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Greenwich Apparent Sidereal Time: Function Gast1

This document describes a Numerit program that demonstrates two algorithms for calculating Greenwich apparent sidereal time (GAST). It provides the equations and functions used to calculate GAST with low precision using the first few terms of the IAU 1980 nutation algorithm. It also describes a function that calculates mean or apparent GAST with high precision by implementing the full IAU 1980 nutation algorithm with 108 terms.

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237 views3 pages

Greenwich Apparent Sidereal Time: Function Gast1

This document describes a Numerit program that demonstrates two algorithms for calculating Greenwich apparent sidereal time (GAST). It provides the equations and functions used to calculate GAST with low precision using the first few terms of the IAU 1980 nutation algorithm. It also describes a function that calculates mean or apparent GAST with high precision by implementing the full IAU 1980 nutation algorithm with 108 terms.

Uploaded by

GERMANCRICKET
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Celestial Computing with Numerit

Greenwich Apparent Sidereal Time


This Numerit program (demogast) demonstrates how to calculate the Greenwich
apparent sidereal time using both a low and high precision algorithm. Both numerical
methods are based on the IAU 1980 nutation algorithm.
function gast1
This function calculates the apparent Greenwich sidereal time using the first few terms of
the IAU 1980 nutation algorithm.
The Greenwich apparent sidereal time is given by the expression
= m + cos (m + )

(1)

In this equation m is the Greenwich mean sidereal time, is the nutation in longitude,
m is the mean obliquity of the ecliptic and is the nutation in obliquity.
The Greenwich mean sidereal time, in degrees, is calculated using the expression
m = 100.46061837 + 36000.770053608T + 0.000387933T 2 T 3 / 38710000

(2)

where T = (JD 2451545) /36525 and JD is the Julian date on the UT1 time scale.
The mean obliquity of the ecliptic is determined from
m = 232621.448 46.8150T 0.00059T 2 + 0.001813T 3

(3)

The nutations in obliquity and longitude involve the following three trigonometric
arguments (in degrees):
L = 280.4665 + 36000.7698T
L = 218.3165 + 481267.8813T

(4)

= 125.04452 1934.136261T
The calculation of the nutations use the following two equations:
= 17.20 sin 1.32 sin2 L 0.23 sin2 L + 0.21sin2
= 9.20 cos + 0.57cos2 L + 0.10 cos 2 L 0.09 cos 2
where these corrections are in units of arc seconds.

page 1

(5)

Celestial Computing with Numerit


The syntax of this function is as follows:
function gast1 (jdate, gst)
` Greenwich apparent sidereal time
` input
`

jdate = Julian date

` output
`
`

gst = Greenwich apparent sidereal time (radians)


(0 <= gst <= 2 pi)

function gast2
This function calculates the mean or apparent Greenwich sidereal time. For the apparent
sidereal time calculation, the obliquity in longitude and obliquity are determined using a
Numerit function named nutation which implements the full IAU 1980 nutation
algorithm (108 terms). Please note that the Julian date can be passed to this function in a
high-order (integer) and low-order (fractional) part. In the argument list k determines the
type of Greenwich sidereal time calculation (k = 0 mean, k = 1 apparent). This
function was ported to Numerit using the Fortran version of the NOVAS (Naval
Observatory Vector Astrometry Subroutines) source code which was developed at
the United States Naval Observatory.
For this numerical method, the nutation in longitude is determined from a trigonometric
series of the form
n

= Si sin Ai
i=1

(6)

The nutation in obliquity is determined from a series of the form


n

= Ci cos Ai
i=1

where
Ai = ai l + bi l + ci F + di D + ei
In this expression l, l, F, D and are fundamental arguments.

page 2

(7)

Celestial Computing with Numerit


The syntax for this Numerit function is as follows:
function gast2 (tjdh, tjdl, k, gst)
` this function computes the greenwich sidereal time
` (either mean or apparent) at julian date tjdh + tjdl
` input
`

tjdh = julian date, high-order part

tjdl = julian date, low-order part

`
`
`
`
`
`

julian date may be split at any point, but for


highest precision, set tjdh to be the integral part of
the julian date, and set tjdl to be the fractional part
k

= time selection code


set k=0 for greenwich mean sidereal time
set k=1 for greenwich apparent sidereal time

` output
`

gst = greenwich (mean or apparent) sidereal time in hours

The program will prompt you for the calendar date and universal time. The following is a
typical draft output created with this program:
program demogast - Greenwich apparent sidereal time
calendar date

October 21, 1999

universal time

10 h 20 m 30 s

Julian date

2451472.930902778

low precision

12 h 18 m 11.32 s

high precision

12 h 18 m 11.31 s

page 3

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