New Horizons/Jupiter Ephemeris Generator 1.2 Help
This form enables you to generate a table listing useful information
about New Horizons' viewing geometry for Jupiter and/or any of its moons as a
function of time. You are free to specify which of a variety of useful
quantities to tabulate. The file returned will contain a single header
line describing each column, followed by one row of numbers for each
time step.
Change History
1.0 (October 24, 2003):
Original Jupiter Ephemeris Generator for New Horizons on line.
1.1 (January 13, 2004):
Trajectory options added based possible New Horizons launch dates.
1.2 (February 6, 2006):
Updated with the official post-launch trajectory.
The start and stop times (UTC) of the table can be entered in a variety
of formats. For example, the following all parse to 0:01:02 UTC on July
4, 1976:
- 1976-JUL-04 00:01:02.00
- 1976-186 00:01:02.00
- July 4, 1976 12:01:02 am
- 12:01:02 am July 4, 1976
- 1976-07-04T00:01:02Z (PDS format)
- MJD 42963.00071759259
- JD 2442963.50071759259
If you want the gory details of how times are interpreted, click
here.
Enter the time interval to be used for the tabulation as a number in the box,
and select the time unit from the choices provided.
Currently, the Jupiter Viewer for New Horizons can use one of eight different
trajectories. The first six are sample trajectories, depending on the
launch date. Remaining options are post-launch trajectories.
Only the latest post-launch trajectory should be used. Others are provided
for backward compatibility.
Click on the box to the left of each quantity or set of quantities that
you wish to tabulate. The order of the columns in the table will match
the order listed on the form. Possible selections are as follows:
-
Year, Month, Day, Hour, Minute
Adds five columns containing the UTC date (year, month, day) and time
(hours, minutes) as integers.
-
Year, Month, Day, Hour, Minute, Second
Adds six columns containing the UTC date (year, month, day) and time
(hours, minutes, seconds) as integers.
-
Year, DOY, Hour, Minute
Adds four columns containing the UTC date (year, day-of-year) and time
(hours, minutes) as integers.
-
Year, DOY, Hour, Minute, Second
Adds five columns containing the UTC date (year, day-of-year) and time
(hours, minutes, seconds) as integers.
-
Modified Julian Date
Adds a column containing the Modified Julian Date, a common method
of designating dates and times in astronomy. MJD is equal to the number
of (possibly fractional) days elapsed since 0:00 UTC on 17 November
1858.
-
Spacecraft-Jupiter distance
Adds a column containing the Spacecraft-Jupiter distance, in km.
-
Jupiter phase angle
Adds a column containing the phase angle of Jupiter as seen from
the spacecraft, in degrees.
-
Ring opening angle to the spacecraft
Adds a column containing the ring plane opening angle to the spacecraft,
in degrees.
-
Ring opening angle to Sun
Adds a column containing the ring plane opening angle to the Sun, in
degrees.
-
Sub-spacecraft inertial longitude
Adds a column containing the sub-spacecraft longitude at Jupiter, in
degrees. This is measured from the J2000 ascending node of the planet's
equatorial plane. Note that it is an inertial longitude, not measured
in a frame rotating with the planet.
-
Sub-solar inertial longitude
Adds a column containing the sub-solar longitude at Jupiter, in
degrees. This is measured from the J2000 ascending node of the planet's
equatorial plane. Note that it is an inertial longitude, not measured
in a frame rotating with the planet.
-
Sub-spacecraft planetocentric latitude and rotating longitude
Adds a pair of columns containing the sub-spacecraft latitude and
longitude at Jupiter, in degrees. These are measured in a frame rotating
with the planet.
-
Sub-solar planetocentric latitude and rotating longitude
Adds a pair of columns containing the sub-solar latitude and
longitude at Jupiter, in degrees. These are measured in a frame rotating
with the planet.
-
Sun-Jupiter distance
Adds a column containing the Sun-Jupiter distance, in km.
-
Jupiter RA and Dec
Adds two columns containing the J2000 right ascension and
declination of Jupiter. RA is tabulated in units of hours; declinations
is in units of degrees.
-
Earth RA and Dec
Adds two columns containing the J2000 right ascension and
declination of Earth. RA is tabulated in units of hours; declinations
is in units of degrees.
-
Sun RA and Dec
Adds two columns containing the J2000 right ascension and
declination of the Sun. RA is tabulated in units of hours; declinations
is in units of degrees.
You may also include information about the viewing geometry on any set
of inner Jupiterian moons in the table. Up to six sets of quantities
can be tabulated for each selected moon:
-
Spacecraft-Satellite distance
Adds a column containing the spacecraft-satellite distance, in km.
-
Satellite phase angle
Adds a column containing the phase angle of the satellite as seen from
the spacecraft, in degrees.
-
Sub-spacecraft latitude and rotating longitude
Adds a pair of columns containing the sub-spacecraft latitude and
longitude on the selected moon, in degrees. These are measured in a frame
rotating with the body.
-
Sub-solar planetocentric latitude and rotating longitude
Adds a pair of columns containing the sub-solar latitude and
longitude on the selected moon, in degrees. These are measured in a frame
rotating with the body.
-
RA and dec
Adds a pair of columns containing the J2000 right ascension and
declination for each selected moon. RA values are given in units of
hours; dec values are given in degrees.
-
Offset RA and dec
Adds a pair of columns containing the positional offset of each moon
from the center of the planet. Values are given in units of degrees,
where the first value is the offset in the direction of increasing J2000
RA and the second is in the direction of increasing dec.
Finally, click on the box to the left of each moon that you wish to
include in the table. Note that it is not necessary to include any
moon columns at all.
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Last updated 26 March 2006
Mark Showalter