Planetary & Lunar Ephemerides (JPL) CD

Authors: E.M. Standish, X.X. Newhall, J.G. Williams & W.M. Folkner

Copyright @1997 The Jet Propulsion laboratory, California Institute of Technology

The JPL Planetary and Lunar Ephemerides on CD-ROM contains three different Jet Propulsion Laboratory Planetary and Lunar Ephemerides (DE200, DE405, and DE406) along with associated reading and interpolating routines. These allow a competent user to obtain the rectangular coordinates of the sun, moon, and nine major planets by means of a subroutine written in standard FORTRAN. The data and programs should be viewed by the potential user as a "tool box" for one skilled in computer programming and knowledgeable about astronomical computing.

DE200: (includes nutations but not librations)
JED 2305424.5 (1599 DEC 09) to JED 2513360.5 (2169 MAR 31)
This ephemeris has been the basis of the Astronomical Almanac since 1984. It is based upon the dynamical equator and equinox of J2000 (see Standish, 1982 and Standish, 1990).

DE405: (includes both nutations and librations)
JED 2305424.50 (1599 DEC 09) to JED 2525008.50 (2201 FEB 20)
The latest JPL ephemeris, created in May-June, 1997. DE405 is based upon the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF), the newly-adopted reference frame of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The frames of DE200 and DE405 differ by no more than about 0.01 arcseconds.

DE406: the New "JPL Long Ephemeris" (includes neither nutations nor librations)
JED 0625360.50 (-3000 FEB 23) to 2816912.50 (+3000 MAY 06)
DE406 is the same ephemeris as DE405, though the accuracy of the interpolating polynomials has been lessened (interpolation on the 64-day mesh points remains exact, however). For DE406/LE406, the interpolating accuracy is no worse than 25 meters for any planet and no worse than 1 meter for the moon.