Predicting Rise and Set of the Sun, Moon and Planets

Predict the times of rise and set of celestial bodies. Compute and display topocentric coordinates (azimuth and elevation) of these events.

This submission is a MATLAB script named rise_set that can be used to determine the topocentric rise and set conditions of the Sun, Moon and planets. This software uses a combination of one-dimensional minimization and root-finding to predict visibility of celestial bodies. The rise_set MATLAB script will also display the calendar date, time and topocentric conditions at maximum elevation along with the total duration of the rise-set event. The source ephemeris for this routine is a JPL DE430 binary ephemeris file.

This application uses several functions ported to MATLAB from the Fortran version of the NOVAS (Naval Observatory Vector Astrometry Subroutines) source code developed at the United States Naval Observatory. Information about the NOVAS software suite can be found at https://aa.usno.navy.mil/software/novas_info.

The rise_set MATLAB script also uses routines from the MICE software suite to read and evaluate the DE430 ephemeris data. Ephemeris files, platform dependent versions of the MICE mex file and other useful MATLAB functions are available at naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/toolkit_MATLAB.html. MICE is a MATLAB implementation of the SPICE library created by JPL.