
15 2 -1 -1 1
2463 2462.0371522 -2407.990112
16 2 -1 0 1
2211 2210.1356652 313.8402313
17 2 -1 -1 -1
2065 2064.1927402 1615.3430358
18 0 1 -1 -1
-1870 -1869.2689706 803.24748735
19 4 0 -1 -1
1828
1828 -1778.2396466
20 0 1 0 1
-1794 -1793.2986809 -1786.7659665
21 0 0 0 3
-1749
-1749 -1345.3632253
22 0 1 -1 1
-1565 -1564.3882027 28.07215092
23 1 0 0 1
-1491
-1491 1083.9625352
24 0 1 1 1
-1475 -1474.4233859 -224.44390501
25 0 1 1 -1
-1410 -1409.448796 -429.02534419
26 0 1 0 -1
-1344 -1343.474597 1249.2566565
27 1 0 0 -1
-1335
-1335 -1277.4360414
28 0 0 3 1
1107
1107 464.86431065
29 4 0 0 -1
1021
1021 -302.99221421
30 4 0 -1 1
833
833 639.26518628
31 0 0 1 -3
777
777 455.08818082
32 4 0 -2 1
671
671 -394.52635007
33 2 0 0 -3
607
607 -568.43117882
Page 4

0 -593.85631072
0
-4946.1306007 -595.55914573 4732.0352533
4130 1404.0252717 -2522.028335
0 -1592.4005459
0
-3956.4527196 -696.35769353 -3241.5411823
0 623.99544117
0
3258 54.26018246 -3251.9666824
2614.9773407 455.48267426 -2161.9775227
-1896.2584156 -649.50976669 980.07243339
-2115.3451478 667.07558253 -742.78889982
2352.1598857 538.20794164 -1502.2844861
0 -481.3499997
0
0 -399.57347063
0
-1423 -309.89569978 -1174.6174902
-1117 -143.10387141 -1076.6074162
-1570.3858571 404.82107948 -985.04684223
-1739 -185.56384245 1607.8112057
0 171.24633724
0
-4421 -122.46720888 -4186.3829371
0 -316.30665472
0
0 -337.20530493
0
0 -106.94907887
0
0 -317.60654718
0
1164.0893232 -314.69008886 -258.48796388
0 284.39156653
0
0 -91.619474826
0
8752
0 4364.0359732

34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60

2
2
2
0
2
2
2
2
4
2
2
0
2
1
1
0
2
1
2
0
4
4
1
4
1
4
2

0
-1
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
-1
-2
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
-1
1
0
-1
0
0
0
-1
-2

2
1
-2
3
2
-3
-1
0
0
1
0
1
1
0
0
-2
-1
1
-2
2
-2
-1
1
1
-1
0
0

-1 series596
596 -344.06456626
-1
491 490.80805591 -421.68411843
1
-451
-451 -185.14812908
-1
439
439 12.619241099
1
422
422 64.433656903
-1
421
421 244.00110687
1
-366 -365.85692151 320.84598059
1
-351 -350.86278539 -147.48706399
1
331
331 228.85162818
1
315 314.87685868 313.99061407
-1
302 301.76392756 133.67648497
3
-283
-283 -195.09105294
-1
-229 -228.91047822 154.7360396
-1
223 222.91282376 -220.44125241
1
223 222.91282376 182.56041934
-1
-220 -219.91399654 -191.75556636
-1
-220 -219.91399654 -125.5130758
1
-185
-185 135.80155141
-1
181 180.92924261 121.92823032
1
-177 -176.93080631 172.65644191
-1
176
176 29.155730303
-1
166 165.93510648 154.12642445
-1
-164
-164 -58.105238626
-1
132
132 123.12749161
-1
-119
-119 26.815474538
-1
115 114.95504365 49.688209682
1
107 106.91635844 0.3416423176

Page 5

nutation

Low precision nutation corrections

JD
2457217.5
Days to J2000
5672.5
T 0.1553045859
mean lambda
86.5740
mean beta
-4.9910
quantity
ecliptic of date
long asc lunar node (omega)
mean long sun (L)
mean long moon (L')
delta phi
delta e

true lambda
true beta
true ecliptic

degs
23.4373
184.6643
111.5511
81.4255
arcsec
2.27
-9.77

note

radians
0.409058
3.223
1.946935
1.421143
degs
0.00063
-0.002714

degs
radians
86.5747 1.511013
-4.9937 -0.087156
23.4346 0.40901

Page 6

low precision formulas are good to

about 0.5 arcsec in delta phi and 0.1
arcsec in delta e, so the error in lunar
position from the truncation of the series
is still the most important error term

nutation

as are good to
delta phi and 0.1
the error in lunar
ncation of the series
ortant error term

Page 7

equatorial

Conversion to geocentric equatorial coordinates

radians
JD
Days to J2000
T
true lambda
true beta
distance

true ecliptic of date

nutation in longitude

2457217.5
5672.5
0.1553045859
86.5747
-4.9937
385584.5416
degrees
hours
23.4345575932
0.000629678

sin

cos

1.511013 0.998214 0.059748

-0.087156 -0.087046 0.996204

radians
sin
cos
0.409010 0.397701 0.917515

geocentric equatorial
degrees
hours
radians
a
b
alpha
86.403642142 5.760242809 1.5080280411 0.950626 0.059748
delta 18.3981428126
0.3211081683 0.315618 0.948886

Page 8

equatorial

tan

16.707161
-0.087377

tan
0.433455

tan
15.9106842
0.33261972

Page 9

notes

moon position spreadsheet

, Tushar kumar Bhowmik
tushartex62@gmai.com
This spreadsheet produces the apparent geocentric coordinates of the moon for a given date
and dynamic time, and was produced to demonstrate the modern series methods used to find
;planet positions. The lunar series used is taken from
Astronomical Algorithms
Jean Meeus
Willmann-Bell
corrected re-printing, 1991
ISBN 0-943396-35-2
Meeus claims 10" in the geocentric ecliptic longitude of the moon, and 4" in the latitude. The
simple one line formula used to find the number of days from J2000 is only good for years
.from 1901 to 2099
This spreadsheet gives results consistent with Meeus' worked example in Chapter 45, bearing
in mind that an approximate nutation theory (see Meeus Chapter 21, formulae on page 132)
.has been used
Results for the RA and DEC have been checked with the Interactive Computer Ephemeris and
with Dr Ahmed Monsur's Mooncalc 4.0, and are within the expected limits. Below are some
;values from the ICE to check the spreadsheet with
Apparent Places of MOON
Date
Time
RA
Julian Date
Year Mon Da h m s
Jan 1 0 00 00
4 30 05.063 + 17
Jan 1 0 00 00
19 33 28.093 - 26
Feb 13 0 00 00
17 12 03.334 - 19
Feb 13 0 00 00
17 12 03.334 - 19
Aug 8 19 34 00
21 50 31.006 - 12
Apr 3 14 00 00
5 36 40.644 + 28

h
10
32
25
25
29
35

Dec

m
s
03.67
07.84
55.90
55.90
25.14
59.09

Dist
'
"
.0024723 1904
.0027169 1930
.0025736 1958
.0025736 1958
.0024763 1998
.0024906 2025

AU
2416480.50000
2425977.50000
2436247.50000
2436247.50000
2451034.31528
2460769.08333

Times must be in UT (strictly TDT), and I am seeing up to 10" error on the declination. There
are 'notes' embedded in various cells of the spreadsheet to explain aspects of the
.implementation

Page 10