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- Newsgroups: comp.sources.misc
- subject: v12i015: ephem phase correction
- From: downey@cs.umn.edu@dimed1.UUCP
- Sender: allbery@uunet.UU.NET (Brandon S. Allbery - comp.sources.misc)
-
- Posting-number: Volume 12, Issue 15
- Submitted-by: downey@cs.umn.edu@dimed1.UUCP
- Archive-name: ephem4.13/patch01
-
- This is a correction to ephem related to calculation of phase (percent
- illumination). All posted versions of ephem to date (up to and including 4.13)
- calculate phase correctly only for objects in the ecliptic. Note that the
- problem is particularly evident with comets.
-
- The fix is just one line in circum.c. Change the line that reads:
- f = 0.5*(1+cos(lam-lpd0));
- to be:
- f = 0.25 * (((rp0+rho0)*(rp0+rho0) - rsn*rsn)/(rp0*rho0));
-
- It is a simple enough change that I did not make this an automatic patch of
- any sort. The exact line number changes with different versions but the line
- is unique and unchanged in all releases.
-
- Sorry for the problem. Please contact me if you have any questions.
-
- Elwood Downey
- downey%dimed1.uucp@cs.umn.edu, or
- uunet!rutgers!umn-cs!dimed1!downey
-
-
-