MADVOX MOONLOCK JUPITER

Physical Observation of Jupiter and Galilean Moons

 

MoonLock Jupiter is a realistic simulator designed to provide accurate measurements of the position of Jupiter and the Galilean moons for the physical observation of the system. Although MoonLock Jupiter is not meant to be as accurate as NASA’s ephemerides, it is sufficiently accurate to be trusty and reliable if you wish to use your telescope and predict the position of the moons and upcoming events (such as moon transits, eclipses, shadows or the location of the Great Red Spot.)

"Sufficiently Accurate" is a direct reference to Jean Meeus. This program was written as an implementation of Astronomical Algorithms, originally developed by Jean Meeus: his incredible work in the field of Computational Astronomy has been the inspiration for many works, including this one...

These are the functions that MoonLock Jupiter can perform:

* Detailed ephemeris of Jupiter and its moons for a given date and time, including observer's coordinate and time location
* Visualization of the Galilean system including approach, transit, occultation, eclipses and position of the moons
* Real-time predictions for any given time (from the years 2000 to 2050)
* Realistic mechanical visualization of the Jovian Satellite System
* Predicted important events for times you set
* Ability to move time forward and backward and to zoom in and out of calculations and orbits
* "Sufficiently Accurate" results are good to 10 minutes within your location


To use MoonLock you must first establish your location profile (otherwise, all calculations default to midnight - Greenwich) - this is called your "observatory". You may look up your city's coordinated easily by searching google (for instance, "Washington DC coordinates" and simply enter the location angles provided in decimal form (e.g. 53.2366). Also check the box for Daylight Savings Time and enter your time offset from GMT (for instance, in the eastern US this would be 5 hours - no sign needed for positive offsets, use negative sign for negative offsets).

After you have done the above, simply click on any of the available functions (Ephemeris, Visualization or Events) and all should be set.

To use MoonLock you must first establish your location profile (otherwise, all calculations default to midnight - Greenwich) - this is called your "observatory". You may look up your city's coordinated easily by searching google (for instance, "Washington DC coordinates" and simply enter the location angles provided in decimal form (e.g. 53.2366). Also check the box for Daylight Savings Time and enter your time offset from GMT (for instance, in the eastern US this would be 5 hours - no sign needed for positive offsets, use negative sign for negative offsets).

After you have done the above, simply click on any of the available functions (Ephemeris, Visualization or Events) and all should be set.

The information provided by this program does not always match NASA's or [enter-name-here]: For total accuracy, I recommend you use NASA's data or data from other well-known astronomical associations. This program is "sufficiently accurate" but it does not intend to replace those sources at all. This program is designed to help a casual observer or user to quickly obtain information about Jupiter and its moons. It should be very good at aiding your telescopic or visual obsertations.

How accurate is the program: It is accurate and using Meeus' own words - it is sufficiently accurate - so that when you look at Jupiter and its moons they will match what you see. The accuracy concerns need bother you only if you are intending to do detailed professional observation work!

Some other programs report slightly different information: This program takes into consideration your geographical location as well as your time zone and thus, it may provide more accurate - if slightly different results, than others that simply report mean data at 0h GMT. For almanacs, this program defaults to midnight UTC. But again, this is "sufficiently accurate", just to dispell any concerns.

What is the range of timing accuracy of this program?: Year 2000 to 2050. I deliberately limited the calculations to that time frame because this program does not require data beyond the Y2K epoch.

What other sites can I refer to for additional information?: In addition to the NASA LRO site provided above, you can visit one of the topmost authorities here at the US Naval Observatory.

Roguetoad Studios - This program was produced with the help of Roguetoad Studios who provided images, themes and icons. Most special thanks to Jean Meeus whose book - Astronomical Algorithms - provided the inspiration and starting work.

Special thanks to Akkana Peck. Her Jupiter visualization program inspired me to provide the orbital visualizations in Javascript. Without seeing her applet, I would probably have provided nummerical data only or a a flat, top-view of the system! I used Akkana's event prediction function as well. Akkana's web site also has plenty of additional, web-based astronomical calculations and is very useful and interesting. Please, visit when you can.

Finally, special thanks to Xavier M. Jubier who has a similar application for the web. I think his is among the best because it is based on Meeus' and is very high quality and fidelity. He had also compiled planetary data from Meeus into Javascript thus allowing me to use this data and saving considerable coding time, especially with regards to the visibility of the planet for which I used his awesome predictions and descriptions.