[Kstars-devel] Eclipse tool

[Akarsh Simha]

> KStars needs a proper Eclipse/Occultation tool. (yes, I'm offering to
> implement these)
>
> Currently, these events can be predicted to some degree with the
> Conjunction tool (for solar eclipses and occultations), which also does
> oppositions (for moon eclipses). However, this is rather crude, and only
> predicts the moment of smallest separation; sufficient in most cases to
> predict if an event occurs. For example, on 4 April 2015 at 11:45AM UT
> there is an opposition between Sun and Moon, with separation of 13'43".
>
> But this in not sufficient for more than a qualitative estimation. A
> long time ago I went through the calculations for Moon eclipses, and got
> external and internal contacts with umbra and penumbra within 2 minutes
> of the officially published time in Astronomical Almanacs, even though I
> only used something like 5 terms for the Sun and 13 for the Moon. Once I
> got the coordinates, it is something like half a day of work to fully
> implement the algorithm. but it is not a beginner's job, as it needs
> some understanding of the phenomena.
>
> Since then, I went through the calculation for the Solar eclipses,
> although I didn't get to the implementation part.


This sounds like a good idea, but what do you have in mind? How do you
plan to extend the occultations tool to handle these extra outputs?

Regards
Akarsh