Astronomical Algorithms

by Jean Meeus

Book by Meeus, Jean

Genres: Astronomy, Science, Mathematics

477 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1991

About the author

Jean Meeus obtained a Master's degree in mathematics ("licentiaat") from the university of Leuven in 1953. He worked as a meteorologist at Brussels Airport until his retirement. As an amateur astronomer he has authored books, articles and almanacs that generated and continue to generate significant interest among a broad audience including laypersons as well as professional scientists. Much of his work is characterised by the combination of elementary, low-threshold explanations with a high degree of precision and completeness. He has also taken a sharply critical position against astrology, ufology and other forms of pseudoscience.

Reviews

[Justpassingby]

I had a long love affair with this book's predecessor from 1978. It was the year when my dad took me to a Saturday afternoon of lectures on microcomputing at the local public observatory and briefly afterwards bought himself (us) a programmable Texas Instruments 59 pocket calculator. (Of course I still remember the 2-digit instruction codes, why do you ask?)

Jean Meeus' book was not the only one on personal computing in astronomy, but it came out ahead in several important respects (apart from being cheap). First, it contained no programmes but formulas and algorithms, leaving the actual coding fun to the reader. Second, the formulas were explained with the absolute minimum of required background knowledge - it wasn't until 2 years later that I learned how Kepler's equation actually derives from Kepler's laws. Finally, it contained lots and lots of fully worked examples, or as we now call them, test cases. My only regret was that the author, a fellow speaker of my native Dutch, had me struggle with a foreign language.

Forty-six years on I still enjoy rereading the seriously revised 1998 edition from Willmann-Bell. I recommend it to all amateur programmers with even a mild interest in positional astronomy.

[Harrison Dohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An improvement on the previous version of this book, Astronomical Formulae For Calculators. This version has additional content and improved presentation. I was grateful for the level of detail provided and the improvements.

[Harish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a technical book about algorithms to estimate positions of different celestial objects including sun and moon. It is must have book for students of astronomy. Besides astronomy developers of software for smartphone or solar power may also find this book very useful.

[Glenn Crouch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a marvellous book covering astronomical and calendar-based calculations.

[Jade Schefke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leaves the calculations up to the reader. An excellent resource for novice to professionals. How too, but very little why. Be sure to be familiar with newtons gravity and Keplers law.

[E. Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of useful formulas and sample output. The only thing that would have made this book better would be for showing how the formulas were derived or including sample computer code.