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User's guide

The NOVAS C astrometry library, made better.

- C99 API documentation
- C++ API documentation
- SuperNOVAS pages on github.io

SuperNOVAS is a C/C++ astronomy software library, providing high-precision astrometry such as one might need for running an observatory, a precise planetarium program, or for analyzing astronomical datasets. It started as a fork of the Naval Observatory Vector Astrometry Software (NOVAS) C version 3.1, but since then it has grown into its own, providing bug fixes, tons of new features, and a much improved API compared to the original NOVAS.

SuperNOVAS is easy to use and it is very fast, with 3–5 orders of magnitude faster position calculations than astropy 7.0.0 in a single thread (see the benchmarks), and its performance will scale further with the number of CPUs when calculations are performed in parallel threads.

SuperNOVAS is available through the Sigmyne/SuperNOVAS repository on GitHub, without licensing restrictions. Its source code is compatible with the C99 and C++11 standards, and hence should be suitable for old and new platforms alike. And, despite it being a light-weight library, it fully supports the IAU 2000/2006 resolutions and the IERS 2010 conventions for microarcsecond-level position calculations.

This document has been updated for the v1.7 and later releases.

# Table of Contents

- Introduction
- Fixed NOVAS C 3.1 issues
- Compatibility with NOVAS C 3.1
- Building and installation
- Celestial coordinate systems (old vs. new)
- Example use cases
- Incorporating Solar-system ephemeris data or services
- Notes on precision
- Runtime debug support
- Representative benchmarks
- SuperNOVAS added features
- Release schedule

# Introduction

SuperNOVAS is a supercharged fork of the The Naval Observatory Vector Astrometry Software (NOVAS). (It is not related to the separate NOVA / libnova library.)

The primary goal of SuperNOVAS is to improve on the original NOVAS C library via:

- Fixing outstanding issues.
- Adding a high-level C++11 API.
- New features.
- Refined C99 API to promote best programming practices.
- Improved C99 API documentation.
- Faster calculations.
- Thread-safe calculations.
- Debug mode with informative error tracing.
- Regression testing and continuous integration on GitHub.

At the same time, SuperNOVAS aims to be fully backward compatible with the intended functionality of the upstream NOVAS C library, such that it can be used as a build-time replacement for NOVAS in your application without having to change existing (functional) code you may have written for NOVAS C.

SuperNOVAS is really quite easy to use. Its new API is just as simple and intuitive as that of astropy (or so we strive for it to be), and it is similarly well documented also (see the documentation for the C99 and/or C++ APIs). You can typically achieve the same results with similar lines of code on C or C++ with SuperNOVAS as with astropy, notwithstanding a little more involved error handling (due to the lack of try / except style constructs in C/C++).

SuperNOVAS was created and is maintained by Attila Kovács. Outside contributions are very welcome. See how you can contribute to make SuperNOVAS even better.

## Related links

- NOVAS home page at the US Naval Observatory.
- CALCEPH C library for integrating Solar-system ephemerides from JPL and/or in INPOP 2.0/3.0 format.
- NAIF SPICE toolkit for integrating Solar-system ephemerides from JPL.
- Sigmyne/cspice-sharedlib for building CSPICE as a shared library for dynamic linking.
- Standard SPICE kernels containing ephemeris data for planets and their moons, major steroids, comets, and space missions.
- JPL Horizons system provides custom ephemeris data for all types of Solar-system bodies as per request.
- IAU Minor Planet Center provides up-to-date orbital elements for asteroids, comets, and near-Earth objects (NEOs), including newly discovered objects.
- Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) provides Earth Orientation Parameter (EOP) data for many high accuracy calculations.

# Fixed NOVAS C 3.1 issues

SuperNOVAS fixes a number of outstanding issues with NOVAS C 3.1:

Details

- Fixes the sidereal_time bug, whereby the sidereal_time() function had an incorrect unit cast. This was a documented issue of NOVAS C 3.1.
- Fixes the ephem_close bug, whereby ephem_close() in eph_manager.c did not reset the EPHFILE pointer to NULL. This was a documented issue of NOVAS C 3.1.
- Fixes antedating velocities and distances for light travel time in ephemeris(). When getting positions and velocities for Solar-system sources, it is important to use the values from the time light originated from the observed body rather than at the time that light arrives to the observer. This correction was done properly for positions, but not for velocities or distances, resulting in incorrect observed radial velocities or apparent distances being reported for spectroscopic observations or for angular-physical size conversions.
- Fixes bug in ira_equinox() which may return the result for the wrong type of equinox (mean vs. true) if the equinox argument was changing from 1 to 0, and back to 1 again with the date being held the same. This affected routines downstream also, such as sidereal_time().
- Fixes accuracy switching bug in cio_basis(), cio_location(), ecl2equ(), equ2ecl_vec(), ecl2equ_vec(), geo_posvel(), place(), and sidereal_time(). All these functions returned a cached value for the other accuracy if the other input parameters are the same as a prior call, except the accuracy.
- Fixes multiple bugs related to using cached values in cio_basis() with alternating CIO location reference systems. This affected many CIRS-based position calculations downstream.
- Fixes bug in equ2ecl_vec() and ecl2equ_vec() whereby a query with coord_sys = 2 (GCRS) has overwritten the cached mean obliquity value for coord_sys = 0 (mean equinox of date). As a result, a subsequent call with coord_sys = 0 and the same date as before would return the results in GCRS coordinates instead of the requested mean equinox of date coordinates.
- Some remainder calculations in NOVAS C 3.1 used the result from fmod() unchecked, which resulted in angles outside of the expected [0:2π] range and was also the reason why cal_date() did not work for negative JD values.
- Fixes aberration() returning NaN vectors if the ve argument is 0. It now returns the unmodified input vector appropriately instead.
- Fixes unpopulated az output value in equ2hor() at zenith. While any azimuth is acceptable really, it results in unpredictable behavior. Hence, we set az to 0.0 for zenith to be consistent.
- Fixes potential string overflows and eliminates associated compiler warnings.
- Nutation series used truncated expressions for the fundamental arguments, resulting in μas-level errors in when dozens or more years away from the reference epoch of J2000.
- [v1.1] Fixes division by zero bug in d_light() if the first position argument is the ephemeris reference position (e.g. the Sun for solsys3.c). The bug affects for example grav_def(), where it effectively results in the gravitational deflection due to the Sun being skipped.
- [v1.1] The NOVAS C 3.1 implementation of rad_vel() has a number of issues that produce inaccurate results. The errors are typically at or below the tens of m/s level for objects not moving at relativistic speeds.
- [v1.4] The NOVAS C 3.1 implementation of cel2ter() / ter2cel() was such that if both xp and yp parameters were zero, then no wobble correction was applied, not even for the TIO longitude (s'). The error from this omission is very small, at just a few μas (microarcseconds) within a couple of centuries of J2000.
- [v1.6] The NOVAS C geo_posvel() function is imprecise for geodetic observer locations on Earth, since it does not account for polar offsets xp, yp. As such the geocentric GCRS observer position and velocity vectors are accurate at the tens of meters level only. For Earth-based observers, SuperNOVAS adds novas_site_gcrs_posvel() as a more precise alternative.

# Compatibility with NOVAS C 3.1

SuperNOVAS strives to maintain API compatibility with the upstream NOVAS C 3.1 library, but not binary (ABI) compatibility.

If you have code that was written for NOVAS C 3.1, it should work with SuperNOVAS as is, without modifications. Simply (re)build your application against SuperNOVAS, and you are good to go.

The lack of binary compatibility just means that you cannot drop-in replace the libraries (e.g. the static libnovas.a, or the shared libnovas.so), from NOVAS C 3.1 with those from SuperNOVAS. Instead, you will have to build (compile) your application referencing the SuperNOVAS headers and/or libraries from the start.

This is because some function signatures have changed, e.g. to use an enum argument instead of the nondescript short int option arguments used in NOVAS C 3.1, or because we added a return value to a function that was declared void in NOVAS C 3.1. We also changed the object structure to contain a long ID number instead of short to accommodate JPL NAIF codes, for which 16-bit storage is insufficient.

# Building and installation

- Dependencies
- Build / install using GNU make
- Build / install using CMake
- Install via `vcpkg`
- Linux packages
- Homebrew package
- Nix package

## Dependencies

- curl – (recommended) for fetching Earth Orientation data from IERS or from elsewhere.
- calceph – (recommended) for using CALCEPH as the Solar-system ephemeris provider.
- cspice – (optional) for usign the NAIF CSPICE Toolkit as the Solar-system ephemeris provider.
- doxygen – (optional) for compiling HTML documentation.

### Installing dependencies on Linux

Details

On Fedora / EPEL Linux and derivatives, you may install all packaged (build + runtime) dependencies as:

sudo dnf install libcurl-devel calceph-devel doxygen

And on Debian and derivatives (e.g. Ubuntu, Mint, Alpine), you may do the same with:

sudo apt-get install libcurl4-openssl-dev calceph-dev doxygen

### Installing dependencies on MacOS

Details

On MacOS you may install the dependencies with Homebrew:

brew install curl calceph doxygen

### Installing dependencies on BSD

Details

On BSD (e.g. FreeBSD, OpenBSD) you might install curl and calceph. And you will also need additional packages for building SuperNOVAS, such as and cmake and/or gmake, and pkgconf:

pkg install -y gmake cmake devel/pkgconf curl calceph

## Build / install using GNU make

The SuperNOVAS distribution contains a GNU Makefile, which is suitable for compiling the library (as well as local documentation, and tests, etc.) on POSIX systems such as Linux, MacOS X, BSD, Cygwin or WSL – using GNU make.

Details

Before compiling the library take a look a config.mk and edit it as necessary for your needs, or else define the necessary variables in the shell prior to invoking make. For example:

- ENABLE_CPP: As of v1.6, SuperNOVAS offers a C++11 API and library also, but it is not enabled by default. To build C++ library (libsupernovas++), and install the C++ header (supernovas.h) and documentation you should set this option to 1, either in your environment or else in config.mk.
- CALCEPH C library integration is automatic on Linux if ldconfig can locate the libcalceph shared library. You can also control CALCEPH integration manually, e.g. by setting CALCEPH_SUPPORT = 1 in config.mk or in the shell prior to the build. CALCEPH integration will require an accessible installation of the CALCEPH development files (C headers and unversioned static or shared libraries depending on the needs of the build).
- NAIF CSPICE Toolkit integration is automatic on Linux if ldconfig can locate the libcspice shared library. You can also control CSPICE integration manually, e.g. by setting CSPICE_SUPPORT = 1 in config.mk or in the shell prior to the build. CSPICE integration will require an accessible installation of the CSPICE development files (C headers, under a cspice/ subfolder in the header search path, and unversioned static or shared libraries depending on the needs of the build). You might want to check out the Sigmyne/cspice-sharedlib repository for building CSPICE as a shared library.
- If your compiler does not support the C11 standard and it is not GCC >=3.3, but provides some nonstandard support for declaring thread-local variables, you may want to pass the keyword to use to declare variables as thread local via -DTHREAD_LOCAL=... added to CFLAGS. (Don't forget to enclose the string value in escaped quotes in config.mk, or unescaped if defining the THREAD_LOCAL shell variable prior to invoking make.)

Additionally, you may set number of environment variables to futher customize the build, such as:

- CC: The C compiler to use (default: gcc).
- CPPFLAGS: C preprocessor flags, such as externally defined compiler constants.
- CFLAGS: Flags to pass onto the C compiler (default: -g -Os -Wall). Note, -Iinclude will be added automatically.
- LDFLAGS: Extra linker flags (default is not set). Note, -lm will be added automatically.
- CSTANDARD: Optionally, specify the C standard to compile for, e.g. c99 to compile for the C99 standard. If defined then -std=$(CSTANDARD) is added to CFLAGS automatically.
- WEXTRA: If set to 1, -Wextra is added to CFLAGS automatically.
- FORTIFY: If set it will set the _FORTIFY_SOURCE macro to the specified value (gcc supports values 1 through 3). It affords varying levels of extra compile time / runtime checks.
- CHECKEXTRA: Extra options to pass to cppcheck for the make check target
- WITHOUT_CURL: Setting to 1 disables building against libcurl. Without cURL support, the EOP fetching functions and methods will return an error or invalid EOP, with errno set to ENOSYS.
- WITHOUT_LIBC: Setting to 1 builds the library for bare-metal or WebAssembly targets that have no libc file I/O, heap allocator, or system clock. This sets the WITHOUT_LIBC, WITHOUT_SYSTEM_CLOCK, and WITHOUT_CURL preprocessor flags. Without libc support, you cannot use the system clock to set current time, and/or manage leap seconds and Earth Orientation Parameters automatically. You must set these explicitly instead. See Cross-compiling for embedded targets section below.
- DOXYGEN: Specify the doxygen executable to use for generating documentation. If not set (default), make will use doxygen in your PATH (if any). You can also set it to none to disable document generation and the checking for a usable doxygen version entirely.

Now you are ready to build the library:

$ make

will compile the shared (e.g. lib/libsupernovas.so) libraries, and compile the API documentation (into doc/) using doxygen (if available). Alternatively, you can build select components of the above with the make targets shared, and local-dox respectively. And, if unsure, you can always call make help to see what build targets are available.

To build SuperNOVAS as static libraries, use make static.

After building the library you can install the above components to the desired locations on your system. For a system-wide install you may simply run:

$ sudo make install

Or, to install in some other locations, you may set a prefix and/or DESTDIR. For example, to install under /opt instead, you can:

$ sudo make prefix="/opt" install

Or, to stage the installation (to /usr) under a 'build root':

$ make DESTDIR="/tmp/stage" install

Note
  if you want to build SuperNOVAS for your old NOVAS C application you might want to further customize the build. See section on legacy application in the C99 User's guide.

### Building with GNU make on BSD

Details

On BSD, you will need to use gmake instead of make (see section on dependencies above). You will also need pkgconf s.t. gcc may locate the dependencies (headers and libraries). In practice, it means setting CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS to contain the appropriate include and library paths and libraries prior to calling gmake. E.g., to build against both libcurl and calceph:

export CPPFLAGS=`pkg-config --cflags libcurl calceph`
export LDFLAGS=`pkg-config --libs libcurl calceph`

Now you can build SuperNOVAS, for example as a shared library, with:

gmake shared

### Cross-compiling for embedded targets

SuperNOVAS can be compiled as a static library for bare-metal embedded systems (e.g. ARM Cortex-M) or WebAssembly targets (as of v1.7, thanks to Kiran Shila). Set WITHOUT_LIBC=1 to build in freestanding mode, which disables all libc file I/O, heap allocation, and system clock dependencies:

Details

For embedded ARM, this may look like:

make CC=arm-none-eabi-gcc WITHOUT_LIBC=1 \
CFLAGS="-mcpu=cortex-m33 -mthumb -mfloat-abi=hard -mfpu=fpv5-sp-d16 -Os -Wall" \
static

where we cross-compile using the arm-none-eabi-gcc compiler with target-specific flags.

For WebAssembly with Emscripten, use emmake which substitutes the compiler and archiver automatically:

emmake make WITHOUT_LIBC=1 static

Note, that some SuperNOVAS functionality is lost when built without libc, such as setting current time or managing leap seconds and EOP automatically. Thus, you will have to specify these explicity instead, when needed.

## Build / install using CMake

As of v1.5, SuperNOVAS can be built using CMake (big thanks to Kiran Shila). CMake allows for greater portability than the regular GNU Makefile. Note, however, that the CMake configuration does not support all of the build options of the GNU Makefile, such as automatic CALCEPH and CSPICE integration on Linux, supporting legacy NOVAS C style builds, and code coverage tracking.

Details

The basic build recipe for CMake is:

$ cmake -B build
$ cmake --build build

The SuperNOVAS CMake build supports the following options (in addition to the standard CMake options):

- BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON|OFF (default: OFF) - Build shared libraries instead of static
- BUILD_DOC=ON|OFF (default: OFF) - Compile HTML documentation. Requires doxygen.
- BUILD_EXAMPLES=ON|OFF (default: OFF) - Build the included examples
- BUILD_TESTING=ON|OFF (default: ON) - Build regression tests
- BUILD_BENCHMARK=ON|OFF (default: OFF) - Build benchmarking programs
- WITHOUT_CURL=ON|OFF (default: OFF) - Build without cURL support (fetching EOP from IERS will not be possible without cURL support).
- WITHOUT_LIBC=ON|OFF (default: OFF) - Build for bare-metal or WebAssembly targets that have no libc file I/O, heap allocator, or system clock.
- ENABLE_CPP=ON|OFF (default: OFF) - Build C++11 library (supernovas++) also.
- ENABLE_CALCEPH=ON|OFF (default: OFF) - Optional CALCEPH ephemeris plugin support. Requires calceph package.
- ENABLE_CSPICE=ON|OFF (default: OFF) - Optional CSPICE ephemeris plugin support. Requires cspice library installed.

For example, to configure the build of SuperNOVAS with shared libraries and with CALCEPH integration for ephemeris support:

$ cmake -B build -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON -DENABLE_CALCEPH=ON

and then perform the build:

$ cmake --build build

Or, on Windows (Microsoft Visual C) you will want:

$ cmake --build build --config Release

If the config / CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE is not set, the build will only use the CFLAGS (if any) that were set in the environment. This is ideal for those who want to have full control of the compiler flags used in the build. Specifying Release or Debug will append a particular set of appropriate compiler options which are suited for the given build type. (If you want to use the MinGW compiler on Windows, you'll want to set -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=gcc -G "MinGW Makefiles" options also.)

After a successful build, you can install the Runtime (libraries), and Development (headers, CMake config, and pkg-config) components, e.g. under /usr/local, as:

$ cmake --install build --prefix /usr/local

Or, you can use the --component option to install just the selected components. For example to install just the Runtime component:

$ cmake --install build --component Runtime --prefix /usr/local

## Install via vcpkg

As of version 1.5, SuperNOVAS is available through the vcpkg registry. The vcpkg port supports a wide range of platforms, including Linux, Windows, MacOS, and Android – for both arm64 and x64 architectures (and in case of Windows also x86). It is effectively the same as the CMake build (above), only with more simplicity, convenience, and dependency resolution.

Details

The vcpkg port has optional add-on features, which may be installed along with the core library as needed. The following features are available:

- core – The core C99 library (this is installed by default if no components are specified).
- cpp – The C++11 extension runtime and development files.
- solsys-calceph – CALCEPH plugin runtime and development files. (It also installs the calceph dependency as needed).

You can install just the core C99 library of SuperNOVAS (without the C++ API and CALCEPH support) with vcpkg as:

$ vcpkg install supernovas

Or, with a selected set of features, such as:

$ vcpkg install supernovas[core,cpp,solsys-calceph]

## Linux packages

SuperNOVAS is packaged for Fedora / EPEL and Debian Linux distributions, and derivatives based on these (Ubuntu, Mint, RHEL, CentOS Stream, Alma Linux, Rocky Linux, Oracle Linux etc.).

Details

On Fedora / EPEL based distributions you might install all components via:

$ sudo dnf install supernovas supernovas-c++ supernovas-solsys-calceph supernovas-doc supernovas-devel

And, on Debian-based platforms (such as Ubuntu or Mint) as:

$ sudo apt-get install libsupernovas1 libsupernovas++1 libsolsys-calceph1 libsupernovas-doc libsupernovas++-doc libsupernovas-dev

In both cases the first package is the runtime library, the second is the C++11 runtime library, the third is the runtime for the solsys-calceph plugin, then documentation, and finally the files needed for application development.

Note
  The turnaround time for Debian packages is quite slow, and typically follows the Debian release cycle, whereas the Fedora / EPEL packages are usually fully up-to-date (i.e. in stable) within a week of a new SuperNOVAS release. Somewhat newer Debian versions may be found in testing, but even that tends to lag behind the stable Fedora / EPEL updates.

## Homebrew package

As of version 1.5, there is also a Homebrew package through the maintainer's own Tap.

Details

To install SuperNOVAS via Homebrew, in the recommended default configuration:

$ brew tap attipaci/pub
$ brew install supernovas

The above will build and install SuperNOVAS with the C++ API extension and the CALCEPH plugin support (including the calceph dependency, as needed). However, you may add further options to customize your build:

- --with-doxygen – Install with local HTML documentation.
- --without-c++ – Install without the C++ API extension and runtime.
- --without-calceph – Install without CALCEPH support (and dependency).
- --without-curl – Install without libcurl support (disables EOP fetching from IERS).

## Nix package

As of version 1.5, there is also a Nix package. This declarative and determinstic package manager can be used on every Linux distribution as well as MacOS. The default package includes the solsys-calceph plugin, but can be overriden by changing withCalceph.

Details

Install to your profile with

$ nix profile add nixpkgs#supernovas

Or include in your Nix build of other software with

nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs; [supernovas];

# Celestial coordinate systems (old vs. new)

Figure 1. SuperNOVAS Coordinate Systems and Conversions. Functions indicated in bold face are available in NOVAS C also. All other functions are available in SuperNOVAS only. SuperNOVAS also adds efficient matrix transformations between the equatorial systems.

The IAU 2000 and 2006 resolutions have completely overhauled the system of astronomical coordinate transformations to enable higher precision astrometry. (Super)NOVAS supports coordinate calculations both in the old (pre IAU 2000) ways, and in the new IAU standard method. The table below provides an overview of how the old and new methods define some of the terms differently:

Concept | Old standard | New IAU standard
--- | --- | ---
Catalog coordinate system | MOD (e.g. FK4, FK5, HIP...) | International Celestial Reference System (ICRS)
Dynamical system | True of Date (TOD) | Celestial Intermediate Reference System (CIRS)
Dynamical R.A. origin | equinox of date | Celestial Intermediate Origin (CIO)
Precession, nutation, bias | no tidal terms | IAU 2000/2006 precession/nutation model
Celestial Pole offsets | dψ, dε (for TOD) | xp, yp (for ITRS)
Earth rotation measure | Greenwich Sidereal Time (GST) | Earth Rotation Angle (ERA)
Pseudo Earth-fixed system | PEF | Terrestrial Intermediate Reference System (TIRS)
Earth rotation origin | Greenwich Meridian | Terrestrial Intermediate Origin (TIO)
Earth-fixed System | WGS84 | International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS)

See the various enums and constants defined in novas.h, as well as the descriptions on the various NOVAS routines on how they are appropriate for the old and new methodologies respectively. Figure 1 also shows the relation of the various old and new coordinate systems and the (Super)NOVAS functions for converting position / velocity vectors among them.

Note
  In NOVAS, the barycentric BCRS and the geocentric GCRS systems are effectively synonymous to ICRS, since the origin for positions and for velocities, in any reference system, is determined by the observer location. Aberration and gravitational deflection correction included for apparent places only (as seen from the observer location, regardless of where that is), but not for geometric places.

Remarks
  Older catalogs, such as J2000 (FK5), HIP, B1950 (FK4) or B1900 are just special cases of MOD (mean-of-date) coordinates for the J2000, J1991.25, B1950, and B1900 epochs, respectively.

Attention
  Applying residual polar offsets (Δdψ, Δdε or xp, yp) to the TOD equator (via cel_pole()) is discouraged. Instead, the sub-arcsecond level corrections to Earth orientation (xp, yp) should be used only for converting between the pseudo Earth-fixed (PEF or TIRS) and ITRS, and vice-versa (e.g. with novas_make_frame() or wobble()).

Note
  WGS84 has been superseded by ITRS for higher accuracy definitions of Earth-based locations. WGS84 matches ITRS to the 10m level globally, but it does not account for continental drifts and crustal motion. In (Super)NOVAS all Earth-base locations are presumed ITRS. ITRS longitude, latitude, and altitude coordinates are referenced to the GRS80 ellipsoid, whereas GPS locations are referenced to the WGS84 ellipsoid. SuperNOVAS offers ways to convert between the two if needed.

# Example use cases

- Recommendation: set up an ephemeris provider
- Pick you flavor (C or C++)

## Recommendation: set up an ephemeris provider

SuperNOVAS can do a lot of things on its own. What it cannot do alone is provide precise positions for Solar-system bodies. For that, you need ephemeris data and a helping hand from an external tool to access them. Even if you don't particularly care to obtain precise planet positions per se, they are needed for a range of high-precision calculations (such as for positional calculations for Earth-based observers, and gravitational deflections in full-precision observing frames).

Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you download planetary ephemeris files from NASA / JPL (such as the DE440, or the smaller DE440s, or the long-term DE441), and install CALCEPH or the CSPICE Toolkit for accessing these. I recommend CALCEPH, because it is more widely available (also in packaged form), and it is also more modern, and actively maintained.

Provided you installed CALCEPH, you usage of SuperNOVAS should always start with something like this (regardless of whether you will use the C99 or the C++ API afterwards):

#include <novas-calceph.h>
// Use DE440, DE440s, or DE441 as your planet provider...
t_calcephbin *pleph = calceph_open("/path/to/de440.bsp");
status = novas_use_calceph_planets(pleph);
if(status < 0) {
// Oops something went wrong...
}
novas_use_calceph_planets
int novas_use_calceph_planets(t_calcephbin *eph)
Sets the CALCEPH C library and the specified ephemeris data as the ephemeris provider for the major p...
Definition solsys-calceph.c:452
novas-calceph.h
SuperNOVAS functions interfacing with the CALCEPH C library.

Don't forget to link with -lsolsys-calceph and -lcalceph flags added you yor build. With that, you have now unlocked a lot of the high-precision capabilities of SuperNOVAS. Have fun with it!

For more details on using CALCEPH or integrating other ways for providing ephemeris data to SuperNOVAS look at the section below.

## Pick your flavor (C or C++)

As of v1.6 SuperNOVAS comes in two flavors, the original C99 API, and a higher-level C++11 API. Depending on which one you intend to use, choose the appropriate link to an external document below for further information:

- Using the C99 API
- Using the C++11 API

# Incorporating Solar-system ephemeris data or services

If you want to use SuperNOVAS to calculate positions for a range of Solar-system objects, and/or to do it with precision, you will have to interface it to a suitable provider of ephemeris data. The preferred ways to do that in SuperNOVAS enumerated below. (The legacy NOVAS C ways are not covered here, since they require specialized builds of SuperNOVAS, which are covered separately.)

NASA/JPL provides generic ephemerides for the major planets, satellites thereof, the 300 largest asteroids, the Lagrange points, and some Earth orbiting stations. For example, DE440 covers the major planets, and the Sun, Moon, and barycenters for times between 1550 AD and 2650 AD. Or, you can use the JPL HORIZONS system (via the command-line / telnet or API interfaces) to generate custom ephemerides (SPK/BSP) for just about all known solar systems bodies, down to the tiniest rocks.

- CALCEPH integration
- NAIF CSPICE toolkit integration
- Universal ephemeris data / service integration

## CALCEPH integration

The CALCEPH library provides easy-to-use access to JPL and INPOP ephemeris files from C/C++. As of version 1.2, we provide optional support for interfacing SuperNOVAS with the CALCEPH C library for handling Solar-system objects.

Details

Prior to building SuperNOVAS simply set CALCEPH_SUPPORT to 1 in config.mk or in your environment (or for CMake configure with the -DENABLE_CALCEPH=ON). Depending on the build target (or type), it will build libsolsys-calceph.so[.1] (target shared or CMake option -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON1) or libsolsys-calceph.a (target static or default CMake build) libraries or solsys-calceph.o (target solsys, no CMake equivalent), which provide the novas_use_calceph() and novas_use_calceph_planets(), and novas_calceph_use_ids() functions.

Of course, you will need access to the CALCEPH C development files (C headers and unversioned libcalceph.so or .a library) for the build to succeed. Here is an example on how you'd use CALCEPH with SuperNOVAS in your application code:

First and foremost, you should use CALCEPH to provide planet positions via the DE440 or DE440s (smaller file size) or DE441 (long term) ephemeris data:

#include <novas-calceph.h>
// Use DE440, DE440s, or DE441 as your planet provider...
t_calcephbin *pleph = calceph_open("/path/to/de440.bsp");
status = novas_use_calceph_planets(pleph);
if(status < 0) {
// Oops something went wrong...
}

Even if you don't care for the planets, you'll still need the planetary ephemeris for a lot of the high-precision calculations, so don't skip on this step if you can help it.

Beyond just the planets, you might want to download and use further ephemeris data, such as for the many moons orbiting planets, the major asteroids, various minor bodies of interest (e.g. comets, NEOs), or man-made spacecrafts. You can activate an additional set (or sets) of ephemeris files separately from the planetary ephemeris above. For example:

// Open all files that you will use concurrently
t_calcephbin *eph = calceph_open_array(...);
// Tell SperNOVAS to use CALCEPH with these files for obtaining
// positions for objects contained within them
int status = novas_use_calceph(eph);
if(status < 0) {
// Oops something went wrong...
}
novas_use_calceph
int novas_use_calceph(t_calcephbin *eph)
Sets a ephemeris provider for Solar-system objects using the CALCEPH C library and the specified set ...
Definition solsys-calceph.c:409

All modern JPL (SPK) ephemeris files should work with the solsys-calceph plugin. When linking your application, add -lsolsys-calceph to your link flags (or else link with solsys-calceph.o), and link against the CALCEPH library also (-lcalceph). That's all there is to it.

When using CALCEPH, ephemeris objects are referenced by their ID numbers (object.number), unless it is set to -1, in which case name-based lookup will be used instead. ID numbers are assumed to be NAIF by default, but novas_calceph_use_ids() can select between NAIF or CALCEPH numbering systems, if necessary.

## NAIF CSPICE toolkit integration

The NAIF CSPICE Toolkit is the canonical standard library for JPL ephemeris files from C/C++. As of version 1.2, we provide optional support for interfacing SuperNOVAS with CSPICE for handling Solar-system objects.

Details

Prior to building SuperNOVAS simply set CSPICE_SUPPORT to 1 in config.mk or in your environment (or for CMake configure with -DENABLE_CSPICE=ON). Depending on the build target, it will build libsolsys-cspice.so[.1] (target shared or CMake option -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON) or libsolsys-cspice.a (target static or default CMake build) libraries or solsys-cspice.o (target solsys, no CMake equivalent), which provide the novas_use_cspice(), novas_use_cspice_planets(), and novas_use_cspice_ephem() functions to enable CSPICE for providing data for all Solar-system sources, or for major planets only, or for other bodies only, respectively. You can also manage the active kernels with the cspice_add_kernel() and cspice_remove_kernel() functions.

Of course, you will need access to the CSPICE development files (C headers, installed under a cspice/ directory of a header search location, and the unversioned libcspice.so or .a library) for the build to succeed. You may want to check out the Sigmyne/cspice-sharedlib GitHub repository to help you build CSPICE with shared libraries and dynamically linked tools.

Here is an example on how you might use CSPICE with SuperNOVAS in your application code:

#include <novas-cspice.h>
// You can load the desired kernels for CSPICE
// E.g. load DE440s and the Mars satellites:
int status;
status = cspice_add_kernel("/path/to/de440s.bsp");
if(status < 0) {
// oops, the kernels must not have loaded...
...
}
// Load additional kernels as needed...
status = cspice_add_kernel("/path/to/mar097.bsp");
...
// Then use CSPICE as your SuperNOVAS ephemeris provider
novas_use_cspice();
novas_use_cspice
int novas_use_cspice()
Sets CSPICE as the default ephemeris provider for all types of Solar-system objects (both NOVAS_PLANE...
Definition solsys-cspice.c:585
cspice_add_kernel
int cspice_add_kernel(const char *filename)
Adds a SPICE kernel to the currently managed open kernels.
Definition solsys-cspice.c:162
novas-cspice.h
SuperNOVAS functions interfacing with the NAIF CSPICE Toolkit.

All JPL ephemeris data will work with the solsys-cspice plugin. When linking your application, add -lsolsys-cspice to your link flags (or else link with solsys-cspice.o), and of course the CSPICE library also. That's all there is to it.

When using CSPICE, ephemeris objects are referenced by their NAIF ID numbers (object.number), unless that number is set to -1, in which case name-based lookup will be used instead.

## Universal ephemeris data / service integration

Possibly the most universal way to integrate ephemeris data with SuperNOVAS is to write your own novas_ephem_provider function.

Details

int my_ephem_reader(const char *name, long id, double jd_tdb_high, double jd_tdb_low,
enum novas_origin *restrict origin,
double *restric pos, double *restrict vel) {
// Your custom ephemeris reader implementation here
...
}
novas_origin
novas_origin
The origin of the ICRS system for referencing positions and velocities for solar-system bodies.
Definition novas.h:1100

which takes an object ID number (such as a NAIF), an object name, and a split TDB date (for precision) as it inputs, and returns the type of origin with corresponding ICRS position and velocity vectors in the supplied pointer locations. The function can use either the ID number or the name to identify the object or file (whatever is the most appropriate for the implementation and for the supplied parameters). The positions and velocities may be returned either relative to the SSB or relative to the heliocenter, and accordingly, your function should set the value pointed at by origin to NOVAS_BARYCENTER or NOVAS_HELIOCENTER accordingly. Positions and velocities are rectangular ICRS x,y,z vectors in units of AU and AU/day respectively.

This way you can easily integrate current ephemeris data, e.g. for the Minor Planet Center (MPC), or whatever other ephemeris service you prefer.

Once you have your adapter function, you can set it as your ephemeris service via set_ephem_provider():

set_ephem_provider(my_ephem_reader);
set_ephem_provider
int set_ephem_provider(novas_ephem_provider func)
Sets the function to use for obtaining position / velocity information for minor planets,...
Definition ephemeris.c:118

By default, your custom my_ephem_reader function will be used for NOVAS_EPHEM_OBJECT type objects only (i.e. anything other than the major planets, the Sun, Moon, Solar-system Barycenter...). But, you can use the same function for the major planets (NOVAS_PLANET type objects) also via:

set_planet_provider(planet_ephem_provider);
set_planet_provider_hp(planet_ephem_provider_hp);
set_planet_provider_hp
int set_planet_provider_hp(novas_planet_provider_hp func)
Set a custom function to use for high precision (see NOVAS_FULL_ACCURACY) ephemeris calculations inst...
Definition ephemeris.c:224
planet_ephem_provider_hp
short planet_ephem_provider_hp(const double jd_tdb[restrict 2], enum novas_planet body, enum novas_origin origin, double *restrict position, double *restrict velocity)
Major planet ephemeris data via the same generic ephemeris provider that is configured by set_ephem_p...
Definition solsys-ephem.c:42
set_planet_provider
int set_planet_provider(novas_planet_provider func)
Set a custom function to use for regular precision (see NOVAS_REDUCED_ACCURACY) ephemeris calculation...
Definition ephemeris.c:187
planet_ephem_provider
short planet_ephem_provider(double jd_tdb, enum novas_planet body, enum novas_origin origin, double *restrict position, double *restrict velocity)
Major planet ephemeris data via the same generic ephemeris provider that is configured by set_ephem_p...
Definition solsys-ephem.c:100

The above simply instructs SuperNOVAS to use the same ephemeris provider function for planets as what was set for NOVAS_EPHEM_OBJECT type objects, provided you compiled SuperNOVAS with BUILTIN_SOLSYS_EPHEM = 1 (in config.mk), or else you link your code against solsys-ephem.c explicitly. Easy-peasy.

# Notes on precision

- Prerequisites to precise results
- Reduced accuracy shortcuts

Many of the (Super)NOVAS functions take an accuracy argument, which determines to what level of precision quantities are calculated. The argument can have one of two values, which correspond to typical precisions around:

enum novas_accuracy value | Typical precision
--- | ---
NOVAS_REDUCED_ACCURACY | ~ 1 milli-arcsecond (mas)
NOVAS_FULL_ACCURACY | ~ 1 micro-arcsecond (μas)

Note, that some functions will not support full accuracy calculations, unless you have provided a high-precision ephemeris provider for the major planets (and any Solar-system bodies of interest), which does not come with SuperNOVAS out of the box. In the absence of a suitable high-precision ephemeris provider, some functions might return an error if called with NOVAS_FULL_ACCURACY.

## Prerequisites to precise results

The SuperNOVAS library is in principle capable of calculating positions to microarcsecond, and velocities to mm/s, precision for all types of celestial sources. However, there are certain prerequisites and practical considerations before that level of accuracy is reached. (Click on the wedge next to each heading below to expand the details.)

The IAU 2000/2006 conventions and methods

High precision calculations will generally require that you use SuperNOVAS with the new IAU standard quantities and methods. The old ways were simply not suited for precision much below the milliarcsecond level. In particular, Earth orientation parameters (EOP) should be applied only for converting between TIRS and ITRS systems, and defined either with novas_make_frame() or else with wobble(). The old ways of incorporating (global) offsets in TOD coordinates via cel_pole() should be avoided.

Gravitational effects

Calculations much below the milliarcsecond level will require accounting for gravitational bending around massive Solar-system bodies, and hence will require you to provide a high-precision ephemeris provider for the major planets. Without it, there is no guarantee of achieving precision below the milli-arcsecond level in general, especially when observing near the Sun or massive planets (e.g. observing Jupiter's or Saturn's moons, near conjunction with their host planet). Therefore, some functions will return with an error, if used with NOVAS_FULL_ACCURACY in the absence of a suitable high-precision planetary ephemeris provider.

Solar-system ephemeris

Precise calculations for Solar-system sources requires precise ephemeris data for both the target object as well as for Earth, and the Sun. For the highest precision calculations you also need positions for all major planets to calculate gravitational deflection precisely. By default, SuperNOVAS can only provide approximate positions for the Earth and Sun (see earth_sun_calc()) at the tens of arcsecond level. You will need to provide a way to interface SuperNOVAS with a suitable ephemeris source (such as CALCEPH, or the CSPICE toolkit from JPL) to obtain precise positions for Solar-system bodies. See the section further above for more information how you can do that.

Earth orientation parameters (EOP)

Calculating precise positions for any Earth-based observations requires precise knowledge of Earth orientation parameters (EOP) at the time of observation. Earth's pole is subject to predictable precession and nutation, but also small irregular and diurnal variations in the orientation of the rotational axis and the rotation period (a.k.a. polar wobble). You can apply the EOP values in novas_set_time() (for UT1-UTC), and novas_make_frame() (xp and yp) to improve the astrometric precision of Earth based coordinate calculations. Without the EOP values, positions for Earth-based calculations will be accurate at the tenths of arcsecond level only.

The IERS Bulletins provide up-to-date measurements, historical data, and near-term projections for the polar offsets, the UT1-UTC time difference, and leap-seconds (UTC-TAI). For sub-milliarcsecond accuracy the values published by IERS should be interpolated before passing to the likes of novas_set_time() or novas_make_frame(). At the micro-arcsecond (μas) level, you will need to ensure also that the EOP values are provided for the same ITRF realization as the observer's location, e.g. via novas_itrf_transform_eop().

As of version 1.7, SuperNOVAS provides the option to fetch EOP values from IERS automatically, as needed. However, beware that the IERS servers may experience intermittent outages, availability and file formats may change. Therefore, for critical applications it is still recommended that you supply your EOP values explicitly, if possible.

Atmospheric refraction model

Ground based observations are subject to atmospheric refraction. SuperNOVAS offers the option to include refraction corrections with a set of atmospheric models, or using models you provide. Estimating refraction accurately requires local weather parameters (pressure, temperature, and humidity), which may be be specified within the on_surface data structure alongside the observer location. A standard radio refraction model is included as of version 1.1, as well as our implementation of the wavelength-dependent IAU refraction model (novas_wave_refraction() since version 1.4) based on the SOFA iauRefco() function. If none of the built-in options satisfies your needs, you may also implement your own refraction correction to use.

## Reduced accuracy shortcuts

When one does not need positions at the microarcsecond level, some shortcuts can be made to the recipe above:

- You may forgo reconciling the ITRF realizations of EOP vs. an Earth-based observing site, if precision at the microarcsecond level is not required.
- You may skip the interpolation of published EOP values, if accuracy below the milliarcsecond level is not required.
- You can use NOVAS_REDUCED_ACCURACY instead of NOVAS_FULL_ACCURACY for the calculations. This typically has an effect at or below the milliarcsecond level only, but may be much faster to calculate.
- You might skip the pole offsets xp, yp. These are tenths of arcsec, typically.
- You may not need to interface to an ephemeris provider if you don't need positions for Solar-system objects, and you are willing to ignore gravitational redhifts / deflections around Solar-system bodies.

# Runtime debug support

You can enable or disable debugging output to stderr with novas_debug(enum novas_debug_mode), where the argument is one of the defined constants from novas.h:

novas_debug_mode value | Description
--- | ---
NOVAS_DEBUG_OFF | No debugging output (default)
NOVAS_DEBUG_ON | Prints error messages and traces to stderr
NOVAS_DEBUG_EXTRA | Same as above but with stricter error checking

The main difference between NOVAS_DEBUG_ON and NOVAS_DEBUG_EXTRA is that the latter will treat minor issues as errors also, while the former may ignore them. For example, place() will return normally by default if it cannot calculate gravitational bending around massive planets in full accuracy mode. It is unlikely that this omission would significantly alter the result in most cases, except for some very specific ones when observing in a direction close to a major planet. Thus, with NOVAS_DEBUG_ON, place() go about as usual even if the Jupiter's position is not known. However, NOVAS_DEBUG_EXTRA will not give it a free pass, and will make place() return an error (and print the trace) if it cannot properly account for gravitational bending around the major planets as it is expected to.

When debug mode is enabled, any error condition (such as NULL pointer arguments, or invalid input values etc.) will be reported to the standard error, complete with call tracing within the SuperNOVAS library, s.t. users can have a better idea of what exactly did not go to plan (and where). The debug messages can be disabled by passing NOVAS_DEBUG_OFF (0) as the argument to the same call. Here is an example error trace when your application calls grav_def() with NOVAS_FULL_ACCURACY while solsys3 provides Earth and Sun positions only and when debug mode is NOVAS_DEBUG_EXTRA (otherwise we'll ignore that we skipped the almost always negligible deflection due to planets):

ERROR! earth_sun_calc: invalid or unsupported planet number: 6 [=> 2]
@ earth_sun_calc_hp [=> 2]
@ ephemeris:planet [=> 12]
@ light_time2 [=> 22]
@ obs_planets [=> 12]
@ grav_def [=> 12]

You can use the built-in error tracing to identify where things go awry in your code. You can turn on error tracing for your entire code, or for a relevant section, in which a SuperNOVAS function returns an error (such as -1 or NaN), e.g.:

novas_debug(NOVAS_DEBUG_ON);
// The part of your code that might have to do with the error return...
...
novas_debug(NOVAS_DEBUG_OFF);
novas_debug
PROTECTED void novas_debug(enum novas_debug_mode mode)
Enables or disables reporting errors and traces to the standard error stream.
Definition util.c:533
NOVAS_DEBUG_OFF
@ NOVAS_DEBUG_OFF
Do not print errors and traces to the standard error (default).
Definition novas.h:569
NOVAS_DEBUG_ON
@ NOVAS_DEBUG_ON
Print errors and traces to the standard error.
Definition novas.h:570

# Representative benchmarks

To get an idea of the speed of SuperNOVAS, you can use make benchmark on your machine. Figure 2 below summarizes the single-threaded results obtained with v1.5.0 on an AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U laptop. While this is clearly not the state of the art for today's server class machines, it nevertheless gives you a ballpark idea for how a typical, not so new, run-of-the-mill PC might perform.

Figure 2. SuperNOVAS apparent position calculation benchmarks, including proper motion, the IAU 2000 precession-nutation model, polar wobble, aberration, and gravitational deflection corrections, and precise spectroscopic redhift calculations.

The tests calculate apparent positions (in CIRS) for a set of sidereal sources with random parameters, using either the SuperNOVAS novas_sky_pos() or the legacy NOVAS C place(), both in full accuracy and reduced accuracy modes. The two methods are equivalent, and both include calculating a precise geometric position, as well as aberration and gravitational deflection corrections from the observer's point of view.

Details

Description | accuracy | positions / sec
--- | --- | ---
novas_sky_pos(), same frame | reduced | 3130414
| full | 3149028
place(), same time, same observer | reduced | 831101
| full | 831015
novas_sky_pos(), individual | reduced | 168212
| full | 25943
place(), individual | reduced | 167475
| full | 25537

For reference, we also provide the reduced accuracy benchmarks from NOVAS C 3.1.

Description | accuracy | positions / sec
--- | --- | ---
NOVAS C 3.1 place(), same frame | reduced | 371164
NOVAS C 3.1 place(), individual | reduced | 55484

For comparison, a very similar benchmark with astropy (v7.0.0 on Python v3.13.1) on the same machine, provides ~70 positions / second both for a fixed frame and for individual frames. As such, SuperNOVAS is a whopping ~40000 times faster than astropy for calculations in the same observing frame, and 400–2000 times faster than astropy for individual frames. (The astropy benchmarking code is also provided under the benchmark/ folder in the SuperNOVAS GitHub repository).

Description | positions / sec
--- | ---
astropy 7.0.0 (python 3.13.1), same frame | 71
astropy 7.0.0 (python 3.13.1), individual | 70

As one may observe, the SuperNOVAS novas_sky_pos() significantly outperforms the legacy place() function, when repeatedly calculating positions for sources for the same instant of time and same observer location, providing 3–4 times faster performance than place() with the same observer and time. The same performance is maintained even when cycling through different frames, a usage scenario in which the performance advantage over place() may be up to 2 orders of magnitude. When observing frames are reused, the performance is essentially independent of the accuracy. By contrast, calculations for individual observing times or observer locations are generally around twice a fast if reduced accuracy is sufficient.

The above benchmarks are all for single-threaded performance. Since SuperNOVAS is generally thread-safe, you can expect that performance shall scale with the number of concurrent CPUs used. So, on a 16-core PC, with similar single core performance, you could calculate up to 32 million precise positions per second, if you wanted to. To put that into perspective, you could calculate precise apparent positions for the entire Gaia dataset (1.7 billion stars) in under one minute.

# SuperNOVAS added features

- Newly functionality highlights
- Refinements to the NOVAS C API

## New functionality highlights

Below is a non-exhaustive overview new features added by SuperNOVAS on top of the existing NOVAS C API. See CHANGELOG.md for more details.

New in v1.0

- New runtime configuration:
  - The planet position, and generic Solar-system position calculator functions can be set at runtime, and users can provide their own custom implementations, e.g. to read ephemeris data, such as from a JPL .bsp file.
  - If CIO locations vs GCRS are important to the user, the user may call set_cio_locator_file() at runtime to specify the location of the binary CIO interpolation table (e.g. CIO_RA.TXT or cio_ra.bin) to use, even if the library was compiled with the different default CIO locator path.
  - The default low-precision nutation calculator nu2000k() can be replaced by another suitable IAU 2006 nutation approximation. For example, the user may want to use the iau2000b() model or some custom algorithm instead.
- New constants, and enums – adding more specificity and transparency to option switches and physical units.
- Many new functions to provide more coordinate transformations, inverse calculations, and more intuitive usage.

New in v1.1

- New observing-frame based approach for calculations (frames.c). A novas_frame object uniquely defines both the place and time of observation, with a set of precalculated transformations and constants. Once the frame is defined it can be used very efficiently to calculate positions for multiple celestial objects with minimum additional computational cost. The frames API is also more elegant and more versatile than the low-level NOVAS C approach for performing the same kind of calculations. And, frames are inherently thread-safe since post-creation their internal state is never modified during the calculations.
- New novas_timespec structure for the self-contained definition of precise astronomical time (timescale.c). You can set the time to a JD date in the timescale of choice (UTC, UT1, GPS, TAI, TT, TCG, TDB, or TCB), or to a UNIX time. Once set, you can obtain an expression of that time in any timescale of choice. And, you can create a new time specification by incrementing an existing one, or measure precise time differences.
- New coordinate reference systems NOVAS_MOD (Mean of Date) which includes precession but not nutation and NOVAS_J2000 for the J2000 dynamical reference system.
- New observer locations NOVAS_AIRBORNE_OBSERVER and NOVAS_SOLAR_SYSTEM_OBSERVER, and corresponding make_airborne_observer() and make_solar_system_observer() functions. Airborne observers have an Earth-fixed momentary location, defined by longitude, latitude, and altitude, the same way as for a stationary observer on Earth, but are moving relative to the surface, such as in an aircraft or balloon based observatory. Solar-system observers are similar to observers in Earth-orbit but their momentary position and velocity is defined relative to the Solar System Barycenter (SSB), instead of the geocenter.
- New set of built-in refraction models to use with the frame-based functions, including a radio refraction model based on the formulae by Berman & Rockwell 1976. Users may supply their own custom refraction model also, and may make use of the generic reversal function novas_inv_refract() to calculate refraction in the reverse direction (observed vs astrometric elevations as the input) as needed.

New in v1.2

- New functions to calculate and apply additional gravitational redshift corrections for light that originates near massive gravitating bodies (other than major planets, or Sun or Moon), or for observers located near massive gravitating bodies (other than the Sun and Earth).
- CALCEPH integration to specify and use ephemeris data via the CALCEPH library for Solar-system sources in general, and for major planets specifically.
- NAIF CSPICE integration to use the NAIF CSPICE library for all Solar-system sources, or for major planets or other bodies only.
- Added support for using orbital elements. object.type can now be set to NOVAS_ORBITAL_OBJECT, whose orbit can be defined by novas_orbital, relative to a novas_orbital_system. While orbital elements do not always yield precise positions, they can for shorter periods, provided that the orbital elements are up-to-date. For example, the Minor Planet Center (MPC) publishes accurate orbital elements for all known asteroids and comets regularly. For newly discovered objects, this may be the only and/or most accurate information available anywhere.
- Added NOVAS_EMB (Earth-Moon Barycenter) and NOVAS_PLUTO_BARYCENTER to enum novas_planets to distinguish from the corresponding planet centers in calculations.
- Added more physical unit constants to novas.h.

New in v1.3

- New functions to aid the conversion of LSR velocities to SSB-based velocities, and vice-versa. (Super)NOVAS always defines catalog sources with SSB-based radial velocities, but some catalogs provide LSR velocities.
- New functions to convert dates/times and angles to/from their string representations.
- New functions to convert between Julian Days and calendar dates in the calendar of choice (astronomical, Gregorian, or Roman/Julian).
- New convenience functions for oft-used astronomical calculations, such as rise/set times, LST, parallactic angle (a.k.a. Vertical Position Angle), heliocentric distance, illumination fraction, or incident solar power, Sun and Moon angles, and much more.
- New functions and data structures provide second order Taylor series expansion of the apparent horizontal or equatorial positions, distances, and redshifts for sources. These values, including rates and accelerations, can be directly useful for controlling telescope drives in horizontal or equatorial mounts to track sources. You can also use them to obtain instantaneous projected (extrapolated) positions at low computational cost.

New in v1.4

- Updated nutation model from IAU2000 to IAU2006 (P03) model, by applying scaling factors (Capitaine et al. 2005) to match the IAU2006 precession model that was already implemented in NOVAS.
- Approximate Keplerian orbital models for the major planets (Standish & Williams, 1992), EMB, and the Moon (Chapront et al. 2002), for when arcmin-scale accuracy is sufficient (e.g. rise or set times, approximate sky positions).
- Moon phase calculator functions, based on above orbital modeling.
- Improved support for expressing and using coordinates in TIRS (Terrestrial Intermediate Reference System) and ITRS (International Terrestrial Reference System).
- Improvements to atmospheric refraction modeling.

New in v1.5

- Simpler functions to calculate Greenwich Mean and Apparent Sidereal Time (GMST / GAST).
- Functions to calculate corrections to the Earth orientation parameters published by IERS, to include the effect of libration and ocean tides. Such corrections are necessary to include if needing or using ITRS / TIRS coordinates with accuracy below the milliarcsecond (mas) level.
- New functions to simplify the handling ground-based observing locations (GPS vs ITRF vs Cartesian locations), including setting default weather values, at least until actual values are specified if needed, and conversion between geodetic (longitude, latitude, altitude) and geocentric Cartesian (x, y, z) site coordinates using the reference ellipsoid of choice (e.g. GRS80 or WGS84).
- Transformations of site coordinates and Earth orientation parameters between different ITRF realizations (e.g. ITRF2000 and ITRF2014).
- Functions to calculate the rate at which an observer's clock ticks differently from a standard astronomical timescale, due to the gravitational potential around the observer and the observer's movement.
- No longer using a CIO vs GCRS locator data file in any way, thus eliminating an annoying external soft dependency. This change has absolutely zero effect on backward compatibility and functionality.
- GNU make build support for Mac OS X and FreeBSD (co-authored with Kiran Shila).
- CMake build support (co-authored with Kiran Shila).

New in v1.6

- Introducing a new, high-level, C++11 API (libsupernovas++) on top of the standard C99 one.
- Added a truncated version of the ELP2000 / MPP02 semi-analytical model of the Moon (Chapront & Francou 2003), allowing arcsec (km) level position calculations for the Moon even without ephemeris data.

New in v1.7

- New functions and methods to obtain Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) from IERS, or from a user-defined remote or local source. EOP can also be fetched automatically when a astrometric time or an observing frame is initialized with undefined (NAN) values for these. If you don't mind the slight latencies involved with getting EOP values from a remote source, they can make using SuperNOVAS at its full precision a whole lot easier.
- New practical equality tests, with reasonable tolerances, for data structures and classes.
- Support for nearly full-featured embedded / bare-metal build targets without libc support or system clock.

## Refinements to the NOVAS C API

Many SuperNOVAS changes are focused on improving the usability and promote best coding practices so that both the library and your application will be safer, and less prone to nagging errors. Below is a detailed listing of the principal ways SuperNOVAS has improved on the original NOVAS C library in these respects.

Details

- Changed to support for calculations in parallel threads by making cached results thread-local. This works using the C11 standard _Thread_local, or the C23 thread_local, or else the earlier GNU C >= 3.3 standard __thread modifier. You can also set the preferred thread-local keyword for your compiler by passing it via -DTHREAD_LOCAL=... in config.mk to ensure that your build is thread-safe. And, if your compiler has no support whatsoever for thread-local variables, then SuperNOVAS will not be thread-safe, just as NOVAS C isn't.
- SuperNOVAS functions take enums as their option arguments instead of raw integers. The enums allow for some compiler checking (e.g. using the wrong enum), and make for more readable code that is easier to debug. They also make it easy to see what choices are available for each function argument, without having to consult the documentation each and every time.
- All SuperNOVAS functions check for the basic validity of the supplied arguments (Such as NULL pointers, or empty strings) and will return -1 (with errno set, usually to EINVAL) if the arguments supplied are invalid (unless the NOVAS C API already defined a different return value for specific cases. If so, the NOVAS C error code is returned for compatibility).
- All erroneous returns now set errno so that users can track the source of the error in the standard C way and use functions such as perror() and strerror() to print human-readable error messages.
- SuperNOVAS prototypes declare function pointer arguments as const whenever the function does not modify the data content being pointed at. This supports better programming practices that generally aim to avoid unintended data modifications.
- Many SuperNOVAS functions allow NULL arguments, both for optional input values as well as outputs that are not required (see the C99 API Documentation for specifics). This eliminates the need to declare dummy variables in your application code.
- Many output values supplied via pointers are set to clearly invalid values in case of erroneous returns, such as NAN so that even if the caller forgets to check the error code, it becomes obvious that the values returned should not be used as if they were valid. (No more sneaky silent failures.)
- All SuperNOVAS functions that take an input vector to produce an output vector allow the output vector argument be the same as the input vector argument. For example, frame_tie(pos, J2000_TO_ICRS, pos) using the same pos vector both as the input and the output. In this case the pos vector is modified in place by the call. This can greatly simplify usage, and eliminate extraneous declarations, when intermediates are not required.
- Catalog names can be up to 6 bytes (including termination), up from 4 in NOVAS C, while keeping struct layouts the same as NOVAS C thanks to alignment, thus allowing cross-compatible binary exchange of cat_entry records with NOVAS C 3.1.
- Changed make_object() to retain the specified number argument (which can be different from the starnumber value in the supplied cat_entry structure).
- cio_location() will always return a valid value as long as neither output pointer argument is NULL. (NOVAS C 3.1 would return an error if a CIO locator file was previously opened but cannot provide the data for whatever reason).
- cel2ter() and ter2cel() can now process 'option'/'class' = 1 (NOVAS_REFERENCE_CLASS) regardless of the methodology (EROT_ERA or EROT_GST) used to input or output coordinates in GCRS.
- More efficient paging (cache management) for cio_array(), including I/O error checking.
- IAU 2000A nutation model uses higher-order Delaunay arguments provided by fund_args(), instead of the linear model in NOVAS C 3.1.
- IAU 2000 nutation made a bit faster, reducing the number of floating-point multiplications necessary by skipping terms that do not contribute. Its coefficients are also packed more frugally in memory, resulting in a smaller resident footprint.
- Changed the standard atmospheric model for (optical) refraction calculation to include a simple model for the annual average temperature at the site (based on latitude and elevation). This results is a slightly more educated guess of the actual refraction than the global fixed temperature of 10 °C assumed by NOVAS C 3.1 regardless of observing location.
- [v1.1] Improved the precision of some calculations, like era(), fund_args(), and planet_lon() by being more careful about the order in which terms are accumulated and combined, resulting in a small improvement on the few uas (micro-arcsecond) level.
- [v1.1] place() now returns an error 3 if and only if the observer is at (or very close to, within ~1.5m) the observed Solar-system object.
- [v1.1] grav_def() is simplified. It no longer uses the location type argument. Instead it will skip deflections due to a body if the observer is within ~1500 km of its center (which is below the surface for all major Solar system bodies).
- [v1.1.1] For major planets (and Sun and Moon) rad_vel() and place() will include gravitational corrections to radial velocity for light originating at the surface, and observed near Earth or at a large distance away from the source.
- [v1.3] In reduced accuracy mode apply gravitational deflection for the Sun only. In prior versions, deflection corrections were applied for Earth too. However, these are below the mas-level accuracy promised in reduced accuracy mode, and without it, the calculations for place() and novas_sky_pos() are significantly faster.
- [v1.3] julian_date() and cal_date() now use astronomical calendar dates instead of the fixed Gregorian dates of before. Astronomical dates are Julian/Roman calendar dates prior to the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582.
- [v1.3] Use C99 restrict keyword to prevent pointer argument aliasing as appropriate.
- [v1.4.2] Nutation models have been upgraded from the original IAU2000 model to IAU2006 (i.e. IAU2000A R06), making them dynamically consistent with the implemented IAU2006 (P03) precession model.
- [v1.5] Faster IAU2000A (R06) nutation series and ee_ct() calculations, with a ~2x speedup.
- [v1.5] Weaned off using CIO locator file internally (but still allowing users to access them if they want to).

# Release schedule

A predictable release schedule and process can help manage expectations and reduce stress on adopters and developers alike.

SuperNOVAS will try to follow a quarterly release schedule. You may expect upcoming releases to be published around February 1, May 1, August 1, and/or November 1 each year, on an as-needed basis. That means that if there are outstanding bugs, or new pull requests (PRs), you may expect a release that addresses these in the upcoming quarter. The dates are placeholders only, with no guarantee that a new release will actually be available every quarter. If nothing of note comes up, a potential release date may pass without a release being published.

New features are generally reserved for the feature releases (e.g. 1.x.0 version bumps), although they may also be rolled out in bug-fix releases as long as they do not affect the existing API – in line with the desire to keep bug-fix releases fully backwards compatible with their parent versions.

In the weeks and month(s) preceding releases one or more release candidates (e.g. 1.0.1-rc3) will be published temporarily on GitHub, under Releases, so that changes can be tested by adopters before the releases are finalized. Please use due diligence to test such release candidates with your code when they become available to avoid unexpected surprises when the finalized release is published. Release candidates are typically available for one week only before they are superseded either by another, or by the finalized release.

Copyright (C) 2026 Attila Kovács