[amsat-bb] Re: need keps for ao-0

At 2:05 PM -0800 11/14/08, Eric Fort wrote:

Where can I get keps for the moon (ao-0) and keep them updated? how much do they change over time?

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/software/PC/tracking/moonkeps.zip

That's a DOS program (which probably runs fine under Windows too) that can compute a set of pseudo-Keplerian elements for the Moon, which are good for a limited time (a month).

The document file in that archive also includes elements for the Sun, which can be modeled as an Earth-orbiting satellite. These elements are good for many years, at least for predicting pointing angles. Some tracking programs, however, may reject these elements due to range checking on the values.

73 -Paul kb5mu@amsat.org