Suvarna Garge (Editor)

SOFA (astronomy)

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Written in
  
C and Fortran

Type
  
Numerical library

Operating system
  
Cross-platform

License
  
SOFA Software License

Stable release
  
2015-02-09 / 2015-04-02

Website
  
http://www.iausofa.org/

The SOFA (Standards of Fundamental Astronomy) software libraries are a collection of subroutines that implement official International Astronomical Union algorithms for astronomical computations.

Contents

As of February 2009 they are available in both Fortran and C source code format.

Capabilities

The subroutines in the libraries cover the following areas:

  • Calendars
  • Time scales
  • Earth's rotation and sidereal time
  • Ephemerides (limited precision)
  • Precession, nutation, polar motion
  • Proper motion
  • Star catalog conversions
  • Astrometric transformations
  • Galactic Coordinates

    • Licensing

    As of the February 2009 release, SOFA licensing changed to allow use for any purpose, provided certain requirements are met. Previously, commercial usage was specifically excluded and required written agreement of the SOFA board.

    References

    SOFA (astronomy) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA