astronomical almanac - calculate planet and star positions

 The aa program computes the orbital positions of planetary bodies and
 performs rigorous coordinate reductions to apparent geocentric and
 topocentric place (local altitude and azimuth). It also reduces star
 catalogue positions given in either the FK4 or FK5 system. Data for
 the 57 navigational stars is included. Most of the algorithms
 employed are from The Astronomical Almanac (AA) published by the
 U.S. Government Printing Office.
 .
 The aa program follows the rigorous algorithms for reduction of
 celestial coordinates exactly as laid out in current editions of
 the Astronomical Almanac. The reduction to apparent geocentric
 place has been checked by a special version of the program (aa200)
 that takes planetary positions directly from the Jet Propulsion
 Laboratory DE200 numerical integration of the solar system. The
 results agree exactly with the Astronomical Almanac tables from
 1987 onward (earlier Almanacs used slightly different reduction
 methods).
 .
 Certain computations, such as the correction for nutation,
 are not given explicitly in the AA but are referenced there. In
 these cases the program performs the full computations that are
 used to construct the Almanac tables (references are provided).