Visibility of Luna and Lunar Crescent

,l md M dc Sivci
in the lable 2 of (BdaBnon & Flmou l96E)
These data series @ .vailabl€ on CD's dd laFs For r.cta.gular c@rdiml6 of
rhe phf,€ls |he dlia llles VSOPS?A. VSOPSTC dd VSOP8TE dc @d sd for the
spherical polarcoordinaEs VSOPSTBand VSOPSTDa!. used. A shonerleBionofrhese
data series isSilenby Meeus (M.eus, 1998)and lheff. tr u$d in this@r\ l. the*
hbles firsr €olumn gives.4s, fie eco.d ,s dd the lhird sives Cs. The dats file hs 6
sedes fo, €dh or rhe coodi.ates L (h€ helioccnlric Lonsnud.) and R (lne helioccntk
dislanc. ofthe Eanh) and 5 for fte c@rdi.ale B (lhe hclioc..lric Lafiudc)
Iiiclr s$ics lir L. ll .nd ll ne uscd as follo\s ro obhin thc heliccDkic polar
t't = LA; co\B; . I jT t.
r2.2 rol
i 0. l . 2. :1. 4. and 5 lor l- md I( and 0, l,2,3,4lor B Ihc suFrrscnpt tsund for I
(L). 2(lJ) and 3{R). x rus tolsh 0 lo dilfeonr incger lor di(feEfl coordinaGs and
their lssiatcd seri6- Fo. I - 0- /{i coftsponds ro lonsirudc scri.s. I = l
l/{iconsponds ro lari$de sri€s and I = 3, /r,coiiesponds to dist .ce serica. ll.ch
coordin eislhcneuluatdas:
r=ltcuil'
) "=lz'',')
=l:, ','' I
(2 2 20)
/. md , d. ir ndian nesuEs and X is in aslrohonical unils. These m as menrioned
crlier rhe c@.dinares of $c Eanh in heliocsnkic c@rdinare sysrcm wnce6 for {he
problem ofdckmrining posirion oflh€ Sun inour sky w. €ctually requiE rhe Cmcentric
coodinales of lhe Sun instead. In case of rhe Eanh this uNformation is sinple:
l9