Alcyone Astronomical Tables 1.4 (AAT) is a collection of astronomical data in electronic form. It provides detailed information on various astronomical phenomena (conjunctions with the Sun, planetary conjunctions, oppositions, stations in longitude, greatest eleongations, lunar phases, equinoxes and solstices, passages of aphelia and perihelia) covering the period 3000 BC to AD 3000. AAT offers additional functionality as printing, data export (Excel, HTML, ASCII, CSV), table sorting, and time range specification.

The calculation is based upon Steve Moshier's analytical ephemeris using trigonometric expansions for the earth and planets and the lunar ephemeris ELP2000-85 of Chapront-Touzé and Chapront for the moon, both adjusted to Jet Propulsion Laboratory's DE404 (see www.moshier.net).

Since all data are pre-calculated and saved in a database, all calculations are very fast. AAT can be used as a 'stand-alone program' and/or as an addition to Alcyone Ephemeris. The software runs under Windows ME/2000/XP/Vista.

download trial version (~4.4 MByte)

This table contains information on all inferior and superior conjunctions of Mercury and Venus with the Sun taking place from -2998 to 2999. For each conjunction the following data are given:

instant of conjunction as a Julian day number and as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
time difference between the current and preceding conjunction of the body
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the time of conjunction
geocentric distance of the planet at the time of conjunction
instant of the planet's least (inferior conjunctions) or greatest (superior conjunctions) geocentric distance
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the time of the its least or greatest geocentric distance
greatest or least geocentric distance of the planet
instant when the planet begins to move westward (retrograde, first station in celestial longitude) as a Julian day number and as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the instant of first station
time difference (in days) between the instant of first station and succeeding conjunction
instant when the planet resums direct motion (eastward, second station in celestial longitude) as a Julian day number and as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the instant of second station
time difference (in days) between the instant of second station and preceeding conjunction

This table contains information on all conjunctions of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus with the Sun taking place from -2998 (1700 for Uranus) to 2999. For each conjunction the following data are given:

instant of conjunction as a Julian day number and as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
time difference between current and preceding conjunction of the body
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the time of conjunction
geocentric distance of the planet at the time of conjunction
instant of the planet's greatest geocentric distance as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the time of the its greatest geocentric distance
greatest distance of the planet

This table contains information on all greatest elongations (the maximum angular distance between the planet and the center of the Sun's disk) of Mercury and Venus taking place from -2998 to 2999. For each greatest elongation the following data are given:

instant of greatest elongation as a Julian day number and as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
time difference between current and preceding greatest elongation of the body
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the time of greatest elongation
geocentric distance of the planet at the time of greatest elongation
apparent visiual magnitude of the planet at the time of greatest elongation
greatest elongation of the planet (angular separation between the planet and the center of the Sun's disk)

This table contains information on all oppositions of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus taking place from -2998 (1700 for Uranus) to 2999. For each opposition the following data are given:

instant of opposition as a Julian day number and as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
time difference between current and preceding opposition of the body
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the time of opposition
geocentric distance of the planet at the time of opposition
apparent visiual magnitude of the planet at the time of opposition
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the time of the its least geocentric distance
least geocentric distance of the planet
instant when the planet begins to move westward (retrograde, first station in celestial longitude) as a Julian day number and as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the instant of first station
time difference (in days) between the instant of first station and succeeding conjunction
instant when the planet resums direct motion (eastward, second station in celestial longitude) as a Julian day number and as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the instant of second station
time difference (in days) between the instant of second station and preceeding conjunction

This table contains information on all geocentric planetary conjunctions in celestial longitude between Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn taking place from -2998 to 2999. For each on the following data are given:

instant of conjunction as a Julian day number and as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
time difference between current and preceding conjunction of the bodies
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitudes of the planets at the time of conjunction
geocentric distances of the planets at the time of conjunctions
apparent visiual magnitude of the planets at the time of conjunction
angular separation between the bodies at the time of conjunction
elongation from Sun at the time of conjunction (rounded to nearest degree)

This table contains information on all aphelion and perihelion passages of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune taking place from -2998 to 2999. For each passage the following data are given:

instant of passage as a Julian day number and as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
time difference between current and preceding aphelion/perihelion passage of the body
heliocentric ecliptical longitude and latitude of the planet at the time of aphelion/perihelion passage referred to the mean equinox of the date and to the mean equinox of J2000
heliocentric distance of the planet at the time of aphelion/perihelion passage

This table contains information on the times of equinoxes and solstices for the years -2998 to 2999. These are the instants when the apparent longitude of the sun (corrected for the effects of aberration and nutation) is 0° (spring equinox), 90° (summer solstice), 180° (autumn equinox), or 270° (winter solstice).

This table contains information on the instants of the phases of the moon for the years -2998 to 2999. These are the instants when the difference between the apparent longitudes of the moon and the sun (corrected for the effects of aberration and nutation) is 0° (New moon), 90° (First quarter), 180° (Full moon), or 270° (Last quarter). For each lunar phase the following data are given:

instant of lunar phase as a Julian day number and as a Julian/Gregorian calendar date
time difference between current and preceding lunar phase of the same kind
geocentric ecliptical longitude and latitudes of the Moon
geocentric distance of the Moon