"Nekar Xenos" <go_### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
> Tips on how to determine the postition of any given planet at any given date
> would also be very helpful.
>

Nekar,

My recent post to povray.general provides a method of calculating the
position of the Sun, Earth and Moon so that Solar (and Lunar) eclipses can
be modelled.

The method could be extended to include all the planets.

The idea of my scene file 'eclipse.pov' (downloadable from
http://www.pavium.info/Eclipse/) is to calculate the positions of the Sun,
Earth and Moon at a particular date and time, and then render a picture
showing the shadow of the Moon on the Earth, or vice versa.

You may not need that much accuracy.

I based the code on algorithms I found in books, mainly 'Astronomical
Algorithms' by Jean Meeus, Willman-Bell, 1991.

There are many other books which take a less rigorous approach. Jean Meeus
did an earlier book called 'Astronomical Formulae for Calculators'. Peter
Duffet-Smith did a couple of books called something like 'Astronomy With
Your Calculator'

I don't know if there are any more recent books.

Good luck with your solar system project.

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