J. L. LawrenceCelestial Calculations: A Gentle Introduction to Computational Astronomy (Mit Press)

I am pursuing a self taught course on mathematical determination of celestial phenomena, such as the phases of the moon and sunrise and sunset. The text Celestial Calculations is an exceptional resource among texts in this field for its clarity of the topics, an explanation for what needs to be done and the calculations for doing it, the worked examples, and its exercises left for the reader, with answers provided. An additional asset are the programming guides for performing calculations. I wholeheartedly agree with the author’s comments in the Preface, which states that…”this book emphasizes understanding what calculations are required, why they are needed and how all the pieces fit together.”

This an excellent book. Unlike most technical books, this one was easy to read and the writing style kept this reader interested. The subject matter can be very confusing but the author, with the aid of diagrams, did a good job of explaining and describing the topics. I bought the book a few days ago and have already reached chapter five. The included computer codes and executables were a very nice addition. I have already test driven several of the applications in both java and python. The source codes themselves are a nice learning aid. I wish I had this book thirty years ago.

I bought this book because I wanted to explore how to calculate the equatorial coordinates for both the inner and outer planets for a person on the earth. I followed the methods described in Chapter 8 and I was able to setup the needed C# code. I had to carefully work out the guidance for handling the ATAN2 function so results would be in the right quadrant. This book is the best book to come out regarding Astronomical calculations since the classic book ASTRONOMICAL ALGORITHMS by Meeus.It should be noted that the planet calculation program documented J. L. Lawrence is based upon calculations using each planet's orbital elements. This contrasts with other methods [such as VSOP] which involve using dozens of terms whose coefficients are looked up from tables.

I liked the first 6 chapters of the book. The later chapters are inadequate probably because of the complexity of the subject matter. There are some obvious irritating misprints in chapter 4 which initially confused me: Chapter 4, Figure 16 where celestial and ecliptic frames are switched and Chapter 6, Figure 5 where the Earth's spin axis is mislabeled.

Most interesting, for me, were the terms and definitions embodied in the the field of Celestial Mechanics. The Mathematics required is simply a strong background in HS Trigonometry, Algebra, Plane and Solid Geometry, and a basic knowledge of Geodesy. The text is well written and walks the reader through a basic understanding of the dynamics our solar system.

Clear concise explanations of astronomical terms and how to convert between various coordinate systems with many examples detailing intermediate steps showing numerical results. Working along through the examples replaced my vague understanding of how to calculate various quantities with a better grasp of the details. I found this book very useful.

I'm awed by this book! I've rarely read a book containing more good information than this book. It compares to Feynman's Lectures on Physics, Molecular Biology of the Cell, and LaMothe'sTricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus.I greatly prefer Celestial Calculations to Astronomical Algorithms, since I'm not good enough at math for the latter book. I used it to write a program using its equations to show the moon's location at any time/anywhere on earth. I realize that the program that's available with the book does this, but I program as a hobby, and I enjoyed it. And I'm much more interested in what he wrote about than I used to be.

Item arrived quickly, undamaged and does provide the equations and calculatins needed - with computer software too. A very good read ! Thanks !

excellent book. Dealing with several complex subjects in a simplistic approach without loosing the essence of the subject

Libro di astronomia adatto per studenti universitari

Umfasst die wichtigsten Berechnungen der Positionsastronomie inklusive von Satellitenorbits. Die vorgestellten Berechnungen liefern eine ausreichende Genauigkeit für eine praktische Beobachtung; auf hochgenaue Verfahren und Standardwerke wie die von Meeus wird hingewiesen.

No me ha terminado de gustar.

I expected modern high-precision algorithms, what I found were simplified and approximate methods.