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At 15:16 14/09/2012, you wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I am new to this list but perhaps I can help.
>
>The site you have visited is an astrological website and the
>celestial positions are given according to astrological conventions.
>
>The first number is indeed the degree, followed by the zodiacal sign
>(Aries starts at 0, Taurus at 30, Gemini at 60, etc.) and then the
>number of arcminutes and arcseconds. The positions are ecliptical
>and appear to be tropical.
>
>The R found at the end of some longitudes indicates that the
>planet's motion is retrograde (astrologers find this very important).
>
>I hope that this helps.
>
>Rob van Gent

Well Rob, this is an ephemeris which is obviously meant to be used
for historical research as the validity period is 1600 to 2100.
Astronomers at the start of that era would certainly recognize this
format for ecliptic longitudes, which is still used by astrologers
today, as you correctly say. And today, astrologers do not have much
use for ecliptic latitudes (they never did) and most astrologers
would probably not know a Right Ascension if it hit them between the
eyes. Right Ascension today is (I think) only used by astronomers. I
would conclude that this is actually an astronomical almanac,
formatted to be useful for historical research.

As for it being as astrological website, I struggle to actually find
the word "astrology" anywhere on the website!

Geoffrey

   

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