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Obtaining GP of Sun

The astronomical position of the Sun is fixed for a given Greenwich Mean Time value. The Astronomical Almanac [15] annually reports declination and the equation of time for all days of the year. A set of formulas is given in the Almanac for automatic calculation of these quantities. Since these formulas are easily available we do not repeat them here. Declination of the Sun directly gives Sun latitude for a given day. The equation of time must be used to obtain Sun longitude, together with precise Greenwich Mean Time. We obtain Greenwich Mean Time directly from the computer clock, corrected to the nearest second by a network call to a national server.


buffa@cs.cmu.edu
Fri Aug 19 11:49:17 EDT 1994