Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
In astronomy, an epoch is a moment in time used as a reference point for some time-varying astronomical
quantity, such as the celestial coordinates or elliptical orbital elements of a celestial body, because these are
subject to perturbations and vary with time.[1] These time-varying astronomical quantities might include, for
example, the mean longitude or mean anomaly of a body, the node of its orbit relative to a reference plane, the
direction of the apogee or aphelion of its orbit, or the size of the major axis of its orbit.
The main use of astronomical quantities specified in this way is to calculate other relevant parameters of
motion, in order to predict future positions and velocities. The applied tools of the disciplines of celestial
mechanics or its subfield orbital mechanics (for predicting orbital paths and positions for bodies in motion
under the gravitational effects of other bodies) can be used to generate an ephemeris, a table of values giving
the positions and velocities of astronomical objects in the sky at a given time or times.
Astronomical quantities can be specified in any of several ways, for example, as a polynomial function of the
time-interval, with an epoch as a temporal point of origin (this is a common current way of using an epoch).
Alternatively, the time-varying astronomical quantity can be expressed as a constant, equal to the measure that
it had at the epoch, leaving its variation over time to be specified in some other wayfor example, by a table,
as was common during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The word epoch was often used in a different way in older astronomical literature, e.g. during the 18th century,
in connection with astronomical tables. At that time, it was customary to denote as "epochs", not the standard
date and time of origin for time-varying astronomical quantities, but rather the values at that date and time of
those time-varying quantities themselves.[2] In accordance with that alternative historical usage, an expression
such as 'correcting the epochs' would refer to the adjustment, usually by a small amount, of the values of the
tabulated astronomical quantities applicable to a fixed standard date and time of reference (and not, as might be
expected from current usage, to a change from one date and time of reference to a different date and time).
Contents
1 Epoch versus equinox
1.1 Date-references for coordinate systems
1.2 Epochs and periods of validity
2 Changing the standard equinox and epoch
3 Specifying an epoch or equinox
4 Besselian years
5 Julian years and J2000
6 Epoch of the day
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Celestial coordinate systems most commonly used in astronomy are equatorial coordinates and ecliptic
coordinates. These are defined relative to the (moving) vernal equinox position, which itself is determined by
the orientations of the Earth's rotation axis and orbit around the Sun. Their orientations vary (though slowly,
e.g. due to precession), and there is an infinity of such coordinate systems possible. Thus the coordinate
systems most used in astronomy need their own date-reference because the coordinate systems of that type are
themselves in motion, e.g. by the precession of the equinoxes, nowadays often resolved into precessional
components, separate precessions of the equator and of the ecliptic.
The epoch of the coordinate system need not be the same, and often in practice is not the same, as the epoch for
the data themselves.
The difference between reference to an epoch alone, and a reference to a certain equinox with equator or
ecliptic, is therefore that the reference to the epoch contributes to specifying the date of the values of
astronomical variables themselves; while the reference to an equinox along with equator/ecliptic, of a certain
date, addresses the identification of, or changes in, the coordinate system in terms of which those astronomical
variables are expressed. (Sometimes the word 'equinox' may be used alone, e.g. where it is obvious from the
context to users of the data in which form the considered astronomical variables are expressed, in equatorial
form or ecliptic form.)
The equinox with equator/ecliptic of a given date defines which coordinate system is used. Most standard
coordinates in use today refer to 2000 Jan 1.5 TT (i.e. to 12h on the Terrestrial Time scale on 2000 Jan 1),
which occurred about 64 seconds sooner than noon UT1 on the same date (see T). Before about 1984,
coordinate systems dated to 1950 or 1900 were commonly used.
There is a special meaning of the expression "equinox (and ecliptic/equator) of date". When coordinates are
expressed as polynomials in time relative to a reference frame defined in this way, that means the values
obtained for the coordinates in respect of any interval t after the stated epoch, are in terms of the coordinate
system of the same date as the obtained values themselves, i.e. the date of the coordinate system is equal to
(epoch + t).[3]
It can be seen that the date of the coordinate system need not be the same as the epoch of the astronomical
quantities themselves. But in that case (apart from the "equinox of date" case described above), two dates will
be associated with the data: one date is the epoch for the time-dependent expressions giving the values, and the
other date is that of the coordinate system in which the values are expressed.
For example, orbital elements, especially osculating elements for minor planets, are routinely given with
reference to two dates: first, relative to a recent epoch for all of the elements: but some of the data are
dependent on a chosen coordinate system, and then it is usual to specify the coordinate system of a standard
epoch which often is not the same as the epoch of the data. An example is as follows: For minor planet (5145)
Pholus, orbital elements have been given including the following data:[4]
where the epoch is expressed in terms of Terrestrial Time, with an equivalent Julian date. Four of the elements
are independent of any particular coordinate system: M is mean anomaly (deg), n: mean daily motion (deg/d),
a: size of semi-major axis (AU), e: eccentricity (dimensionless). But the argument of perihelion, longitude of
the ascending node and the inclination are all coordinate-dependent, and are specified relative to the reference
frame of the equinox and ecliptic of another date "2000.0", otherwise known as J2000, i.e. 2000 Jan 1.5 (12h on
January 1) or JD 2451545.0.[5]
In the particular set of coordinates exampled above, much of the time-dependence of the elements has been
omitted as unknown or undetermined; for example, the element n allows an approximate time-dependence of
the element M to be calculated, but the other elements and n itself are treated as constant, which represents a
temporary approximation (see Osculating elements).
Thus a particular coordinate system (equinox and equator/ecliptic of a particular date, such as J2000.0) could
be used forever, but a set of osculating elements for a particular epoch may only be (approximately) valid for a
rather limited time, because osculating elements such as those exampled above do not show the effect of future
perturbations which will change the values of the elements.
Nevertheless, the period of validity is a different matter in principle, and not the result of the use of an epoch to
express the data. In other cases, e.g. the case of a complete analytical theory of the motion of some
astronomical body, all of the elements will usually be given in the form of polynomials in interval of time from
the epoch, and they will also be accompanied by trigonometrical terms of periodical perturbations specified
appropriately. In that case, their period of validity may stretch over several centuries or even millennia on either
side of the stated epoch.
Some data and some epochs have a long period of use for other reasons. For example, the boundaries of the
IAU constellations are specified relative to an equinox from near the beginning of the year 1875. This is a
matter of convention, but the convention is defined in terms of the equator and ecliptic as they were in 1875. To
find out in which constellation a particular comet stands today, the current position of that comet must be
expressed in the coordinate system of 1875 (equinox/equator of 1875). Thus that coordinate system can still be
used today, even though most comet predictions made originally for 1875 (epoch = 1875) would no longer,
because of the lack of information about their time-dependence and perturbations, be useful today.
Additionally, stars move relative to each other through space. Apparent motion across the sky relative to other
stars is called proper motion. Most stars have very small proper motions, but a few have proper motions that
accumulate to noticeable distances after a few tens of years. So, some stellar positions read from a star atlas or
catalog for a sufficiently old epoch require proper motion corrections as well, for reasonable accuracy.
Due to precession and proper motion, star data become less useful as the age of the observations and their
epoch, and the equinox and equator to which they are referred, get older. After a while, it is easier or better to
switch to newer data, generally referred to a newer epoch and equinox/equator, than to keep applying
corrections to the older data.
Besselian years, used mostly for star positions, can be encountered in older catalogs but are now becoming
obsolete. The Hipparcos catalog summary,[6] for example, defines the "catalog epoch" as J1991.25 (8.75 Julian
years before 2000 January 1.5000 TT, e.g., 1991 April 2.5625 TT).
Besselian years
A Besselian year is named after the German mathematician and astronomer Friedrich Bessel (17841846).
Meeus[7] defines the beginning of a Besselian year to be the moment at which the mean longitude of the Sun,
including the effect of aberration and measured from the mean equinox of the date, is exactly 280 degrees. This
moment falls near the beginning of the corresponding Gregorian year. The definition depended on a particular
theory of the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, that of Newcomb (1895), which is now obsolete; for that reason
among others, the use of Besselian years has also become or is becoming obsolete.
Lieske[8] says that a "Besselian epoch" can be calculated from the Julian date according to
Lieske's definition is not exactly consistent with the earlier definition in terms of the mean longitude of the Sun.
When using Besselian years, specify which definition is being used.
To distinguish between calendar years and Besselian years, it became customary to add ".0" to the Besselian
years. Since the switch to Julian years in the mid-1980s, it has become customary to prefix "B" to Besselian
years. So, "1950" is the calendar year 1950, and "1950.0" = "B1950.0" is the beginning of Besselian year 1950.
The IAU constellation boundaries are defined in the equatorial coordinate system relative to the equinox
of B1875.0.
The Henry Draper Catalog uses the equinox B1900.0.
The classical star atlas Tabulae Caelestes used B1925.0 as its equinox.
The IAU decided at their General Assembly of 1976[11] that the new standard equinox of J2000.0 should be
used starting in 1984. Before that, the equinox of B1950.0 seems to have been the standard.
Different astronomers or groups of astronomers used to define individually, but today standard epochs are
generally defined by international agreement through the IAU, so astronomers worldwide can collaborate more
effectively. It is inefficient and error-prone if data or observations of one group have to be translated in non-
standard ways so that other groups could compare the data with information from other sources. An example of
how this works: if a star's position is measured by someone today, he/she then uses a standard transformation to
obtain the position expressed in terms of the standard reference frame of J2000, and it is often then this J2000
position which is shared with others.
On the other hand, there has also been an astronomical tradition of retaining observations in just the form in
which they were made, so that others can later correct the reductions to standard if that proves desirable, as has
sometimes occurred.
The currently-used standard epoch "J2000" is defined by international agreement to be equivalent to:
1. The Gregorian date January 1, 2000 at approximately 12:00 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).
2. The Julian date 2451545.0 TT (Terrestrial Time).[12]
3. January 1, 2000, 11:59:27.816 TAI (International Atomic Time).[13]
4. January 1, 2000, 11:58:55.816 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).[14]
In traditional cultures and in antiquity other epochs were used. In ancient Egypt days were reckoned from
sunrise to sunrise, following a morning epoch. This may be related to the fact that the Egyptians regulated their
year by the heliacal rising of the star Sirius, a phenomenon which occurs in the morning just before dawn.[16]
In cultures following a lunar or lunisolar calendar, in which the beginning of the month is determined by the
appearance of the New Moon in the evening, the beginning of the day was reckoned from sunset to sunset,
following an evening epoch. This practice was followed in the Jewish and Islamic calendars[17] and in
Medieval Western Europe in reckoning the dates of religious festivals.[18]
See also
Astrometry
Epoch (reference date)
International Celestial Reference System
International Celestial Reference Frame
References
1. Soop, E. M. (1994).Handbook of Geostationary 11. Aoki, S.; Soma, M.; Kinoshita, H.; Inoue, K.
Orbits. Springer. ISBN 978-0-7923-3054-7. (December 1983). "Conversion matrix of epoch B
2. M Chapront-Touz (ed.), Jean le Rond d'Alembert, 1950.0 FK 4-based positions of stars to epoch J 2000.0
Oeuvres Compltes: Ser.1, Vol.6, Paris (CNRS) (2002), positions in accordance with the new IAU resolutions".
p.xxx, n.50. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 128 (3): 263267.
3. Examples of this usage are seen in: J L Simon et al., Bibcode:1983A&A...128..263A(http://adsabs.harvard.
"Numerical expressions for precession formulae and edu/abs/1983A&A...128..263A). ISSN 0004-6361 (http
mean elements for the Moon and the planets", s://www.worldcat.org/issn/0004-6361).
Astronomy and Astrophysics 282 (1994), pp. 663-683. 12. Seidelmann, P. K., Ed. (1992). Explanatory
4. Harvard Minor Planet Center, data for Pholus (http://sc Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac. Sausalito,
ully.cfa.harvard.edu/~cgi/ReturnPrepEph?d=d&o=051 CA: University Science Books. p. 8.
45) 13. Seidelmann, P. K., Ed. (1992). Explanatory
5. See Explanation of Orbital Elements(http://www.cfa.h Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac. Sausalito,
arvard.edu/iau/info/OrbElsExplanation.html) . CA: University Science Books. Glossary , s.v.
6. "The Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues", ESA SP-1200, Terrestrial Dynamical Time.
Vol. 1, page XV. ESA, 1997 14. This article uses a 24-hour clock, so 1 :59:27.816 is
7. Meeus, J.: "Astronomical Algorithms", page 125. equivalent to 11:59:27.816 AM.
Willmann-Bell, 1991 15. H. C. Wilson, "Change of astronomical time"(http://ad
8. Lieske, J.H.: "Precession Matrix Based on IAU (1976) sabs.harvard.edu/full/1925PA.....33....1W), Popular
System of Astronomical Constants", page 282. Astronomy, 33 (1925): 1-2.
Astronomy & Astrophysics,73, 282-284 (1979) 16. Otto Neugebauer, A History of Ancient Mathematical
9. "SOFA Libraries Issue 2007-08-10"(http://www.iau-so Astronomy, (New York: Springer, 1975), p. 1067.
fa.rl.ac.uk/). 2007-08-18. Retrieved 2008-10-01. ISBN 0-387-06995-X
10. See NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 'spice' toolkit 17. Otto Neugebauer, A History of Ancient Mathematical
documentation, function J1900(http://naif.jpl.nasa.go Astronomy, (New York: Springer, 1975), pp. 1067-
v/pub/naif/toolkit_docs/FORTRAN/spicelib/j1900.htm 1069. ISBN 0-387-06995-X
l). 18. Bede, The Reckoning of Time, 5, trans. Faith Wallis,
(Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2004), pp. 22-
24. ISBN 0-85323-693-3
11. Aoki, S.; Soma, M.; Kinoshita, H.; Inoue, K.
External links
Standish, E. M., Jr. (November 1982). "Conversion of positions and proper motions from B1950.0 to the
IAU system at J2000.0". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 115 (1): 2022. Bibcode:1982A&A...115...20S.
What is Terrestrial Time? - U.S. Naval Observatory
International Celestial Reference System, or ICRS - U.S. Naval Observatory
IERS Conventions 2003 (defines ICRS and other related standards)